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Lifestyle creep is defined as spending more as you earn more. Perhaps you’ve noticed that as your income rises, you may not grow your wealth, including your retirement account or that fund for the down payment on a house.

It may well be human nature that, when you get a salary hike, you decide to splash out on a fancier car lease, a bigger home, or a luxurious vacation. However, your spending may actually be outpacing your salary and even ringing up more credit card debt.

That’s lifestyle creep in action: Spending on “fun” non-essentials instead of putting that money to work for a more stable financial future. Learn more about it and how to rein it in while still enjoying the things money can buy.

What Is Lifestyle Creep?

Lifestyle creep can be a common phenomenon experienced as one progresses through their career. The meaning of lifestyle creep, sometimes known as lifestyle inflation, is the process by which discretionary expenses increase as disposable income increases.

Disposable income is income that isn’t already budgeted for necessities like housing, transportation, and food.
It could include anything from concert tickets to morning lattes to a second home— basically anything that is likely to fall more into a “want” category rather than something strictly “needed.”

Lifestyle creep can put you squarely behind the 8-ball when it comes to getting out of debt, saving for retirement, or meeting other big financial goals. And it’s one reason people can’t escape the vortex of living paycheck-to-paycheck.

Signs of Lifestyle Creep

Here are some specific signals that you may be experiencing lifestyle creep:

•   Despite earning more, you are not saving more.

•   You have stopped following your budget because you assume you’re earning enough not to have to worry about spending.

•   You feel as if you can afford to buy whatever you want and no longer stick to previous limits (such as, say, not spending more than a certain amount on an item of clothing or a piece of furniture).

•   While your salary has increased, your credit card debt has risen vs. been paid down.

What Causes Lifestyle Creep?

Graduating from the penny-pinching college life to your first full-time job is only one instance that can trigger lifestyle creep. It also can happen with any type of bump in cash flow that’s not part of your monthly budget, such as a raise, bonus, tax refund, gift, or winning a scratch-off ticket.

There are also psychological factors at play here, including the sometimes compulsive urge to keep up with the Joneses.

And before you blow it off as just envy with a lack of willpower, consider this: One landmark examination of a lottery winner’s effect on the neighborhood found that the larger reward the lucky gambler collected, the more likely their neighbors were to incur more debt and even file for bankruptcy.

The social pressure to keep up with the consumption habits of family and friends, even when it’s conspicuous, can cause real and serious financial stress.

Social media can make matters even worse, with studies showing that post envy could be causing people to live beyond their means just so their feeds can reflect their acquaintances’.

But how do you resist the urge to upgrade your 2015-era sedan when your neighbor rolls up in a shiny new SUV? The answers might be simple on paper, but switching your mindset from “Should I spend this on a shopping spree or a vacation?” to “Should I put this money into savings or invest it?” can be easier said than done.

Discerning Needs Versus Wants

First, a quick refresher on needs vs. wants: A need is something vital to survival, while a want is something that’s nice to have but strictly speaking not critical.

It’s normal to want to celebrate a new raise, but to avoid lifestyle creep, it can be important to make sure not to celebrate with something that will increase costs to the point of making the raise irrelevant.

Examples of Needs vs Wants

Here are a couple of examples of how needs and wants can compare:

•   A need is clothing to wear to work, to keep you warm in cold weather, and to enable you to go about your daily life.

•   A want would be those two pairs of shoes you bought not because you needed them but because they were cute and on sale.

•   A need is groceries to feed your household.

•   A want would be buying a pricey salad for lunch every day vs. bringing food from home or going out for a deluxe sushi dinner every Friday night to celebrate the end of the work week.

•   A need is basic health care expenses and new running shoes when your old ones wear out.

•   A want would be getting massages and hiring a personal trainer.

As you see, lifestyle creep could entice you to spend significant amounts on the “wants” in life because they are fun and you feel you can afford them. But allowing those purchases to increase instead of putting money toward debt reduction and longer-term aspirations can be problematic. After all, part of financial wellness is prioritizing goals such as being able to contribute to your child’s education and having a healthy retirement savings account.

Tips for Avoiding Lifestyle Creep

Giving every extra penny of a cash windfall to a credit-card company doesn’t sound like much fun. But just knowing that lifestyle creep exists, and recognizing it in your own life, can put you ahead of the game when it comes to making better decisions with your money.

Here are a few possible ways you can avoid lifestyle creep while still enjoying the good things in life.

Celebrating Small

If you earn a raise, you should absolutely celebrate — especially if it’s higher than the average 3.7% forecast for 2025. But to outsmart lifestyle creep, you may want to take a deep breath and resist the urge to run to the store for that expensive thing you’ve had your eye on. Instead, consider a small way to congratulate yourself, like a dinner with friends.

Creating a Budget

One way to avoid lifestyle creep may be to give all income a job to do. That extra $200 a month shouldn’t just be chilling in a checking account with no purpose, like a freeloading cousin camping out on the couch.

Letting that extra money hang out in the checking account too long with nothing to do might lead to unplanned spending. If you see the money sitting idle, you might splurge on a weekend trip or that budget-busting espresso maker. Putting that money to work (earning interest in a high-yield savings account or paying down debt) could be a wise move. And if you have a solid budget in place, using money that way can be effortless.

Building a Budget to Control Lifestyle Inflation

With the advent of online banking, most people are likely equipped with everything needed to make a budget right on your phone or computer. Many financial institutions offer tools that can help with tracking of your money as it flows in and out of your accounts.

Don’t have a basic budget already? Getting a raise can be a great time to crunch the numbers and be financially stable and responsible with that money. There are many different budget techniques you can experiment with, such as the envelope system or the 50/30/20 budget rule. If there’s already a budget in place, a new raise is a great time to reconfigure the budget to make sure it still ticks all the financial boxes.

Avoiding Mindless Spending

Mindless or pointless spending might happen when there is unexpected extra cash sitting in the bank account. Much like the itch to spend that crisp, new $20 bill included in a childhood birthday card, there may be psychological and emotional temptation to spend money in the bank account without considering whether or not a new, say, brand gaming system is really needed.

Casually buying unnecessary items could indicate compulsive or impulsive spending. This in turn could mean missing an opportunity to put money to work for the future, sustainably upgrading a lifestyle by planning ahead for financial growth.

Tracking Your Spending

When it comes to managing money, losing track of expenses could not only lead to a blown budget, but also overdraft fees, returned checks, or other unnecessary fees that could put you even further behind.

Tools to Track Spending

If you really struggle with this one, there’s an app for that. As mentioned above, many financial institutions offer tools for budgeting and tracking exactly where your money is going. Start there, and see if what is available works well for you. If not, there are various third-party apps that you can explore.

Turn on the Auto-Pilot

One of the easiest ways to ensure that you’re only spending what’s in the budget is to automate as many payments and contributions as possible. After all, money you don’t have is a lot easier to not spend.

This strategy can start at work. If you get a raise, you might elect to increase your 401(k) contribution (or start one if you haven’t yet). And while it means that your take-home pay may not change, your money transferred into a retirement account can painlessly grow.

You also can automate online bill payments and savings and investment contributions, all with the intention of getting the money out of your tempted hands ASAP.

Outlining Clear Goals

What’s your endgame? Do you want to retire early with a million dollars or more in the bank? Is owning a home a part of your plan? One key to avoiding lifestyle creep is to set long-term financial goals and keep your eye on the prize.

Two financial goals that can be beneficial to almost everyone include growing a short-term emergency fund and longer-term savings plan. But from there, the sky’s the limit and your goals are entirely up to you.

You can use an online emergency fund calculator to simplify the math while accruing cash. Financial experts suggest having at least three to six months’ worth of living expenses in the account.

Avoiding New Debt

This might seem like a no-brainer, but you aren’t likely to get out of debt if you keep adding new debt to the pile. One key way to avoid debt is to use credit cards responsibly.

Minimizing your debt (and the important credit utilization ratio, which compares what you owe to your credit limit) can be a smart step when avoiding lifestyle creep.

Recommended: Money Management Guide

Getting Your Head in the Game

Lifestyle creep likely isn’t impossible to reverse, but one could argue that the further you’ve allowed yourself to fall into the luxury lifestyle, the harder it could be to pull yourself out.

One way to get your head in the game is to make lists, starting with your needs (electricity) vs. wants (electric car.) From there, you could prioritize your “wants” and start to cut from the bottom.

Are there things in your life that just exist because they can? Consider eliminating them completely or finding clever ways to save money, such as shopping consignment vs. retail or eating lunch out one day a week vs. all five.

Choosing Your Friends Wisely

Peer pressure is a powerful motivator, but the perceived wealth of your friends, neighbors, and acquaintances can be a far cry from the actual state of their finances.

If you seem to find yourself in situations where there’s pressure to overspend, including family Disney holidays with all the bells and whistles, nights out on the town, or an invite to a destination wedding, you may want to consider finding a circle of friends who share the same financial goals and lifestyle as you.

After all, it’s a lot easier to say “Let’s just cook at home to save money” to a friend who won’t pressure you to try the trendy new restaurant in town.

Spending a Raise

So what exactly should someone do with extra money after a raise? Paying more into a retirement account, paying off debts, or just putting some extra dollars towards a specific savings goal are some approaches to take. This can allow you to boost your financial wellness and meet your long-term goals vs. getting caught up in impulse buying.

Recommended: Mobile Banking Tools

The Takeaway

Lifestyle creep is defined as spending more as you progressively earn more. By spending, you miss out on the opportunity to pay down debt and save for future financial goals, such as buying a home or eliminating student loans. By being aware of lifestyle creep and minimizing it, you can stay on budget and manage your money better. Having the right banking partner can also help with that.

Interested in opening an online bank account? When you sign up for a SoFi Checking and Savings account with eligible direct deposit, you’ll get a competitive annual percentage yield (APY), pay zero account fees, and enjoy an array of rewards, such as access to the Allpoint Network of 55,000+ fee-free ATMs globally. Qualifying accounts can even access their paycheck up to two days early.

FAQ

How does lifestyle creep impact long-term financial goals?

Lifestyle creep can make it challenging to achieve long-term financial goals. For example, if you get a raise and spend it on fun purchases, you may struggle to accrue enough money to meet long-term goals, such as saving for retirement.

How can I spend mindfully while still enjoying life?

One way to spend mindfully while still enjoying life is to have a budget that includes a small fund for “fun” spending. If you know you have some cash allocated for enjoyable activities or purchases, you may not feel deprived. You might, say, choose not to spend your “fun money” one month and then have twice as much the next month to use.

How do I recover financially after falling victim to lifestyle creep?

A budget can help you stay on track vs. falling victim to lifestyle creep. By carefully tracking your spending, you can avoid overdoing it. Also, you might consider whether social media is triggering you to overspend, or if your current group of friends typically value spending over saving and you therefore follow suit. Minimizing those influences could have a positive effect on your finances.

Can lifestyle creep impact my retirement goals?

Lifestyle creep can impact your retirement goals. If you receive raises but spend the increase in your paycheck on dining out or vacations, you may then be unable to meet your retirement goals and other long-term financial aspirations.

Are there tools to help combat lifestyle creep?

One good tool to help combat lifestyle creep is to have a budget that you can stick with. It can be worthwhile to experiment with different methods to find one that suits you. Also, using tech tools, such as spending trackers, can help you avoid lifestyle creep. They can help you keep tabs on where your money goes. Also, some financial experts advise unsubscribing from marketing emails that advertise sales and can encourage unplanned spending. Similarly, disabling one-click shopping on social media could help combat lifestyle creep.

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Margin level is a risk-management indicator that helps you understand what influence the currently opened positions have on your account.

The margin level in your options trading account is a formula that tells you how much of your funds are available to open new trades. The higher your margin level percentage, the more funds are available to trade. If the margin level drops too low, you could receive a margin call.

What Is Margin Level?

Your margin level percentage is a measure of the relationship between the equity in your trading or brokerage account and how much margin is in use. The margin level calculation is expressed as a percentage: (equity / margin) x 100.

It’s helpful to think of margin level as a reading of your trading account’s health. A margin level percentage of 0% means you have no open positions. A margin level of 100% means that the amount of a portfolio’s equity and used margin are equal. Equity is the cash available to trade, plus any unrealized profits and losses on open positions. Many brokers will not allow investors to make new opening trades when the margin level on their options trading account is 100% or less.

When margin level falls below 100%, the broker might issue a margin call. Unless the market moves back in your favor, you must deposit more funds (or assets) into your account when you are hit with a margin call. You can also satisfy a margin call by exiting your current holdings.

The margin level percentage depends on various factors. The volume of your positions and their potential effect on the market can affect your margin level calculation; as can the amount of leverage you use.

💡 Quick Tip: One of the advantages of using a margin account, if you qualify, is that a margin loan gives you the ability to buy more securities. Be sure to understand the terms of the margin account, though, as buying on margin includes the risk of bigger losses.

What Does Margin Level Really Do?

To understand what margin level means, it’s important first to grasp the concept of margin in options trading.

Margin is the amount of cash or securities a trader must deposit in their account before being able to write (or sell) options. You can think of it as a good faith deposit or a form of collateral. The Federal Reserve Board’s Reg T sets margin requirements.

Margin works differently in options and futures accounts than in stock trading
accounts. Margin debt in stock trading refers to the amount of borrowed funds used to buy new shares. This is also referred to as using leverage.

The margin level calculation tells you how much of your funds are available to use for new opening trades. The higher your margin level, the more “free margin” you have. Free margin is the amount of money available to place new trades. Margin is composed of “used” and “free” amounts. Used margin is the aggregate of all the required margin on your existing positions. Free margin, on the other hand, is the difference between equity and used margin.

Margin level also can inform you of how much wiggle room you have in your options trading account, or other types of accounts. A very high margin level percentage means you have a large amount of equity relative to the total amount of required margin. A low margin level calculation tells you that your account might not be far from getting a margin call.

Calculating Margin Level

Calculating margin level is straightforward: Divide the equity by the amount of used margin; then multiple that quotient by 100:

Margin level = (equity / margin) x 100

If you don’t have any open positions, then your margin level calculation will be zero. This can be confusing because usually, a low margin level means your account might be at risk for a margin call. A 0% margin level is the safest and lowest-risk margin level you can have, because in that scenario, you’d have no open positions.

Margin Level Example

Suppose you deposit $10,000 into your account. Before you make any trades, your margin level is 0%, as you don’t have any used margin (the divisor in the earlier-mentioned equation is zero). Your first buy is a call option on shares of XYZ stock, and you pay a $5,000 premium. Your margin level calculation is now 200% ($10,000 / $5,000 = 200%).

Now let’s say you open another $5,000 options position. Your margin level declines to 100% ($10,000 / $10,000 = 100%). We will assume that is the broker’s minimum margin level before a margin call is issued. Later, we’ll detail what happens if your margin level falls below the critical 100% threshold.

💡 Quick Tip: How to manage potential risk factors in a self-directed investment account? Doing your research and employing strategies like dollar-cost averaging and diversification may help mitigate financial risk when trading stocks.

Why Understanding Margin Level Is Important

The margin level percentage is important, as brokers use this figure to determine whether you can open new positions. Many brokerage firms set a minimum margin percentage at 100%. So if your margin percentage drops below that threshold, then you will encounter a margin call — or even a forced liquidation — on one or more of your open trades. If you want to take on new positions, then you’d be forced to sell an existing holding or add more funds to your account.

Margin Level Below 100%

Taking our earlier example a step further, If the market moves against you, and your option values fall to $9,000 on the market, your margin level calculation would decline to below the minimum margin level ($9,000 / $10,000 = 90%). The broker then could issue a margin call.

You have two choices: either sell an existing position or deposit more assets into the account. If you do not act promptly, the broker can sell one of your positions automatically.

Your margin level could fall below 100% based on small moves in the assets you own. Broad market conditions, like volatility, also could affect your account negatively. In an extreme example, Silver Thursday rocked the silver trading market and caused long futures and options positions on silver to suffer severe losses. In turn, this triggered an onslaught of margin calls in the precious metals markets. The moral of the story: It’s important to manage risks carefully when using leverage.

If you’re interested in trading on margin, or just want to know more about it, you’ll need to understand the difference between marginable and non-marginable securities.

The Takeaway

As discussed, the margin level in your options trading account is a formula that tells you how much of your funds are available to open new trades. Trading on margin is an advanced strategy that comes with greater risk than trading other securities, like stocks or ETFs, for example. But while the risks are greater, so are the potential rewards (and losses).

For experienced traders, using margin can enhance buying power. But using margin and leverage introduces additional risk into the mix, which investors should be aware of.

If you’re an experienced trader and have the risk tolerance to try out trading on margin, consider enabling a SoFi margin account. With a SoFi margin account, experienced investors can take advantage of more investment opportunities, and potentially increase returns. That said, margin trading is a high-risk endeavor, and using margin loans can amplify losses as well as gains.

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