the.com/lifestyle creep
you got a raise, and somehow you're still broke — just fancier broke.
means the gradual habit of spending more as you earn more, so your savings rate never actually improves.
from personal finance writers in the 1990s-2000s named it, watching people trade up cars and apartments the moment their paychecks grew, erasing every raise before it landed.
other namecalled hedonic adaptation to money
sneaky partfeels like upgrading, is actually standing still
fixautomate savings before the raise hits checking