Enter your raise and what fraction you spend on lifestyle. See the compounded wealth you sacrifice.
This calculator quantifies the opportunity cost of lifestyle creep — the wealth lost when raises and income increases get absorbed by higher spending instead of invested. It compares two scenarios: one where you upgrade your lifestyle with every pay increase, and one where you maintain your current spending and invest the difference. It's for anyone who keeps getting raises but never seems to build wealth.
The calculator takes your raise amount (or annual spending increase), treats it as a recurring annual investment in the wealth-building scenario, and compounds it over your chosen time horizon. The lifestyle inflation scenario assumes that money is spent each year with zero investment return. The gap between the two scenarios — compounded at the expected return rate — is the cost of lifestyle creep in future dollars.
Lifestyle inflation is the most common reason high earners still end up broke. Surveys consistently show that people earning $200,000+ report feeling the same financial pressure as those earning $75,000 — because spending rises to match income. Investing just 50% of every future raise, while allowing yourself to spend the other 50%, maintains lifestyle improvement while building substantial wealth.