When I graduated from college a couple of years ago, I landed my first real job at one of the “Big 5″ consulting firms. They started me off at $45K, which I thought wasn’t too bad for my first job out of school. Anyway, it wouldn’t be until a year and a half later that I would get promoted and get the raise I deserved. I was shocked when my performance manager called me with excitement in her voice and proclaimed that my raise was a whopping 18%; as if I were expected to thank her profusely and vow to repay her somehow for pulling some strings. The measly 18% brought my salary up to $53K, which only came out to be an extra $300 per paycheck. Big whoop. And my performance manager, who undoubtedly earns six figures plus bonuses even though she never wins her proposals, had the nerve to add, “We hope you’re happy!” I wanted to repeatedly pierce needles through her eyes while scratching my nails down a chalkboard (that only she could hear).

I immediately began searching for other options and got the luckiest deal in the world. I had been commuting about 2 hours everyday to work, including the time it took to drop my son off at the sitter. I made it a point to only look for positions that were near my home, cutting down my commute to 10 minutes and the cost to nearly nothing (compared to $300/month for parking and gas). It wasn’t easy. I went on 5 different interviews, each interview getting closer and closer to where I wanted to be. At one point, I had been offered the position by 3 out of the 5, but was holding out for the one that was nearest to my house. Then finally, they called! And they offered to raise my salary by 50% — more than all of the other offers. Higher salary, cutting down on commuting time and costs; of course I’m richer, right?

The pastor at my church once stated that some statistics show that no matter how much a person makes, when you ask him how much more he thought he needed to earn in order for him to be happy, the answer was always right around 30% more than his current salary. Here I was offered an extra 50%! I just knew I’d be so much happier and life would be easier. It’s only natural to assume that if you make more money, you’d find it easier to save, making it possible to never need to worry about seeing your balance get too close to zero ever again. Then the extra money comes in and the last thing you want to do is save it. You want to buy the things you wanted but couldn’t afford with your old salary!

Up until a couple of months after I landed my new job, I equated wealth with salary. But now I see that that’s just simply not true. I’d been at my new job for 3 months and I had no more money in the bank every month than I did when I was making much less. I also spent so much more every month on trivial things that it didn’t even feel any easier to pay my monthly bills. Like I said in an earlier post, I was still living paycheck to paycheck. The old adage proves true yet again: the more money you have, the more you spend. So, the only time that we really see a difference in how much disposable income we have when we get a raise or a promotion is if we continue to live at the same means as we did prior to the increase.

I’ve always had a bad habit of spending money as soon as it’s in my possession. Like if I keep it too long, it will give me a disease and kill me. I’m having a tough time trying to break free from my old habits of eating out too much, shopping for things that I have no business buying, and procrastinating on bills, but I’ve been doing pretty good so far. I’m actually pretty proud of myself. I looked at my bank statement today and not one of the posted transactions has been for a restaurant. My balance is less volatile now, so I don’t constantly have to worry that I might overdraw by a penny. Lord knows, I done that too many times. It’s a learning process and this blog is something that I have to revisit almost daily, to keep up the momentum.

So hopefully in a couple of weeks, I’ll be able to “feel” the raise I got 3 months ago. Finally!

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