6 Money Mistakes That High Earners Make, According to Rachel Cruze

The 2025 Goldman Sachs Retirement Survey and Insights Report recovered that astir 40% of Americans making much than $300,000 per twelvemonth were surviving from paycheck to paycheck. While this mightiness dependable surprising, making a precocious wage doesn’t warrant that you’ll usage it wisely to physique wealthiness oregon spend the manner you privation without debt.

In a YouTube video, wealth adept and writer Rachel Cruze discussed six fiscal mistakes that precocious earners often make. Plus, find retired which astute alternatives she recommended.

You mightiness presume a higher income equals much currency for cardinal goals, but immoderate precocious earners go comfy overspending to upgrade their lives. A 2025 Harris Poll survey adjacent recovered that astir 1 successful 3 Americans with six-figure incomes experienced fiscal distress.

Cruze explained that upgrading your manner a small arsenic your income grows isn’t ever bad, but encouraged having a monthly fund based connected your aged income. That way, you tin screen the essentials and designate immoderate of your other wealth for some luxuries and fiscal goals, similar investing and becoming debt-free.

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Having other borderline tin tempt you to marque risky decisions, specified arsenic investing successful crypto, taking retired a indebtedness to bargain a rental spot oregon investing successful a caller startup. While the imaginable returns dependable great, you tin besides extremity up broke quickly.

“When you spell and you instrumentality on, particularly debt, but you instrumentality connected things that are not proven with that other borderline that you’re making and past what happens is that snowball effect tin happen,” Cruze explained.

She encouraged sticking to much boring, lower-risk options, specified arsenic communal funds successful a Roth IRA oregon a 401(k). Once you’re much established and tin spend to suffer wealth without it being detrimental to your finances, you mightiness revisit the riskier investments.

People of each income levels mightiness marque plans for wealth they haven’t received yet, whether that’s a large bonus cheque oregon an expected raise. You mightiness prematurely marque a ample purchase, specified arsenic a caller car, not reasoning that thing could spell wrong. Maybe you get laid disconnected oregon the institution skips bonuses this year.

Cruze recommended spending the wealth wisely erstwhile it does get and avoiding indebtedness successful the process. For example, you mightiness usage your large cheque for an affordable utilized car alternatively of trapping yourself with costly monthly payments connected a caller one.