> LIFESTYLE_CREEP
€50k → €70k. Still broke?
The raise came. The car, the flat and the Deliveroo habit came with it. Put in your real numbers and see whether you got richer — or just got a more expensive life.
Before the raise
€
€
Everything: rent, car, food, subs, nights out.
Now
€
€
Check your bank app — the real number, not the hopeful one.
Projection assumptions+
%
FINANCIAL POSITIONCALCULATED
UNCHANGED.
Your income increased €20,000 (€10,523 after tax).
Your lifestyle increased €10,800.
You save −€278 a year more than before.
Your lifestyle increased €10,800.
You save −€278 a year more than before.
Where the raise wentCALCULATED
Before: take-home €40,339saved €7,939
Now: take-home €50,862saved €7,662
SpentSaved
Raise you actually got
53%
of €20,000 gross reached your account
Raise eaten by lifestyle
103%
Savings rate
20% → 15%
Freedom bought per year
2.9 → 2.1 mo
Months of your lifestyle each year’s savings funds
The road not takenPROJECTION
Bank just half the net raise — €438/month — for 10 years at 4%:
€60,378
After 38% exit tax on gains, as if in an Irish-taxed fund. Projection — returns aren’t guaranteed. You still get to spend the other half.
What this means
- You got promoted and stayed exactly as rich. The raise bought a nicer version of the same position.
- Automate it: increase your pension contribution by part of every raise — at 40% tax, €100 into a pension costs €60 of take-home. See the numbers.
- Rule worth stealing: of every raise, decide the split before the first new payslip.
Take-home uses the 2027 tax rules for a single PAYE employee with no pension.
Old take-home / month€3,362
New take-home / month€4,238
PositionUNCHANGED.