Episode 94: Why Making More Money Isn’t Fixing the Stress

A viral claim says $100K “isn’t impressive” anymore. Hot take or helpful truth? We dig into the deeper issue most people face: more income without more clarity. I share why the stress sticks around as paychecks grow, how lifestyle creep quietly erodes progress, and the simple shift that turns scattered spending into calm, confident decisions.

We start by unpacking the $100K myth and the guilt many high earners carry when money still feels tight. From there, we break down the real culprit—unassigned dollars—and explain why cash flow without a plan creates late fees, friction, and constant second-guessing. You’ll hear how alignment (spending that reflects your values) changes your day-to-day choices, reduces anxiety, and gives every dollar a clear purpose. I also walk through practical structure: fewer accounts, straightforward automation, and a repeatable order of operations that prioritizes essentials, obligations, goals, and then lifestyle.

Expect a reality check, not a lecture. You don’t need to hustle harder, cut joy, or wait for a raise to find peace. You need a system you can live with, plus a focus on what actually matters to you. By the end, you’ll have one action step to start right away: decide what you want your money working toward now, and assign your next dollars to it. If you want support, the Better Budgeting Playbook and our Financial Freedom Society community are here to help you build confidence, one aligned decision at a time.

If this resonated, follow the show, share it with someone who needs relief from money stress, and leave a quick review to help others find us. What’s the first dollar you’ll assign this week?

Danielle is a money coach helping those who have been trying to figure out their finances FINALLY create a clear plan so they don’t have to worry about waiting to refill their bank account the next payday.

 She is the founder of The Financial Freedom Society on Facebook and her signature money coaching program, The Better Budgeting Playbook. You can sign up for her newsletter by clicking here.

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Transcript

Welcome And Community Invite

SPEAKER_00 0:07

Hello and welcome to the Better Budgeting Podcast. I'm your host, Danielle Reese. I'm a money coach and the founder of the Better Budgeting Playbook, and this is my one-on-one coaching program for women and couples who have been trying to figure out their finances, finally create a clear plan so they don't have to worry about waiting on payday anymore. I became a money coach in 2020 after paying off over$60,000 in debt, rekindling my marriage, becoming financially free, and wanting others to experience the same. If you'd like to work with me, you can check out the link in the show notes there. Also, we have the Financial Freedom Society on Facebook. It's a free Facebook community focusing on debt payoff, saving strategies, budgeting, and money mindset. You can find the link to that community in the show notes as well. Welcome back to this week's episode of the Better Budgeting Podcast. I'm happy to have you here and I'm excited to chat with you today. And oh man, okay. I'm gonna just I'm gonna start out of the gate just like this. I follow this person on social media, and I guess they're actually not that I was trying to find this post again. They're actually like not really what I would call an influencer, as in like viral influencer, but obviously they're influencing me at this point because it's it's this is really unsettling to me, but they wrote this post and it says$100,000 salary now is about$54,000 salary in 2000. A hundred thousand salary from 2000 equates to$183,000 salary in 2024. I don't know if that math checks out. I mean, I'll go look at it, but the next thing, just like, ugh, it says, stop pretending$100,000 is impressive. It isn't anymore. What do you what do you mean?

unknown 2:05

What do you mean?

More Money, More Pressure

Unassigned Money Creates Stress

SPEAKER_00 2:07

Oh, it hurts my heart because like I know so many people that are making under that, under$100,000 a year, and they are killing it financially. They are doing so fantastic financially. Oh man, it just hurt my heart, and I'm like, oh man, this person is like influencing it. Stop pretending a hundred thousand dollars is impressive. It isn't anymore. Come on. No, I agree.$100,000 26 years ago does not carry the same weight as it does now. 100%. But like to tell people that you know you making a hundred grand a year is not impressive. Oh my gosh, what do you mean? What do you mean? So we're gonna talk a little bit about that today, okay? And that is why making more money isn't fixing the stress because a hundred thousand dollars, I don't know why, for but for some reason in the financial world, people are like, I just need to make a hundred thousand dollars a year and like then then we'll be fine. And listen, the problem isn't that you need to earn more. In fact, in today's episode, we're gonna be talking about why making more money often doesn't create peace, it causes problems. Okay. Because this is one of the biggest my misunderstandings I see is I just gotta make more. I just gotta be more, more, more, more, especially if you are already a higher income earner. Like you want to get to that next level and make more money and make more money. And yet the stress just doesn't go away. So we're gonna talk about it, okay? I hear it all the time. We make great money, but it feels tight. Okay. We should be further ahead than this. I don't understand where it's all going. And this confusion usually comes from guilt, for sure, because when you earn well, you think you should have it figured out. And that's not always the case, okay? Income alone doesn't mean that you're smart with your finances. I'm sorry, I just have to say it. It's okay, it's okay, but it just just because you you get an extra comma on the paycheck doesn't mean that you're doing the best with it, okay? Usually what happens is when income increases, so does the spending.

unknown 4:23

Okay.

Structure, Alignment, And Your Next Step

SPEAKER_00 4:24

I'm I'm gonna be honest with y'all, so does the spending. And we all know it, okay. Even think about it. If you get a tax return every year, okay, you're in the United States, you get a tax return every year. I bet you it's gone within the first 45 days. It's either gone or it is like been put aside to be spent at a later date. And I'm not trying to shame you, I'm not trying to show you some guilt or try to stir up some guilt in you. Okay. I'm just stating what is already fact for you. If you're not taught how to manage those dollars, even when you make very little, adding more dollars is not going to solve the problem. And if you remember from my last episode, I talked about money needs structure, right? It needs to have structure, it needs to have direction, and you need to have a system in place because more money just means bigger decisions, higher expectations, more pressure. And let me tell you, pressure is not peace. Okay. We do not need the pressure. It's not gonna bring a diamond out of us. It's gonna bring out chaos and frustration and guilt and shame and ugh. So let's get down to the nitty-gritty, okay? Money stress usually isn't about not enough money. It's about unassigned money, unallocated money. Money coming in, but it has no job, it has no place to go. It just disappears, right? Money that makes you feel behind even when the numbers look good on paper, right? Like we make enough money to pay our mortgage on time every month, but some reason we just never pay our mortgage on time every month. We're always paying the late fee, okay? When money doesn't have a purpose, it creates pressure, frustration, anxiety, even at all income levels, okay? Clarity and structure, not cash, is what most people are missing within their finances. Now, if you circle back and go listen to episode 92, we talk about the why. This is where that why comes into the picture. If your money isn't aligned with what matters most to you, it will always feel off. You can earn more and still feel stuck and behind and out of control because peace doesn't come from an amount of money. It comes from alignment. All right. This is like the third or fourth episode I've talked about alignment. Like it is a thing, guys. Alignment is when your spending reflects your values. Okay. And then what happens is stress decreases. Even if nothing changes right away, you're gonna see it. So I want you to reflect on this real quick, okay? Do you know where your money is going? Or do you just hope it all works out? When people come into the better budgeting playbook and they are like, Yeah, we pay things, but we really don't have a system and it's, you know, whatever. And I was like, oh, you do the pay and pray method. And they're like, What? Yeah, you pay your bill and you pray that your account doesn't go in the negative. It's always just like a really good giggle for all of us, just to kind of like ease the tension of what's happening with our finances. But going back to reflecting, it's, you know, does your spending reflect your priorities or does it reflect convenience? Are you managing your money reactively or proactively? And again, this isn't judgment questions. This is just clarity questions. So answer those and then get back to me. Send me a message on Facebook or Instagram, or even click the button in here, send me a message in the show notes and let me know about those questions. Okay. But here's something interesting, okay? The more money that you make, the more complex your decisions. All right. You know this. If you think back to when you were a teenager and you were working and you had only a car, maybe you paid for your car insurance and the gas, like it was really easy to make the decision to go out to eat or pay for the prom ticket for your girlfriend or whatever. You know what I mean? It was really easy to make those decisions, but now you make way more money and you have to make complex decisions. There's more accounts, more commitments, more opportunities to say yes to. Without structure, that complexity becomes overwhelming. Okay. I see it all the time where people just have like eight bank accounts, and this is going here, and that goes into this account, and this dollar pays for that thing exactly. And you know what I mean? That's why you need structure. Okay. But also, this is why people with lower incomes sometimes feel a little bit more in control because they're forced to be intentional. So instead of asking, how do I make more money? a better question is, how do I make my money work for the life I actually want? That shift is big because when money has clarity, confidence grows. And when confidence grows, stress dissolves. And that's what we want: less stress in our lives. Listen, our whole culture is built on this, right? Get out of high school, get into a good college, graduate college, and get a job, and all of our problems will be solved, you know. No, that's not true. Okay. And maybe you thought earning more would fix this. But let me tell you, you don't need to hustle harder. You don't need to restrict more. You don't need to feel ashamed. You need alignment, you need structure, you need support. And the great thing is, all of that is learnable. So, just like previous episodes, I'm gonna give you an action step for this week. And I want you to ask yourself, with more clarity and no extra income, nothing changes. What do I want my money working toward? Again, no income change. And I'm not talking about next year, I'm not talking about someday, I'm talking about right now. What do I want my money working toward? Because peace doesn't come from more money, it comes from intentional money, right? We've established that. And that's what we're building one aligned decision at a time. Intentional money spending. Thank you so much for listening to this week's episode of the Better Budgeting Podcast. I'll talk to you soon. Bye bye.