No matter how much we make, it never feels enough. What can we do?

I’m exhausted. I feel like I’ve been pushing hard for years. I’ve worked hard to get to a good place in my career, so I’m earning well. I’ve got two kids and my partner also earns well. But it just seems like a never-ending grind: the “rat race” as some may call it. You get a little ahead, but then expenses increase. No matter how much we make, it never feels like enough. How do we get ahead?

There are two aspects to this: the practical and the mindset. Let’s start with the practical.

Most of us are taught that the key to financial success is: earn more money. So, you go to school, get a job, get a better job, work hard for a promotion: you focus all your financial energies on trying to earn more, believing that when you earn more you’ll finally be able to relax.

But that relief is never long-lived. Before long, you’re back in the same familiar feeling of chasing more money. Your life expands and so, your financial capacity needs to expand too .

Some will tell you to spend less , and others will tell you to earn more. It’s not one or the other – it’s a bit of both, and neither in extreme. You can become obsessed with frugality, but at some point you’ll start wondering if you’re living or just surviving. You can become obsessed with increasing your income, but if it never translates to real wealth, you’ll always be chasing more.

The financial relief you’re looking for comes from having investments that can grow and make money for you, independently of your ability to work.

This applies to every profession. Many think high-income earners are exempt. Surely, a well-known actor or a successful business owner is exempt. They don’t need to invest because they earn so much, right? Well, if that income is being spent on lifestyle expenses, no matter how much money that person makes, without investments, they will need to continue earning money at that level to keep funding their lifestyle.

So, one key way to stop chasing more money is to build a portfolio of assets that, over time, can fund your lifestyle – independent of your ability to earn an income.

Here’s something to think about – is it possible to experience “more than enough” while you are firmly rooted in your belief and experience of “not enough”? Not really.

So, there is your factual reality, and then there is your experience of your reality. Of course, for some, “not enough” is a financial fact. But it is also possible to have a million-dollar net-worth and still experience it as “not enough”. At some point, you don’t just have to change your financial reality, you have to change your experience of it too. That’s an internal game.

If you were my client, I’d get curious about why it feels “not enough”.