1099 lifestyle inflation
When you first go 1099, it's likely you'll get a big pay bump (probably 50% or so).
It's exciting and you'll be tempted to buy some fun stuff or splurge on a luxury vacation, and you absolutely should!
But you should be careful about what lifestyle expenses you adopt into your FIXED costs.
Let's say you make $100,000 as a W2 and as a 1099 you make $150,000.
Previously you might spend $80,000 per year on expenses and left $20,000 for savings.
Now that you're making $150,000, you decide you can spend $120,000 per year and save $30,000 (still 20% savings).
So you're now spending an additional $40,000 per year on your lifestyle
You move to a more expensive house, buy a car with a loan, and order takeout 3x per week.
The problem is now at a minimum, you have to make $120,000 per year. It's very hard to downgrade your lifestyle once you've moved up.
You going to go back to an apartment after living in a single family home? Sell that new Mercedes that you got and buy a Toyota?
Nope.
Going 1099 means you are making more than you would as a W2, but it also has some risk.
I don't have any concrete guidelines, but a more conservative approach would be to save 80% of your additional earnings, and use the remaining 20% for whatever you'd like.
So if you made $50,000 more, $40,000 would go to savings, and $10,000 would go to lifestyle upgrades.
You could use it on fixed costs. $10,000/year might move you up a tier in housing.
Or you could decide you'd like to spend it on a nice vacation instead and keep your fixed costs the same.
That remaining $40,000 will be a buffer for you in case a project falls through, you have to take a lower paying gig, etc.
Your base spending will have only increased from $80,000 to $90,000, and if you had to take a W2 gig again at $100,000, you'd be just fine, even if your savings rate take a hit.
Getting a big raise is great! But a little restraint on the spending will give you some peace of mind and a nice savings buffer.
Want the full playbook? Check out Going 1099.