Lifestyle inflation is an insidious killer of your financial wellbeing and eventual financial independence.

What it is: allowing your expenses to grow along with increases in your income.

How preventing it helps:

• Using increases in income t...

Assuming you're in your 20s or 30s and can earn an average investment return of five percent a year, you'll need to save about 20 percent of your income so you can reach financial independence when you're older.

Financial independence means that you can maintain your chosen lifestyle entir...

1. Gather every financial statement you can (bank statements, investment accounts, recent utility bills).
2. Record all of your sources of income.
3. Create a list of monthly expenses.
4. Break expenses into 2 categories: fixed and variable.