People seem to think that what matters is how much money they make. But this isn’t true; what’s important is how much money you spend, relative to how much you earn. It’s little use earning $100,000 a year if you have a lifestyle that costs $150,000 a year to maintain.

So if you’re doing well financially in your professional life, then you also need to ensure you’re doing financially well in your personal life, too. Below, we take a look at a few personal money drains you need to be aware of.

Lifestyle Inflation

People get pretty excited when they finally make the big time. They might have been earning $25,000 a year, and now, suddenly, they’re earning $50,000. That’s a huge jump, and it’s not one that people always make with style and grace. Indeed, simply giving a person more money can often be the financial trick that causes them problems. If you find yourself in a scenario where you suddenly have much more than before, then, at all costs, beware of lifestyle inflation. As your bills mount and mount, so will the pressure to keep earning the same amount of money.

Relationship Issues

In the right environment, love can help you grow your financial pot. But of course, life doesn’t always provide us with the right environment. Us humans are a mish-mash of emotions, actions, and everything else, so it’s no surprise that the course of love doesn’t always run smooth. If you’re facing a divorce, then make sure you’re working with a lawyer such as Shelly M. Ingram, with whom you can work towards a collaborative divorce, rather than expensive – and risky – court proceedings. If you handle it correctly, then your relationship woes don’t need to negatively affect your finances.

Not Thinking about the Future

Life may be all fun and games now, when the money is rolling in, but keep in mind that it’s not going to be that way forever. There’ll come a time when you give up your job and need to rely on your retirement savings. As such, one of the best steps you can take – as in today – is to take a step back and check that you’re making a big enough contribution to your retirement fund. Nothing will drain your bank account faster than retirement, so make sure there’s enough in there to maintain your lifestyle.

Unused Subscriptions

It’s easy to come through life acquiring new bills. Some money for a gym membership here, a subscription to a magazine there. Netflix, Spotify, Amazon Prime, and so on and so on. The question is: how often do you use things? If it’s not that often, then why are you spending so much money on them? Get rid of them – they’ll grow more quickly than you might think, reducing your bank balance by a not-insignificant sum each month.

In all, it’s all about keeping one eye on your income, and the other eye on the personal actions that most affect your finances.