WHY YOU MAKE GOOD MONEY AND STILL FEEL BROKE: The Hidden Psychology of Spending, Lifestyle Creep, and Financial Stress - Softcover

Abbott, Fenton V.

Softcover

ISBN 13: 9798193591290

Publisher: Independently published, 2026

Synopsis

You check your bank account on payday. For about twenty minutes, life feels good.

Then rent comes out. The car payment follows. Insurance, groceries, that subscription you forgot you even signed up for. By the time the dust settles, you're sitting there doing math you didn't want to do — asking the same question you've asked a dozen times before.

Where did it all go?

Nobody tells you the truth: this isn't a spreadsheet problem, and it isn't a willpower problem either. You're not bad with money. You just never learned how to actually see it — where it's going, why you spend the way you do, and how a raise can slip through your fingers before you even feel it land.

This book changes that.

Here's what you'll walk away with:

• Why a bigger paycheck doesn't automatically mean more security — and what does
• The real difference between your income and your margin (the number that quietly decides how safe you feel)
• How "it's just twenty bucks" turns into hundreds a month, without one reckless purchase
• The psychology behind every "$89/month" offer — and the five-question test that outsmarts it every time
• Why you dread checking your bank balance, and the one-word shift that breaks that cycle for good
• A real, step-by-step system for building breathing room: an emergency buffer, a debt payoff plan, and a way to make every future raise actually stick
• Permission — actual, practical permission — to enjoy your money without the guilt trip

Told through stories you'll recognize from your own life, and grounded in real financial well-being research, this isn't another book telling you to skip your morning coffee. It won't lecture you. It won't shame you. And it won't pretend your income doesn't matter, because it does.

What it will do is show you what's been quietly steering your financial life — and hand you a clear, honest plan to take the wheel yourself.

Plus, you'll get the 30-Day Financial Breathing-Room Challenge: a day-by-day roadmap that turns everything in this book into action, starting the moment you close the last page.

Ready to stop wondering where your money went? Grab your copy today and take the first step toward the breathing room you deserve.

Edition details

• Publisher: Independently published
• Publication date: 2026
• Language: English
• ISBN 13: 9798193591290
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 192