You Spend What You Make

There was an interesting conversation that happened on comms a few days ago. Coredun and I had just finished running a 10/10, and had gotten a very nice drop, around 1.4b. I commented that that money would keep us running for a month at least, and I had the realization that just like in real life, you spend what you make in EVE.

When I was a newbie, I remember salvaging around 6 Forsaken Hubs after Evil had finished running them in his Legion, and Evil even let me keep all the salvage, so that netted me around 100 mil. I was so happy, I think I lived off of that money for a month. Now, 100 mil is still good money, but put in perspective with the rest of my liquid ISK, it's just a drop in the bucket.

I also spend more money now that I used to, by a long shot. I have many more bills to pay, as it were. I have to pay for my wormhole POS fuel, corp freighter costs to ship my loot up to hisec, isotopes for my carrier, and ammo for my ships, which is usually T2 now. I'm sure there are other things I've forgotten as well. With money comes increased costs, because we can, and we like luxury and new toys. Most of these costs aren't because I'm being bored and buying new ships every day or something, they're just my normal expenses, like buying dinner when I work late in real life. They're the normal, and really aren't much of my total income, but compared to when I was a newbie, I spend a ludicrous amount of ISK on random, banal things.

This concept of spending what you make is present even more strongly in real life. When we have money, we tend to do more things that require it. Eating out, going to movies, buying more expensive presents, more toys, any number of things. Probably the largest money-sink is the place of living. When you have more money, chances are you have a nicer house, or apartment. Because you can afford it, and rarely for any other reason. There are times when a larger house is needed, like if you have a child or something of that nature, but if you're living by yourself, you can get away with a much smaller and cheaper place of living. Cutting down on the largest of costs will allow you to save a lot more money, as well. I know Dave Ramsey recommends living in just what you can stand when trying to pay off debt, then once you're debt-free, upgrading living arrangements, but paying cash for whatever big purchase you get.

It's an interesting thought, comparing your expenses now to what they were when you were a newbie.