Money Lessons Nobody Tells You About When You Get A Pay Raise

Getting a raise, promotion or bonus is generally a good thing. Every Singaporean hopes to earn more money to support the family, go on vacations, buy a new car, the list goes on. But if you're not careful with your increased income, you may find that you actually have less cash to spend. And if rich people are mostly good with money, why does following their advice fail to work for you?

Here, discover 5 key money lessons to know and help you save, grow and manage your income:

1. When you earn more, you can have less to spend

This doesn’t make sense, right? The more you earn, the more you should be able to spend. On a practical basis, we usually take on more obligations as we make more money.

Say you used to make S$4,000 a month, and had overheads of S$1,000 (so you can spend about S$3,000 a month). One day you get promoted and start earning S$5000 a month. As a result, you decide you can afford to provide your elderly parents with money and upgrade to a bigger house. Suddenly, your overheads more than double from S$1,000 a month to S$2,500 a month. Deducted from your new salary, you now have only S$2,500 a month to spare.

Due to your obligations, you have less to spend. But you initially took on those obligations because you started to earn more. You may think this is common sense, but it’s really not.

For example, a lot of Singaporeans are caught off guard when they get a substantial pay raise and upgrade to private housing. Suddenly, the S$900 monthly repayment on the flat turns into a S$2,500 monthly repayment on the condo.

2. Be aware - not all rich people give good advice

There are plenty of financial methods you should learn from the rich – provided you’re referring to a rich person who worked their way there. For all you know, you could be talking to a lucky lottery winner, or someone who was born rich. Both may give you terrible advice. Even the ones who got rich through their own effort can dispense bad advice.

This is because people can get rich by doing something incredibly risky, and find out it paid off…for them.

For example, an entrepreneur who tells you to quit your job and follow your passions. After all, it certainly worked for him. But statistically, nearly 50% of startups fail within the first three years – and only 1 in 10 go beyond the fifth year. Now the entrepreneur you’re talking to is not trying to deceive you. A startup really is how he made his money, and he may truly believe it works because it paid off for him. But this is a little like a lottery winner telling you it’s worth buying a Toto ticket every week: he only thinks it works because he’s one among millions of lottery buyers who got rich.

3. Most people don't rely on their jobs to get rich - they invest

When was the last time a newspaper published a headline that read “Singaporean gets rich from working regular, full-time job”? The vast majority of rich people did not get there by worrying about S$1,000 raises, or what degree or diplomas they have.

Some jobs are more lucrative than others, that’s true. But you’ll notice that even among lawyers earning S$15,000 a month, some seem to be dead broke all the time.

Look at Singapore’s 50 wealthiest people. The overwhelming majority made it there by clever investments or running their own business (which counts as an investment, since you put time and money into it). Most of them got there by understanding markets or astute money management, not by sitting in an office doing the same thing for 30 years. That’s a lesson for anyone aspiring to be rich.

4. New challenges will arise when you have more money

Ever heard of the old saying "new levels bring new devils"? This is somewhat similar to point 1, but we’re also talking about the frustration that comes with each level of financial attainment. Every time you think you finally understand how this money thing works, the challenge will change.

By the time you understand how to balance your pay cheque, you’ll end up saddled with having to buy a house. Everything changes, as now you have a 25 to 30-year mortgage.

By the time you get the hang of living with a mortgage, your children get older and go to school. Everything changes again, as now you need to pay for their education, plan for university tuition fees, etc.

By the time your child is in university, you think you understand how to balance your finances. But then it’s time to look after your aging parents, deal with your mounting healthcare costs, and look at deficiencies in your retirement fund. Again, everything changes.

Every time you reach a new level of wealth, you will be faced with new lessons and be forced to discard previous ones. Even new billionaires face money challenges they’ve never dealt with before.

5. Be willing to have awkward conversations

People who make more money are, quite simply, the ones who have a thicker skin. They are willing to negotiate with the boss for a pay raise, and they don’t budge when clients ask for a discount. They are also brazen about approaching complete strangers, and pushing their side-income. They face a lot of disputes and rejections over it, but they have a chance. The quiet people don’t.

So while it hasn’t been made clear in many business textbooks, we’re giving you the blunt truth right now: the more awkward conversations you are ready to have, the more money you will potentially make. If you want to be shy and not rock the boat, don’t be surprised if you’re the one passed up for raises and promotions. Stewing about it silently will not magically make your boss notice either.

For more money tips, read 5 Money-Savvy Things To Do With Your Pay Raise Or Bonus This Year, 8 Ways To Save Money When Booking Holidays Online and 5 Habits That Will Help You Save Money Better.

Text: Ryan Ong / Additional Reporting: Elizabeth Liew

This article first appeared on SingSaver.com.sg, Singapore’s #1 financial comparison platform for credit cards and personal loans.