Lifestyle Creep, Earnings Season, and Staying Invested

A Goldman Sachs research report from October 2025 found that 40% of households earning over $500,000 a year report living paycheck to paycheck. Adam and Andy dig into that number, what it tells us about how people relate to money as their income climbs, and why the gap between being rich and being wealthy matters more than most people realize. The conversation moves into earnings season, where 139 S&P 500 companies have already reported double-digit earnings growth and nearly double-digit revenue growth, despite all the headlines about tariffs, geopolitical risk, and economic uncertainty. Andy explains why staying invested tends to beat reacting to the noise, and shares a stat from Ben Carlson's A Wealth of Common Sense: the S&P 500 has returned 17% annually for the past 17 years. The episode closes with the same throughline that runs under both conversations. Whether you're building wealth or learning to spend it, patience and discipline tend to get you further than any single financial move. ⏱️ Timestamps: (00:42) Intro and Andy's weekend at Dominion Raceway (02:36) Goldman Sachs data on paycheck-to-paycheck living across income levels (05:12) Lifestyle creep and why income growth doesn't guarantee wealth (12:11) The distinction between being rich and being wealthy (14:24) Morgan Housel's definition of wealth and the savings creep strategy (17:09) Earnings season update and double-digit growth despite the headlines (19:56) Why fear sells and how to filter market noise (20:28) The S&P's 17% annualized return over 17 years (23:13) Podcast disclosures Resources: Long Story Short website | burneywealth.com/podcast Follow Burney Wealth Management on LinkedIn | www.linkedin.com/company/burneywealthmanagement Follow Adam Newman on Linkedin | www.linkedin.com/in/adam-newman-cfa-cfp%C2%AE-mst-ricp%C2%AE-cepa-48853916/ Follow Andy Pratt on LinkedIn | www.linkedin.com/in/andyjpratt/ Goldman Sachs Asset Management Retirement Survey and Insights Report, October 2025 | https://am.gs.com/en-us/advisors/news... Paycheck to paycheck graph | https://x.com/fintechfrank/status/204... A Wealth of Common Sense, Ben Carlson | https://awealthofcommonsense.com/ The Psychology of Money, Morgan Housel | https://www.amazon.com/Psychology-Mon... #lifestylecreep #wealthbuilding #personalfinance #stockmarket #retirementplanning #wealthmanagement #longterminvesting The Burney Company is an SEC-registered investment adviser. Burney Wealth Management is a division of the Burney Company. Registration with the SEC or any state securities authority does not imply that Burney Company or any of its principals or employees possesses a particular level of skill or training in the investment advisory business or any other business. This content is for informational and educational purposes only. It is not intended as personalized investment advice or a recommendation.