How Much Money Do You Actually Need?

Want to listen to this post instead of reading it?

Listen to the Run Your Money Show on Apple Podcasts!

Listen to the Run Your Money Show on Spotify!

Financial experts talk all the time about how much money you need, whether they're talking about your emergency fund or retirement accounts. But rarely do they ever unpack the question, how much money do you need?

Though this question uses the word need, I don't mean just the basics.

I'm also not here to shame or judge anyone on how much money you want, need, or already have. My question is, how much do you need to live your life? That is sufficient, sustainable, satisfying, and soulful?

This is the prosperity framework that I learned from my mentor, Elizabeth DiAlto.

Now look, I love doing the number crunching. But it's also worth unpacking the deeper question of how much you need.

Here's why:

I've talked a lot about on TikTok, Instagram, and in my newsletter that while I've always been great with money, my relationship with money has been more up and down.

One way that I characterize that relationship is the scarcity mindset.

Regardless of how much money I had in my account or how much I was making at any given moment, I always felt like I needed more. If I just had a little bit more, then I could feel more safe and secure in my finances,

I did all sorts of inner work to heal that. While some of it did help, nothing got to the root of it. I still would always fall back into this pattern of, "I need more. More is better."

...Until I learned Elizabeth Dialto's prosperity framework, I realized that a lot of my scarcity mindset was not rooted back to my childhood or my broken mindset but was actually internalized capitalism.

Capitalism is probably the best economic system we have, although it is very broken and certainly has many faults. That's why it needs to be regulated.

When it's not regulated, those at the top will keep taking because that is what capitalism encourages: getting something produced for as little as possible to maximize profits.

You can see how this can lead, has led, and is still leading to human exploitation. We can also have a similar internal relationship with money that reflects the larger capitalist system.

I always felt like I needed more, so it drove me to work, work, work, and produce more and more and more to the point of burnout or impacting my relationships around me.

To overcome that, it's helpful to look at more than just the numbers, even though, yes that's important too.

Bookmark this post and write down the four parts of the framework: sufficiency, sustainability, satisfaction, and soulfulness, so you can return to it later.

Sufficiency:

When you think of sufficiency, you might think of your basic needs, but I want you to ask what would make you feel sufficient to help you thrive.

That will include food, shelter, and protection from the elements.

But I want you to think beyond that as well. What do you want to be able to pay for effortlessly in your life that will help you to show up, whether it's at work or for your family or a friend or a partner or kids or whoever, as your best self?

For most people, that will be more than just the necessities.

In addition to the basics, one thing that's important to me is my self-care. I run my own business. I see clients, I'm constantly producing content, and if I'm not keeping up with my self-care, then all that stuff will go to absolute shit.

I will spend money generously on bodywork and my mental health. I spend money on therapists, coaches, retreats, and other support group programs.

For example, I'm in a new mom's support group right now.

I will spend money generously on body work like massages and acupuncture.

But I will only spend a little money going to eat, concerts, or movies. They are things that feel worth it to spend money on. But I do want to be able to do activities with my family, especially with my kids. I want to go on a couple of vacations per year. I want to drive safe cars and easily maintain and repair them as they break down. I want to be able to live in a neighborhood with great schools that are walkable with lots of sidewalks.

I lived where it's not walkable, even to walk the dog. That deteriorated my mental health because walking is a massive part of how I stay healthy physically and get out and get fresh air, feeling the sunshine and the wind.

These are things that I need to feel sufficient. I want to acknowledge that there's privilege here, and you might be listening to this thinking, "Dang, I'm just trying to pay the bills."

I want to encourage you not to compare. It doesn't do any good for you.

I want you to start thinking about what it means to be sufficient in your life. What would that look like? Then we can ask the question, what would that actually cost?

Sustainability:

This is where I start asking myself, "But at what cost?"

I'm very money-motivated. I enjoy making money. I enjoy looking at spreadsheets and projections and my accounts and seeing where things have grown and where I can optimize. I just personally like doing it. It's why I'm doing this kind of work in my career!

However, there has to be a point for me where I have to ask myself, "But at what cost?"

If I am all work, work, work, work because I like to see the numbers going up, then there usually is a cost elsewhere.

Sometimes, that cost could be my mental health. It could be my physical health because I'm choosing to work instead of getting up and going on a walk, moving my body, or doing my physical therapy.

That could also look like I'm choosing to work rather than going on a coffee date with a new friend or spending time with my partner or kids.

So, for me, I have to look at what feels sustainable once a quarter or so:

How many hours can I dedicate to work each day to generate income because my family relies on that, but not at the cost of my physical and mental health, community, friends and partner, and spending quality time with my kids?

This is hard for me. Sometimes, it takes everything to shut the laptop down and not get on my phone two seconds later.

Asking myself this question, "But at what cost?" has helped me back off on how the scarcity mindset can impact me negatively, like believing it's never enough.

When I'm clear on what is sustainable, it helps me set my guard rails to shut the laptop.

What is sustainable for me will change!

Right now, I have a newborn baby. I have another kid under three years old. The newborn isn't in daycare, and I'm breastfeeding. My time is limited, so the income I can generate is also limited. I'm okay with that. In January, it'll change because my newborn will start daycare.

Each season, I reassess what's sustainable. Am I making enough to yes cover my bills, and am I also not working enough to make sure that I'm staying healthy and living the life that I want?

Satisfaction:

Is how you're making money satisfying to you? This is not to be confused with being passionate about your career.

Social media has driven home this point that you should be passionate about your career and how you make money.

First, that's privileged because there are many essential jobs that most people would not say they're passionate about, but it might pay the bills or give them the benefits they need to support their families.

Also, we need passionate people in all industries, whether corporate, on Wall Street, or pharmaceuticals.

When I talk about satisfaction from how you make money, I'm not talking about finding your passion. I'm talking about, does it feel satisfying in the way that you are working?

I'll give you an example. My husband is an engineer. He works for the US Mint. He's very good at engineering, and his brain is wired to be an engineer.

It's a good job that pays him well, has excellent benefits, and a great retirement package. Would he say he's passionate about engineering or the work he does?

His answer would be no. He finds most of his passion outside his career and his *gasp* hobbies that he hasn't monetized. That works for him well.

He feels satisfied in his job and how he makes money because of what his job allows him to do outside of work.

Part 4, Soulfulness:

The final piece of the prosperity framework is how you relate to money.

I can get into a bad emotional habit where my financial success defines my self-worth. Soulfulness is about healing that relationship. So, in healing my relationship with money, I've worked on instead of money determining my value, I've allowed it to become a vehicle to express my values.

One way I've done that is to define my personal money philosophy. It's this: I don't see money as inherently good or bad. It's not evil, and money alone doesn't make you greedy.

It's just a tool. It's like a hammer. A hammer can build a house, which is a great thing, or it can kill somebody, which is not great.

Money is the same way. Money can cause a lot of harm to a lot of people. You can also use money to do a lot of good for people.

From that overarching philosophy, I can think about what I want to do with my money. Yes, I can buy my lattes, avocado toast, or whatever luxuries I want today while saving for the future.

And I can use the money to express my values in the world around me by donating or being conscious about where I shop.

So there you have it. That's the prosperity framework, sufficiency, sustainability, satisfaction, and soulfulness.

Could you put a number to this? , how much would living in your personal prosperity framework cost?

Absolutely.

For now, it's a helpful way to start thinking about money outside of just the spreadsheet.

I love the system to serve as a check on myself. When I return to the mindset of, "Oh my gosh, I need more money," I can run through these four pieces of the framework and figure out the real problem.

Is there really a gap in the money right now? If so, how can I close that gap with other savings or put more energy into my business?

Or is it more about just some fear and scarcity coming up?

I would love to hear from you now. What do you think of the prosperity framework?

What feels sufficient, sustainable, satisfying, and soulful for you? You can let me know on Instagram, Tiktok, or email me.

Want free money advice in your inbox every week?

Subscribe to my Run Your Money Newsletter for free money tips and tools to help you run your money better in your relationship, with kids, and more!