<prompt> Human: Ive seen a lot of discussion recently on living above ones means. What Im curious about is, what exactly does this mean?Ive done a bit of thinking and personally, Ive come to the conclusion that living above your means implies that you are stuck at that level of living, either by choice or by necessity. For example, you purchase a home that you cannot afford, or start to accumulate credit card debt by not paying it off each month - those are good signs you are living above your means.For my wife and I, weve certainly started spending more as weve started to earn more money. I restarted collecting trading cards, we buy a bit more expensive groceries, go out to eat more often, etc. but still save 2.5K a month and 15 in 401Ks. However, these are easily scaled back ifwhen required, whereas having an excessive mortgage or financing an expensive card are not so easily scaled back.So, what are your thoughts on the definition of living above your means?Assistant: Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen pounds nineteen and six, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds nought and six, result misery. Charles Dickens in David CopperfieldSpending more than you make, plain and simple. Id argue that failing to plan for the future is highly imprudent and likely to result in living above your means in the future, but isnt necessarily doing so now.Human: So that begs the question of is the future technically part of living above your means in the present? Kind of interesting how many posts here reference the future, yet when others think about living within their means, they think about the present.  <response>: Its both. Living above you means could be spending more than you make, but it could also mean spending as much as you make, and not having enough for retirement or emergencies. A person who lives above their means will eventually find themselves in a precarious situation no money for retirement, cant pay back debt, not money for medical emergency, etc. 