Here's the big secret that nobody tells you, you can only save as much as you earn. But you can always earn more money. And I hear you, living in a high cost of living area sucks because everything from groceries, to rent, to services like gyms all cost more. But the reason they do cost more or because these areas are homes to more diverse industries, meaning higher paying jobs and being able to find opportunities that aren't available elsewhere in the country. And here's the big key. If you are making more money and you're able to keep your biggest costs such as shelter, food and transportation relatively stable, you'll be able to save and invest more money than if you were to try to create that surplus of cash by saving and spending frugally. This is all to say, there's a lot of conversation about cost cutting and spending responsibly. When the conversation should also really focus on increasing your income because that may be just as if not more important.