More income can purchase less freedom if every increase creates a larger obligation.

Earning more can reduce freedom when each raise arrives attached to a larger fixed life. A bigger place, a longer commitment, expectations that adjust upward immediately, and suddenly the higher income is fully spoken for and leaving is harder than it was when you had less. The money grew and the room to move shrank.

When income rises, let some of it stay unassigned for a while. Unspent money is not idle; it is the ability to change your mind later.