Key to Keeping More of the Money You Make

Imagine two Tupperware containers. One holds 1.7 litres. The other holds 2.3. It's a strange thing to bring into a conversation about money, but it's a good prop to demonstrate a point: the amount of money someone can hold has very little to do with how much they earn, and a lot to do with the size of the container they've built for it.

The container problem

Give someone the small container and ask them to fill it, and they will. It doesn't matter what you're pouring in, money, tasks, bills, commitments. The container fills to its size and no further. This is exactly what happens with income.

I've worked with clients who cannot seem to break past a certain revenue number, no matter how much effort they put in. It's rarely a lack of ideas or work ethic. It's that they've never built the structure to hold more than what they're already used to.

What makes this tricky is that it doesn't feel like a structural problem. It feels personal. People tell themselves they're "just not good with money," when the real issue is they've never had a system that matches the amount they're trying to hold.

Capacity shows up in the body first

Here's a test worth trying. Picture more money landing in your account right now, today.  Imagine also that you don't need this money to pay bills - those are covered.  This extra money is just that, extra.  Notice what happens in your body, not just your thoughts. Do you feel calm? Or does something tighten?

That physical response is information. If more money creates tension instead of relief, that's often a sign the container hasn't been built yet, and until it has, more money will tend to create more stress rather than more freedom.

I've had clients tell me they want a pile of cash sitting in the bank because it makes them feel safe, and others who avoid having money sit there at all because they're scared they'll just spend it. Both are signs of a container that isn't ready yet, just in different directions.

The myth about women and money

There's a stereotype that women are bad investors because we're more cautious. In practice, that caution tends to produce better outcomes, not worse ones. Less emotional decision-making, less reactive buying and selling, more research before acting. Caution isn't the opposite of capability. Often, it's what capability looks like before it's recognised as such.

Building the container before the money arrives

I lived this myself over the past 12 months, after receiving an inheritance following my father's passing. I didn't touch it straight away. I went to seminars, did research, and revisited parts of my own financial system I thought I already understood. Only once I had an actual plan did I move the money anywhere. Not because I was afraid of it, but because I wanted the structure in place first.

That's what the Money Pie framework does for my clients: it gives cash flow somewhere specific to go, so that when more money arrives, there's already a purpose and plan waiting for it instead of a scramble to figure one out.

Where to go from here

If you've hit a point where earning more hasn't translated into feeling more secure or more free, it's worth asking a different question than "how do I make more." Ask instead: have I built the container for it yet? That's a much more useful place to start, and unlike income, it's something you can actually build on purpose.

If this is landing for you and you want to talk it through, I offer a free discovery chat. No pitch, just a conversation about where you're at.