Mel Abraham#1 Best Selling Author, Money Mentor

High Income Is Just a Shinier Leash

18 Aug 2026 · 1 min

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In this brief monologue, Mel Abraham argues that pursuing higher income is often mistaken for the ultimate goal, when the true objective should be buying back time and freedom. He illustrates that two people with identical incomes and circumstances can experience vastly different financial lives because they view "currency" differently. High income, he says, becomes a "shinier leash"—it may look impressive but can feel restrictive if it isn’t used to purchase personal time. Abraham urges listeners to shift their focus from asking how to make more money to asking how to reclaim more of their time, emphasizing that freedom should be the primary metric of financial success.

Chapters

You know what's interesting? 2 people can sit at the same dinner table, the same income, the same city, and live completely different financial lives. See, the difference isn't luck. It's what they think the real currency is. Most of us are trained to grow the income and to protect it and missing dinners and recitals and all the things along the way, assuming that freedom comes Later, but income was never supposed to be the goal. It was supposed to buy back your time. High income is just a shinier leash. It looks better in the photos, but it feels worse around your neck. See, stop asking how to make more money. Start asking how to buy back more of your time.