How a family of five beat overspending to find ‘freedom’

There wasn’t much money in the household that Toui Lepkhammany grew up in. So once he was earning decent money he splurged thousands of dollars on “toys” such as remote-controlled cars. He even paid for an entire European holiday on a credit card.

Lepkhammany had fallen victim to what financial professionals like mortgage broker Ben Kingsley call lifestyle creep – the phenomenon where spending grows in lockstep with any increases in income.