I can only speak for myself, but I've never had a problem with character progression at that point. I normally *don't* steal anything unless it's specifically required for a quest objective (the mortician's journal; 'evidence' against Esmerelda, etc), or even loot the in-town barrels and crates that are free to take things from. Despite that, I haven't had a cash shortage.
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At that point, you don't really need to steal anything to get started - there's enough stuff lying around before reaching and just beyond Cyseal (as well as in the tunnel beneath), and none of it involves theft.
Obviously that's going to depend on "luck" with RNG loot, which is another topic that gets debated heavily. With that setup, we can (unfortunately) never predict how much funding a player will have to work with by any particular point in the game. That makes party resources very tricky to balance.
I mean, I just opened a chest today that had three legendary items in it. Two of them are weapons, and they are twice as powerful as the weapons my party is currently using., and their collective gold value represents more money than I've acquired since starting my adventure.
They are literally "game changers". To test, I saved and reloaded, and the next time I checked the chest I received two blue magic items, a rat tail, and a mushroom. Those are two very directions the game can go resulting in two very different experiences.