According to a study reported by the Wall Street Journal, everyone would like more money. But how much more money? They displayed the answer in absolute dollars, but I converted it to percentages for a clearer look:
Assuming this is meaningful—which I'm not sure of—this is an interesting U shape. People become more satisfied with their incomes all the way to the $100K level, where people are so satisfied they figure paradise would only require a 14% raise. But then, as you get into the top 10% club, it goes up. The richer you are, the more you need to be happy.
Personally, I think these folks are all thinking too small. I figure it would take a billion dollars to truly make me satisfied, which comes to about a one million percent raise, give or take. And I still probably wouldn't be happy because then everyone would always be hitting me up for stuff. You just can't please some people.
In any case, the moral of the story is that the ideal income is about $125,000. For some reason, at that level people live pretty comfortable lives and don't feel like they need much more. Presumably it's because the next level above this is yachts and ritzy golf clubs, and those are so expensive they aren't worth thinking about. But move up a little and suddenly these big ticket items start to seem achievable.
Or maybe people who earn lots of money are the kind of people who are motivated by money and are always chasing the brass ring. The more they have, the more they want.
Ok, off topic, but did you know Wyoming doesn’t exist?
https://www.newsfromme.com/2023/11/20/todays-video-link-4034/
Greed breeds more greed does it not?
The raise it takes for you to be happy is relative to the amount others received -- if you got less, you're very unhappy, if it's more, you're giddy as fuck.
The $100-125 range is where you can be comfortable in having bills paid, have fairly nice things and live the classic American life. Those who strive beyond that will always want more. Most people just want to not be stressed about money and live a comfortable life.
Married with two kids. Older, smaller home in pretty good suburban school district. Two old, paid off cars. Wife stays at home so no child care expenses. 150k leaves little to spare for anything special and forces us to scrimp, bargain hunt, do it ourselves, and constantly discuss expenses.
I prefer to always adjust these figures for household size. 125K becomes, say, 185K for a couple, and 250K for a couple with two children.
You don't live in the DC area obviously let alone NYC or Boston.
Maybe it's because I'm retired, but my answer is none. I need none more money to make me happy.
I need to get some of those weirdos out of politics, and I'd like for my *adult children* to have more money so they can afford some of the things that we saw as basics when we were their age. But I myself need no more money. I'm doing just fine. I even have enough to give some to my kids, and to help get rid of those weirdos in politics.
i'd be happier if trump had about 10 billion dollars less and musk had a trillion more so he could go to mars and never come back
You are rich!
If you cannot be happy on a Portuguese median income, then you will be miserable when average global temperatures rise 4C.
Respectfully, this line of argument/reasoning embeds a material fallacy: economic happiness is relative (when compared to your friend and neighbors, when compared to the local cost of living etc) and not absolute.
This is basically the perfect blog entry for someone - apparently, me - to bring up the old adage about having "enough." There are people, particularly rich people, who can never have "enough," and the rest of us suffer for it.
You forgot to link this:
https://youtu.be/ITs-YX1yQ7o?si=0zy5xm0g-TSmKzwd
To be happy, you only have to make more than your brother-in-law.
My mother used to tell me, "Money can't buy happiness, but it can buy a reasonable facsimile."
Weird Al sang "Money can't buy happiness, so I guess I'll have to rent it"
I've been spouting that line for decades. Is this where I got it from?
Johnny Rocco knew what many folks want:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITs-YX1yQ7o
The important metric is the amount of
F'you money needed to retire.
"Do you want to be a $400,000 a year Wall Street working stiff, flying first class and being comfortable? Or do you want MORE?"
$400,000/year isn't enough to fly first class. At least, not from, say, sfo to bkk.
$400,000/year isn't enough to fly first class. At least, not from, say, sfo to bkk
Depends on lots of factors. Are you supporting only yourself on that income? Is it gross or net? Certainly a single person who had 35K in cash coming in a month could spring for first class ticket to Asia—at least on occasion if not super frequently. It's about 20K round trip based on my quick googling.
(I personally think that's a colossal waste of money. But that's a different issue.)
There's a huge difference in stress levels etc between having to carefully budget monthly expenses while avoiding frills, vs having some savings and now having to worry about paying the bills each month, while also being able to have a nicer car and go on vacation.
I'd rather be rich and miserable than poor and miserable. Money can't buy happiness but can certainly help ease the pain.