Have you ever read those articles where some extremely well-off family details their daily budget and then mourn that they’re barely getting by?
It’s funny that anyone could complain about raking in $250,000 a year, and it’s clear many of these folks are wildly out of touch with how fortunate they are. But while these families may be extreme (and irritating), they aren’t alone. It’s not just the rich who fall into the trap of earning more only to spend more and feel just as discontented.
How do you get of this treadmill?
The answer is not to compare yourself with others (Jeff Bezos will always be there to make you feel unpleasant), or to blindly try to keep making more (there will always be some shiny, new thing to crave). The reaction is to take a hard look at your own financial realities and aspirations and come up with an objective number. How much money is enough for you?
The Science of happiness and money
That figure will be different for everyone, depending on your situation and values, but science is trying to help you decide. Researchers are currently involved in an intense debate about whether there is a cut off point above which additional earnings stops having an impact on happiness.
One very eminent study showed that above about $85,000 dollars a year, give or take a bit depending on cost of living, more money doesn’t mean more life gratification. Other, newer research found no such cut-off point.
But while the details are still being studied, just about everyone in the field agrees that if you’re actually poverty-stricken, making more will likely make you significantly jovial. There is also consensus that each additional dollar adds a little less to your life and there exists a level of wealth way before Bill Gates status that trading more effort and time for more money ceases to make sense (even Bill Gates says so).
How about you? HOW MUCH MONEY IS ENOUGH?
