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that last little statistic she dropped was misleading. Money does buy happiness, for most people. Think about it. Would you be less happier if you made half

that last little statistic she dropped was misleading. Money does buy happiness, for most people. Think about it. Would you be less happier if you made half your current salary? Before you answer the question, think about all the life changes that would occur, should this happen: maybe you have to move into a bad neighborhood in a smaller apartment, no more eating out, no more vacations, no more dental procedures, etc. Okay, sure there is a threshold, perhaps at 800K or more your happiness wouldn't increase greatly. The point is, the vast majority of people are below that threshold. And, I've seen a number of happiness survey that show there's a pretty good correlation between happiness and earnings both at a macro level (comparing countires with high gdp per capita to low gdp per capita) and individual levels as well.

mcv 8y ago
Money buys happiness up to a certain point. I believe it was around $70,000 per year; at that point, you live a comfortable life where you don't have to worry about basic necessities and have some money left over for fun stuff (obviously this depends on the basic cost of living where you live; it's likely to be higher in Silicon Valley than in Thailand).
- mixmastamyk 8y ago
  In his book, Joe Dominguez called this point, "enough." https://www.nytimes.com/1997/01/27/us/joe-dominguez-58-championed-a-simple-and-frugal-life-style.html https://www.nytimes.com/1997/01/27/us/joe-dominguez-58-champ...
- mercutio2 8y ago
  I believe this study has been pretty thoroughly debunked. There is no known (statistical) upper bound to how much more money helps people’s happiness. It’s just that it increases happiness logarithmically, and people are bad at reasoning about logarithmic growth. Individual people may feel like they have enough, and not wish for more money, and that’s great. But when you look at happiness and satisfaction statistics (notably, not the same thing), the greater your windfall, the greater your long term happiness.
  - anoncake 8y ago
    The conclusion is the same though: Inequality means inefficiency if the goal is happiness.
- dragonwriter 8y ago
  > Money buys happiness up to a certain point. I believe it was around $70,000 per year The study I saw around 1990 was around $200,000/yr in then-current funds.
- kkarakk 8y ago
  >Money buys happiness up to a certain point There are whole industries built around making money buy happiness beyond that point. Humans aren't ideal creatures - once you make a ludicrous amount of money you start REALLY indulging in whatever crazy indulgences you fetishize
  - rofo1 8y ago
    > There are whole industries built around making money buy happiness beyond that point. Humans aren't ideal creatures - once you make a ludicrous amount of money you start REALLY indulging in whatever crazy indulgences you fetishize Yes, but that's up to you. That has nothing to do with money directly, cause presumably you were already into insane things that you could afford prior to making obscene amount of money.
  - mcv 8y ago
    There are whole industries helping you spend that money, sure, but does it really make you happier? I strongly doubt it. Many people are perfectly happy without enjoying the excesses of extreme wealth, as long as they're not threatened by poverty.
rofo1 8y ago
> Money does buy happiness, for most people. Think about it. > Would you be less happier if you made half your current > salary? Before you answer the question, think about all > the life changes that would occur, should this happen: > maybe you have to move into a bad neighborhood in a > smaller apartment, no more eating out, no more vacations, > no more dental procedures, etc. If you have the basic needs covered (shelter, food, medical care, bills), money will not buy happiness for you I think. Everything else is extra. I agree that if you worry about the rent/food every month, and suddenly you get a lot of money - definitely, that would result in increase of happiness.

mcv 8y ago

Money buys happiness up to a certain point. I believe it was around $70,000 per year; at that point, you live a comfortable life where you don't have to worry about basic necessities and have some money left over for fun stuff (obviously this depends on the basic cost of living where you live; it's likely to be higher in Silicon Valley than in Thailand).

mixmastamyk 8y ago
In his book, Joe Dominguez called this point, "enough." https://www.nytimes.com/1997/01/27/us/joe-dominguez-58-championed-a-simple-and-frugal-life-style.html https://www.nytimes.com/1997/01/27/us/joe-dominguez-58-champ...
mercutio2 8y ago
I believe this study has been pretty thoroughly debunked. There is no known (statistical) upper bound to how much more money helps people’s happiness. It’s just that it increases happiness logarithmically, and people are bad at reasoning about logarithmic growth. Individual people may feel like they have enough, and not wish for more money, and that’s great. But when you look at happiness and satisfaction statistics (notably, not the same thing), the greater your windfall, the greater your long term happiness.
- anoncake 8y ago
  The conclusion is the same though: Inequality means inefficiency if the goal is happiness.
dragonwriter 8y ago
> Money buys happiness up to a certain point. I believe it was around $70,000 per year The study I saw around 1990 was around $200,000/yr in then-current funds.
kkarakk 8y ago
>Money buys happiness up to a certain point There are whole industries built around making money buy happiness beyond that point. Humans aren't ideal creatures - once you make a ludicrous amount of money you start REALLY indulging in whatever crazy indulgences you fetishize
- rofo1 8y ago
  > There are whole industries built around making money buy happiness beyond that point. Humans aren't ideal creatures - once you make a ludicrous amount of money you start REALLY indulging in whatever crazy indulgences you fetishize Yes, but that's up to you. That has nothing to do with money directly, cause presumably you were already into insane things that you could afford prior to making obscene amount of money.
- mcv 8y ago
  There are whole industries helping you spend that money, sure, but does it really make you happier? I strongly doubt it. Many people are perfectly happy without enjoying the excesses of extreme wealth, as long as they're not threatened by poverty.

rofo1 8y ago

> Money does buy happiness, for most people. Think about it. > Would you be less happier if you made half your current > salary? Before you answer the question, think about all > the life changes that would occur, should this happen: > maybe you have to move into a bad neighborhood in a > smaller apartment, no more eating out, no more vacations, > no more dental procedures, etc. If you have the basic needs covered (shelter, food, medical care, bills), money will not buy happiness for you I think. Everything else is extra. I agree that if you worry about the rent/food every month, and suddenly you get a lot of money - definitely, that would result in increase of happiness.