> Why would you think someone would be happy with their salary if they wanted to own a home & have kids, if that salary didn't let them? I think the clear impl

> Why would you think someone would be happy with their salary if they wanted to own a home & have kids, if that salary didn't let them? I think the clear implication is that if someone didn't realize that a small amount of negotiation on their part could have made the difference between being able to buy a home or not, they might regret not having negotiated when they do realize it, regardless of how happy they were in the past with their salary. Your interpretation is essentially "if you are as happy as you could possibly be, and a higher salary couldn't possibly make you any happier, then don't negotiate," which is logically valid but fairly unrealistic.