Yeah, but the reason its the hedonic treadmill is because when you ask people of any income bracket if they have enough money, they almost all say that they nee

Yeah, but the reason its the hedonic treadmill is because when you ask people of any income bracket if they have enough money, they almost all say that they need 15-20% more. High income doesn't always imply high net worth. In 2011, fewer than 1.1% of households had over $5 million in assets. Given that at least 98.9% of households don't actually have enough money to provide moderately high current income indefinitely, everyone thinking they need 15-20% more is more of an indication of a failure in planning and basic financial literacy, not an indicator that they don't actually need more money. I think I need $10-20 million, indexed in real terms, assuming I don't step up my quality of life expectations, which is more than 20% beyond what I have today. Think of it this way, you're walking down the street in San Francisco, and you get attacked by a hobo (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/11/naked-subway-man-video_n_3423310.html http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/11/naked-subway-man-vi...), which causes brain damage, leaving you unable to work in your current profession. How many years until you have to make a serious quality of life reduction? The whole hedonic treadmill is kind of like saying that even the people with the most food today, think they will likely need more food in the future, which isn't really shocking.