Happiness is not having others try to tell you what makes you happy based off of some study.
I hold the same philosophy with regard to cigarettes. I'll decide for myself what's carcinogenic, thank you very much.
In other words, ignorance is bliss...
Happiness is earning $60,000/year
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Re: Happiness is earning $60,000/year
#12Last time I read the number was 12,000:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07...
I must say, I got by with 12k (what I made in 2004), but if any emergency would have happened I would have been in trouble.
60k is very comfortable here in Texas.
I also know some very miserable millionaires who are depressed no matter how many pills they take.
Re: Happiness is earning $60,000/year
#13I think the caveat is that the money is earned doing something you enjoy. I'm sure most of us here can attest to that.
Re: Happiness is earning $60,000/year
#14Nop, happiness is about having $10M in assets and earning $1M a year in royalties. Believe me. Until then, keep coding...
Do go on.
Re: Happiness is earning $60,000/year
#15Another interpretation is that it currently requires $60,000/year for a US citizen to not be lacking the means to fulfill one or another step on Maslow's hierarchy: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maslows_hierarchy_of_needs
Given that the [2008] US GDP is $14.4 trillion/year, and there are ~300 million US citizens, it turns out we're each, on average, creating $48,000/year in value.
So, on average, each citizen is $12,000 of unhappy.
Re: Happiness is earning $60,000/year
#16This title comes off as cliché...No, money can't buy you happiness but it does allow one to be happy. For when you consider the other end of the spectrum, poverty won't make you happy either; but then, everyone knew that.
Re: Happiness is earning $60,000/year
#17To me, happiness comes from knowing your financial future is becoming more secure, not less secure. The ultimate happiness will come from knowing that you can get that 60k per year for the rest of your days, without necessarily having to work. Trading your precious time for 60k from someone else would definitely not keep me happy.
Re: Happiness is earning $60,000/year
#18Earlier quoted context omitted.
I hold the same philosophy with regard to cigarettes. I'll decide for myself what's carcinogenic, thank you very much.
In other words, ignorance is bliss...
Isn't it?
What makes you happier; smoking a cigarette that makes you feel good, or avoiding it like all hell because it could cause cancer in you?
Similarly, what makes you happier; eating a double big mac, large fries and substitute a large drink for a large milkshake and almost die from a foodgasm, or be told you just ate like 1000 calories and you're basically going to have to eat rice cakes for the rest of the day unless you want to end up the size of a manatee by breakfast tomorrow?
I have, on average, a 1 in 1000 chance of dying in a freak non-work related accident, if eating a big mac every week has less of a chance of killing me than walking out of my front door (or even staying inside and not cowering in a self-powered nuclear bunker) I really couldn't give a damn.
I don't smoke cigarettes, I never have. I've never had the urge, the smell just puts me off. However, it doesn't mean I wouldn't smoke a cigar if someone handed one to me. My life is for living not regretting, that's the job of the as-yet-to-be-proved thing those religious fuzzy wuzzies keep telling me is the afterlife. If there is one, I'm sure there'll be plenty of things I'll regret but that's no concern of mine while I'm living.
I've lived a half-world (1/4 literally) away from my wife and I can tell you that did more to damage my longevity than a cigarette ever will. I may in 30 years have regrets over moving to another country to marry my wife, however in all honesty I truly doubt it. My life isn't the best, but it's pretty amazing on that scale of mundaneness called an average-life.
Re: Happiness is earning $60,000/year
#19Another interpretation is that it currently requires $60,000/year for a US citizen to not be lacking the means to fulfill one or another step on Maslow's hierarchy: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maslows_hierarchy_of_needs Given that the [2008] US GDP is $14.4 trillion/year, and there are ~300 million US citizens, it turns out we're each, on average, creating $48,000/year in value. So, on average, each citizen is $12,0…
Because income is heavily skewed by outliers (e.g. Bill Gates), it makes more sense to look at the median income alongside the average income. Median household income with 1.35 earners and 2.57 household members is $44,389. That's less than the per capita average of $48,000, and it's spread over 2.5 people.
Turns out that about 70% of the households in the United States are going to be below $60,000. Divided by the number of people in the household (hits about three once you get to high enough income levels), you don't get $60,000 per person until household income rises to $180,000. At that point, about 90% of U.S. households fall below that income level.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Household_income_in_the_United_...
Re: Happiness is earning $60,000/year
#20If I made, say, $1 million/year, I think I'd be happier -- for the simple reason that I could afford to only work one day per week (or a few months per year, or work for 5 years and then semi-retire, etc.). That would mean a lot more freedom to choose how to spend my time, to travel, and so on. (Of course, I'd probably end up doing something similar to "work" during a lot of my spare time, but there's an amazing difference between extrinsic and intrinsic rewards for an activity.)
I've often thought that applying this on a smaller scale would be interesting -- for example, trading $140k/year for $110k/year plus an extra six weeks of paid vacation time.