you 'need' money for your wants. so basically you don't need money, unless you want things. there's plenty of people who are happy as can be, who have never even heard of money :s
How much money do people need to be happy?
231–240 of 273 posts
Re: How much money do people need to be happy?
#232Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Of course, stepping from 40K to 100K in salary is practically life altering. Unless you absolutely suck at budgets you can easily get out of debt and start having real vacations. You can afford hobbies, etc. I live in the Netherlands where 40K is quite a reasonable income. I really dont get why you would need 100k to do the things you need. Perhaps people need to become a bit more frugal? People here in general don…
So, I think a difficult aspect of frugality is that is borders close with cheapness. Cheapness is a problem, and imagine if all your customers became cheaper and you lost a few. Well, you would have to become more frugal which means firing providers of services. It becomes a negative trend. I live near Seattle where $100K is probably a reasonable income (give or take $30K). Now, I make more than that by a large margi…
Wow, that's an awesome salary! What do you do for a living, and how did you get there?
Re: How much money do people need to be happy?
#233Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Of course, stepping from 40K to 100K in salary is practically life altering. Unless you absolutely suck at budgets you can easily get out of debt and start having real vacations. You can afford hobbies, etc. I live in the Netherlands where 40K is quite a reasonable income. I really dont get why you would need 100k to do the things you need. Perhaps people need to become a bit more frugal? People here in general don…
A month in Australia for 3-4k? I want a cost breakdown for this. Say you get a deal and airfare is $500, that leaves about $100/day for the month. You could probably find a hotel at that rate, but then you're left with nothing to spend on food and activities. What am I missing? Friends and relatives who'll let you stay with them?
Van rental is $40/day. Leaves a budget of $60/day for fuel, food and fun. Quite easy if you prepare most meals yourself and limit purchases that are prohibitively expensive in Australia, e.g. alcohol, cigarettes, taxis, restaurants, etc.
Re: How much money do people need to be happy?
#234I think the correct definition is: "When you have enough to survive and you make as much money as people you compare yourself with". That's why back in the days of socialism in Eastern Europe most of the people were quite content with being relatively poor, as long as they had the sense of social security and everyone else around them was as poor as them. On the other hand, nowadays many freelancers from poorer count…
Please do not put your propaganda in people's mouths.
I lived back in communist Eastern Europe and I can assure you nobody was content in any way. It was a nightmare.
Re: How much money do people need to be happy?
#235I think the correct definition is: "When you have enough to survive and you make as much money as people you compare yourself with". That's why back in the days of socialism in Eastern Europe most of the people were quite content with being relatively poor, as long as they had the sense of social security and everyone else around them was as poor as them. On the other hand, nowadays many freelancers from poorer count…
If you get univeral health care then your light-years ahead of Americans. Even if Americans are getting paid twice as much as you, they have the risk of going bankrupt during old age because of extremely high medical expenses
You have to realize how fortunate you are. Everyone in your country is taken care of. Screw the high salaries of Amercians, they're not worth it
Re: How much money do people need to be happy?
#236I think the correct definition is: "When you have enough to survive and you make as much money as people you compare yourself with". That's why back in the days of socialism in Eastern Europe most of the people were quite content with being relatively poor, as long as they had the sense of social security and everyone else around them was as poor as them. On the other hand, nowadays many freelancers from poorer count…
Please do not put your propaganda in people's mouths. I lived back in communist Eastern Europe and I can assure you nobody was content in any way. It was a nightmare.
"Nobody"? Pot, meet kettle.
Re: How much money do people need to be happy?
#237Personally, there was a point where I had / was making enough that I felt the need to conceal that fact from people, particularly when I first met them. This meant that I had to go as far as to conceal much of what makes me who I am from people, as some of my hobbies are rather expensive. That was the point where making more meant that I became progressively less happy.
why do you need to conceal your wealth, esp. if it was causing you unhappiness?
First and most importantly, because I want to be sure people aren't dating/befriending me because of what I have. This is unfortunately something I've already experienced a couple times.
Second, because my experiences with many other people in my wealth/income bracket have driven me to try to avoid being anything like them or having other people view me the way I view some of them.
Re: How much money do people need to be happy?
#238Kind of makes sense to me, once you get to a point where you're set. That is you can easily afford the main things (housing, food), plus the extras (electronics, vacations, hobbies) you need a much larger income to "move the needle" so to speak. You still need to work 40 hours a week or whatever, and only get X weeks of vacation. Having a 180K salary instead of 150K doesn't change any of these obligations, or change…
I believe Bill Gates at one point said that there wasn't a lot of idfference, lifestyle wise between $10m and $10b.
I think the biggest difference would be the outsized political, social influence and your own private jet.
But of course even at $10m you could easily afford to rent a jet pretty frequently.
Re: How much money do people need to be happy?
#239Earlier quoted context omitted.
> It's the knowledge that you can immediately solve almost every problem that pops up with a bit of money, and figure out the details later. Missed your flight? Book another one. Car trouble? Call assistance and take an uber. Lost your job? Take a short vacation and then hit up your network on LinkedIn. And then your expectations shift, you require more expensive things to acquire that base level of prosperity and sa…
This is probably not true based on what I have read. Of course some people get stuck on a hedonistic treadmill, but most people don't. I think when you can take time off from work and afford safe living and food is no longer a concern, indulge in hobbies, that is enough for most people to be happy. Studies I read say that experiences will provide longer term happiness over "stuff". You can always jump off the treadmi…
I agree except with the "most". I see far too many people driving new BMWs and Mercedes that I know on average make sub $100k salaries. I'd say most are in the treadmill, but definitely "many" are happy living within their means.
Re: How much money do people need to be happy?
#240I'm always struck by this proverb: > “Two things I ask of you, Lord; do not refuse me before I die: Keep falsehood and lies far from me; give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread. Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you and say, ‘Who is the Lord?’ Or I may become poor and steal, and so dishonor the name of my God. One thing I didn't see in the comments here, though I may've just missed…
I like your post. As a Christian myself, I've always found it likewise fascinating. God's teachings on money are sprinkled throughout scripture. You are right: God expects us to give from what He provides us with. One gives freely, yet grows all the richer; another withholds what he should give, and only suffers want. Whoever brings blessing will be enriched, and one who waters will himself be watered. Proverbs 11:24…
> Tithing is something that is largely forgotten in the post-Christian world we now find ourselves in. Peace.
That's simply not true. The 2016 World Giving Index[1] shows that their three measures of charity have all increased over time, including financial donations (page 16). Many of the top ten countries for percentage who donate money have had decreased religiosity (page 21).
1: https://www.cafonline.org/docs/default-source/about-us-publi...