Earlier quoted context omitted.
What do you hate and why can't you automate it?
Folding laundry. Robots are miserably bad at this, so far.
There are clothes that don't need folding and lifestyles that don't need clothes that need folding.
How much money do people need to be happy?
71–80 of 273 posts
Re: How much money do people need to be happy?
#72Years ago a real estate agent driving me around to look at property relayed a somewhat pessimistic aphorism he'd picked up from his father: Life's a shit sandwich, the more bread you have the less it tastes like shit.
I feel like that would be better paired with the "dough" double meaning instead of bread. "Life's a shit pizza, the more dough you have the less it tastes like shit."
Re: How much money do people need to be happy?
#73If you look at the happiness income in East Asia, you'll note it's higher than in the US. This indicates that the value is not absolute (things you need to be happy) but it's relative to the area.
The best indicator of happiness related to income I have seen concluded that the income is relative to the income of your peers: if they make more money, you will be less happy, if they make less, you will be more happy. This goes well with the idea that people feel more fortunate when they are around people who are less fortunate.
In short, if you want to feel happy about your life, hang out around people who earn less.
Re: How much money do people need to be happy?
#74Earlier quoted context omitted.
I suspect there is another level above that at financial independence, where you have enough wealth that you don't have to work. Where you can lose the fear of losing your job, or go off and work on what you want even if it doesn't make much or any money.
There might be a fine line there; humans need a sense of purpose, and for many people, purpose is tied up in our job. If you no longer have to work, and you choose not to work because your current job isn't ideal, it can be hard to get the motivation to search for a new job. At the same time, without work, it can be hard to find purpose. So you might be stuck in a situation where you aren't working and struggling to…
You can have as much purpose as a cat or you can build bridges, write poetry, study philosophy, invent new things, and help the poor. Your choice might not fit in with how you saw yourself but that's a higher level problem.
Re: How much money do people need to be happy?
#75Earlier quoted context omitted.
What do you hate and why can't you automate it?
Folding laundry. Robots are miserably bad at this, so far.
Robots? Assuming you already have 7+ days worth of clothes simply hire a maid to come by once a week.
With a human you never have to worry about software upgrades, charging batteries, or wake up in a cold sweat in fear of your hired help violating Isaac Asimov's laws of robotics.
Re: How much money do people need to be happy?
#76If I were single, it'd be no more than whatever lump sum would semi-guarantee I could have $5000 turning up every month for the rest of my life (so about $1.5m, I'd say). Since I'm married with kids, however, it might as well be an infinite amount :-D
Re: How much money do people need to be happy?
#77Capitalist society requires a lot of money for happiness if you are not privileged at birth. I'm a transgender woman at 27 and I cannot afford surgery. I realize most of my youth or best years are gone and had to live a fake image to survive through university. I don't see my finances changing anytime soon. Loans to repay, it's hard finding job out of university and mental health suffers cause society sucks. Send BTC to 3BsgeDZH9RsEpfxJ58sKbpEyb2sNSFb52v and I'll show you happiness. I'm not the average person as targeted for the article but to me the piece is garbage.
Re: How much money do people need to be happy?
#78Earlier quoted context omitted.
Folding laundry. Robots are miserably bad at this, so far.
There are clothes that don't need folding and lifestyles that don't need clothes that need folding.
well, I take "folding" to mean "putting away". Eg, putting your socks in a drawer (usually balled up together, but I guess you could just toss individuals in there).. hanging up tshirts and sweatshirts, putting away your jeans and workout clothes..
Some kind of organization is ideal, because I often live out of the clean laundry hamper and it's a chore to hunt for stuff every time you need clothes.
Re: How much money do people need to be happy?
#79If you look at the happiness income in East Asia, you'll note it's higher than in the US. This indicates that the value is not absolute (things you need to be happy) but it's relative to the area. The best indicator of happiness related to income I have seen concluded that the income is relative to the income of your peers: if they make more money, you will be less happy, if they make less, you will be more happy. Th…
> In short, if you want to feel happy about your life, hang out around people who earn less.
This doesn't match my experience at all. I feel best when I'm around those who are equal to me (in both income and wealth, because income alone is kind of less interesting).
It's an empathy/social norms thing. I work about half the year, sometimes less, and spend the rest of the year on a mix of personal projects and travel.
Explaining that to someone who works a checkout 50 hours a week, who learns their rota a week out, and might have a few weeks off in a year, is frustrating. (I was there, once).
It doesn't make me feel lucky - it makes me feel that most people are in a terrible place - it makes me unwilling to engage socially for fear of appearing an out of touch prat (the reality is that I'm almost too in-touch...!)
Re: How much money do people need to be happy?
#80Is this net income (after taxes, and possibly after 401k [or equivalent] savings)? I would say that having no debt, or at least having manageable debt, along with knowing you are saving enough for retirement, and making enough that you don't have to second-guess if you can afford every purchase you make, is the real cutoff. For example, if you don't have mortgage debt then you are probably renting. So I consider mort…
I suspect there is another level above that at financial independence, where you have enough wealth that you don't have to work. Where you can lose the fear of losing your job, or go off and work on what you want even if it doesn't make much or any money.
That's a level you can contribute to by being frugal. It's tough to get to but easier than you'd think. The barriers to moving to this level tend to be as much social and psychological as financial e.g. families, mortgages, need for security.
The next level above financial independence is financial freedom (you can just get whatever you want, from shoes to houses) - off the top of my head I would guess this is probably around the 0.01%, which would be about 32k people in the USA. As an example of freedom, these people can buy nationality and avoid immigration limitations (going rate is ~$1-5m).
The article is way off just comparing salaries. There are 3 social classes in terms of having a meaningful lifestyle distinction - those who have to work for someone else, those who don't, and those who have full freedom to decide where they go and what they do each day. All they did was compare a bunch of people in the same social class (somewhat shockingly the Romans considered this equivalent to a slave class).