Our ambitions are a strong function of our current horizon
Excellent point. Since the article presents some conclusions based on the study, but not the study itself, I would not use it as a guide for decision-making. Above all, I would not let it tell me whether I have enough money to be happy.
It reminds me of an analogous study reported in the WSJ some 35 years ago. People in different income ranges were asked a question something like "How much more income would it take for you to be 'all set'?"
I can't remember the exact criteria for 'all set', but it meant some improvement in living standard that respondents could identify with and which they expected would obviate perceptions of being in financial straits.
The answer was a surprisingly uniform increase of ~30-40% over what they already earned. So folks making 10k (in 1983 dollars) typically wanted 14k, and folks making 100k wanted 140k. There weren't a lot of responses saying "I need billions to be happy."
Similarly, the respondents in the OP's study seem to believe that financial "happiness" lies somewhere north of their means but within plausible striking distance.
I'm not quite sure what to make of the results of this study. Since the salary level for "broad life satisfaction" in the U.S. (for a single, not a family) was found to be $105K, and something like 90% of all individuals make less than $100K/year, does this mean that (generally speaking) the vast majority of people in the U.S. are not broadly satisfied with their lives? Perhaps, but I'm a bit skeptical.
Excellent point. Since the article presents some conclusions based on the study, but not the study itself, I would not use it as a guide for decision-making. Above all, I would not let it tell me whether I have enough money to be happy.
It reminds me of an analogous study reported in the WSJ some 35 years ago. People in different income ranges were asked a question something like "How much more income would it take for you to be 'all set'?"
I can't remember the exact criteria for 'all set', but it meant some improvement in living standard that respondents could identify with and which they expected would obviate perceptions of being in financial straits.
The answer was a surprisingly uniform increase of ~30-40% over what they already earned. So folks making 10k (in 1983 dollars) typically wanted 14k, and folks making 100k wanted 140k. There weren't a lot of responses saying "I need billions to be happy."
Similarly, the respondents in the OP's study seem to believe that financial "happiness" lies somewhere north of their means but within plausible striking distance.