Money does buy happiness!

[Helios]

Money may not be able to buy happiness, but it can sure rent it.

 

[Spanky]

Living in the SF Bay Area, that $75K happiness limit seems insanely ridiculous.

If your house is already paid for, the cost of living in the Bay Area is comparable to other Metro areas of other states. My brothers and sister living the Bay Area spend less than $75K a year.

 

[NW-Bound]

$75K goes a long way if you have no mortgage, no car payments, no debts.

Unless your real-estate tax is sky high, what do you do with $6250/month?

 

[finnski1]

$75K goes a long way if you have no mortgage, no car payments, no debts.

Unless your real-estate tax is sky high, what do you do with $6250/month?

^+1 We only average about 40-42k a year with no mortgage, no car payments no debts and are very "happy" although I prefer the word content.

 

[JJpop]

Everyone is different. The way money affects an individual’s happiness will have an infinite number of answers. IT is silly to make blanket statements or assign numbers.
I personally have lived through many different levels of money and for me I clearly see what it does, but someone else may react much differently to identical situations.

 

[gooddog]

David Lee Roth: "Money can't buy you happiness, but it can buy you a yacht big enough to pull up right alongside it"

 

[foxfirev5]

Debt kills happiness for sure. But some of the happiest times I had were when we were just starting out with absolutely nothing, and we had tremendous fun counting our cash on hand at the end of the day to figure out what treat we could have the next day. It sounds odd, but it was actually a deliriously happy time. We were young, we had each other, we had fun. Now we still have fun, and we are still happy, but there was something about being 25 and in fresh love.... The money I have now buys many things, but that youth and freshness... gone like the seasons turning !

Thanks for the reminder. Back in the day on Friday night we got a pep pizza for $3.18 and splurged on a single scoop ice cream cone. That was it. 43 years later with more than enough I struggle to recapture that excitement. Maybe it's time to wake up and realize what we have.

 

[steveark]

I think happiness does plateau at a level of spending which may be much lower than your actual income. I have no desire to spend more than 100K even though I could afford to spend twice that. It wouldn't make me happier. But having millions in assets I'll never spend does make me happier.

 

[JJpop]

Thanks for the reminder. Back in the day on Friday night we got a pep pizza for $3.18 and splurged on a single scoop ice cream cone. That was it. 43 years later with more than enough I struggle to recapture that excitement. Maybe it's time to wake up and realize what we have.

The excitement of young love has nothing to do with money, correct?
At this point in your lives how would you feel if you were in that same financial situation of 43 years ago ?
I believe as you grow older money provides comfort which contributes a lot to happiness, but that is me.
It is nice to not have to worry about money.

 

[Bigdawg]

I think happiness does plateau at a level of spending which may be much lower than your actual income. I have no desire to spend more than 100K even though I could afford to spend twice that. It wouldn't make me happier. But having millions in assets I'll never spend does make me happier.

^This makes no sense to me. I feel secure with money but it doesn't directly correlate to my happiness. Having millions you will never spend makes you happy? Just seems weird to me.

 

[foxfirev5]

The excitement of young love has nothing to do with money, correct?
At this point in your lives how would you feel if you were in that same financial situation of 43 years ago ?
I believe as you grow older money provides comfort which contributes a lot to happiness, but that is me.
It is nice to not have to worry about money.

I agree it's a different time and place. I'm just looking for a way to move ahead. BTW DW is on board. We actually spend very little time in the rearview mirror. Being well off helps. I appreciate your perspective.

 

[Winemaker]

Life is like a $hit sandwich. The more bread you have, the less $hit you have to eat. Ronald "Skip" Drake 1973

 

[P.S.]

More money does lead to increased happiness. And there is no ceiling...[/url]

Obviously. Exhibit A: this forum.

 

[Teacher Terry]

Not having enough money is very stressful. Even with my income cut in half by my recent divorce I will be fine because I have savings/investments, a 300 mortgage, paid for car and a reliable pension.

 

[Bamaman]

"Does Money Buy Happiness?" is a very complicated subject.

My father worked in management at our regional power company. He used his job to promote skilled professions and job training--providing very good futures for young men willing to work with their hands. God placed him in his job to build young families.

On the other hand, he had many friends that were very successful--many PhD's and very learned people. Many times, his friends told him they wished they had his peace of mind and simpler way of life. Life was so complicated the more money they made.

We are just so thankful for the quality of life we have, the roof over our heads and the modest investments we've accumulated. And we're especially thankful for great friends and the ability to travel widely as a hobby. We still enjoy a nice day on the lake, and our trips to our RV in the mountains.

My sister on the other hand leads a charmed existence which includes a family LearJet and friends that are really, really wealthy. We're amazed at how many of my sister and brother in law's high income friends are dying in their early 70's. The last two smokers we knew died last year of lung cancer. Another died of pancreatic cancer. My brother in law's original partner's lungs essentially quit working. Three others died of liver and bladder cancers--alcoholics.

Money doesn't buy happiness, and it can come with a lifestyle that shortens the time on earth. We'll just keep our lifestyle simpler and pray that we can live a long, long time.

 

[DrRoy]

Being financially secure makes me happy. Funny...there were so many things I thought I would buy or do when we finally had money. We buy less now than when we were in the accumulation phase. We do splurge more now when dining out or traveling. It’s so nice not worrying about spending the $.

Being FI makes me happy as well.

Happiness being proportional to log(income) is an equation I can accept, that to double happiness might take 10X the $.

In the first year of RE, we spent about what we did the few years before. Now we are spending rather more, on travel and upgrading the house. During accumulation, I saved about 30% of my income. Now, the income is about the same, but we are spending it all. The strong market helps that a good bit.

 

[Teacher Terry]

The things that bring me the most joy are my kids, good friends and my doggies. All are priceless.

 

[marko]

"If money couldn't buy happiness, it could buy the most remarkable substitutes"
Margaret Mitchell.

 

[NoiseBoy]

I find myself agreeing with both results. Maybe there is a way to reconcile the two findings. Perhaps the relationship between income and happiness is fairly linear, up to the aforementioned ~$75k threshold, after which the relationship changes to a logarithmic scale? I like the airplane ticket/charter example posted earlier. It's a great practical example of an exponential increase in the cost of what is essentially the same service.

I think there's also a lot to be said for the relationship of income versus wealth and how total wealth can influence happiness. I will experience a $100k drop in annual income when I retire, but my total wealth will be unchanged as will my standard of living. Yet I'm hopeful that my happiness will go up!

I have two things that I look forward to having enough dough to blow on in the future:
1. Luxury travel. Better airplane seats. Better hotels/apartments. Better food. Less standing in lines.
2. Concierge medical care. "Hey Doc, come on over and drain this cyst today."

 

[GenXguy]

Once I got above $50,000/yr income, my happiness didn't change that much. I was happiest when I made much less. And now I make six figures.

I feel pretty happy having money for the future and knowing I'll be able to support myself when I retire, but I'm not really happy spending money.

 

[bada bing]

 

[Koolau]

Being FI makes me happy as well.

Happiness being proportional to log(income) is an equation I can accept, that to double happiness might take 10X the $.

In the first year of RE, we spent about what we did the few years before. Now we are spending rather more, on travel and upgrading the house. During accumulation, I saved about 30% of my income. Now, the income is about the same, but we are spending it all. The strong market helps that a good bit.

I'm wondering if that's a natural log (base e) rather than base 10. I can't even imagine having 10 times what I have now. I even wonder if I had that much if I would't be LESS happy because I'd have more to worry about (who's trying to take advantage of me, etc.?) YMMV

 

[pjigar]

I pity the rich kids in the new startups who got rich easily before they understood about struggle.

So true. I worry about this for my own kids. How would they learn about the "true" value of money?

 

[NW-Bound]

Sometimes, happiness is not for sale!

People without electricity, water, heating gas, gasoline in Texas cannot buy these commodities now despite having money.

 

[Koolau]

So true. I worry about this for my own kids. How would they learn about the "true" value of money?

We usually made our kids work for what they "wanted" (not what they needed.) I know it caused some resentment as some of their peers had "everything." I like to think, now that the kids are all successful, we played our part in setting them on the right path and especially helping them with orienting their priorities. I guess we'll never know for certain, but one thing is certain. The kids turned out independent and none of them was ever actually deprived (though they probably thought so.) YMMV