Beyond What Point Is The Money Not Worth Earning?

For most, the question is a non-sequitur. More money equals more happiness. So more is always better. And more never becomes enough if only because there is always more. So goes the argument . . . Unfortunately for those who operate on this paradigm, the news is not good. Studies of Americans at different income levels reveal the following: "...money might bring you some happiness, but beyond that magic point, any additional income isn't going to make you happier." That magic point has, apparently, been deduced as approximately 75,000 USD a year, according to a recent study by two Princeton University researchers who looked at the data of approximately 450,000 Americans. What they found was that as income increased, emotional well-being also went up, but the line flattened out from the $75,000 mark.  "Perhaps $75,000 is a threshold beyond which further increases in income no longer improve individuals’ ability to do what matters most to their emotional well-being," the study reported. This means that people in the US who make $75,000 US a year are just as happy as those who make $150,000. Any higher income is not going to increase emotional well-being, but a lower income is associated with less emotional well-being." Once basic needs of food, shelter, clothing (and some say a basic education) have been met, the rest is window dressing. Many believe this precept at an intellectual level, but it is hard to find more than a handful who have made the choice to have less as a way to happiness, compared to the far more common paradigm of having more, or at least wanting more. It is more than an interesting fact. Courtesy of Knowledge@SMU via Barking Up The Wrong Tree