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Researchers have stated that 75 000 is the threshold of happiness. In other words, 75 000 is all you need to obtain happiness. Anything higher will not increase happiness levels.
Do you agree or disagree with this?
I completely agree. I would never desire a high paying management position. I would much rather work a mid-level job in an organization and be able to maintain a social life and not be needing to think about work before I brush my teeth and go to bed.
I completely agree. I would never desire a high paying management position. I would much rather work a mid-level job in an organization and be able to maintain a social life and not be needing to think about work before I brush my teeth and go to bed.
??
I know people who make that amount and more... none are in management and all have a social life.
Assuming for the sake of argument that the methodology of the study and the surveys on which the study was based are valid, then there must be a whole lot of unhappy people in this country because the median family income is somewhere around $50,000. Two complexities which were not addressed:
1. The cost of living varies quite a bit in the United States. One can live pretty damn well on $75,000 a year in most places, but one may feel like he's struggling in New York City, Honolulu, or San Francisco. The linked article doesn't say anything about how these cost of living issues were handled in the surveys.
2. Different individuals have different values, and happiness has different components. One fairly large factor in happiness is whether or not one likes one's job. Do higher paying jobs necessarily bring more job satisfaction? If so, after what wage point?
Happiness is ultimately an inside job anyway. Color me skeptical about the article.
Before employers rush to hold — or raise — everyone's salary to $75,000, the study points out that there are actually two types of happiness. There's your changeable, day-to-day mood: whether you're stressed or blue or feeling emotionally sound. Then there's the deeper satisfaction you feel about the way your life is going — the kind of thing Tony Robbins tries to teach you. While having an income above the magic $75,000 cutoff doesn't seem to have an impact on the former (emotional well-being), it definitely improves people's Robbins-like life satisfaction. In other words, the more people make above $75,000, the more they feel their life is working out on the whole. But it doesn't make them any more jovial in the mornings.
In other words, 75k gives you a good mood everyday, but not necessarily deep satisfaction about financial achievement. I'm guessing if you're making 75k a year (I'm assuming after tax), then you know you're in the right direction and can afford most stuff that's important to you. Anything beyond that can buy you what you want, but being able to afford what you want as opposed to what you need doesn't make you much happier. Or, looking at it a different way, income above 75k a year can help you retire earlier, which doesn't make you that much happier either.
As it was pointed out, some places might need more because of the cost of living. But in general, I agree that after a certain amount happniess ceases to grow just because your income grows. I can say for that even if I made $1 million a year my happiness would not increase, my level of stasfaction with life will grow. Anyone make more then 75K that can attest to this?
Is that household or just individual income. My wife and I bring that in combined and we are pretty happy with our income. However once we have kids Im not sure we will be so happy. Private schools in my area cost about 10k per kid when young, up to 20k per kid in High School.
The problems with these hard and fast numbers is that they are easy to understand, make ground sound bytes, and flashy headlines. Reality is often much more complex and subtle. It depends on where you live, it depends what you do, and it depends what other factors are part of your life.
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