Why Having More Money Doesn’t Make You Happy
Part 4 of “What’s in Your Life Script?”
Did you know there’s actually a salary amount above which your level of happiness doesn’t increase?
Like once you hit this amount, studies have found that increasing it doesn’t make you any happier.
It’s around $75,000, depending on your cost of living.
And past $95,000, surveyed responders reported a decline in emotional well-being and life satisfaction.
In theory, those making $400,000 a year are no happier than those making $95,000 or even $75,000.
Money doesn’t buy happiness. It buys freedom and security that can lead to happiness.
Here’s another startling fact
Most lottery winners go broke within a few years of winning the pot.
But why?
An influx of money only enhances existing characteristics. A gambler will continue to gamble. An investor will continue to invest.
People who play the lottery are putting their hope in a system that games then, not the other way around.
People who invest are carefully growing what they have.
Financial Savviness Matters
It doesn’t matter what your salary is if you’re living paycheck-to-paycheck.
In August 2017, 78% of workers said they live paycheck-to-paycheck.
56% save $100 or LESS a month.
10% of those with incomes over $100,000 a year are living paycheck-to-paycheck, and 59% of those with that salary are in debt.
Winning a bigger salary or the lottery won’t change the next act in the story of your life unless your mindset about money does a 180.
Personally, my financial life was transformed by You Need a Budget, or YNAB.
They offer a free 34-day trial, and if you sign up through my referral link (and then subscribe after the trial) we both get a month free.
They’re just numbers on a screen unless you’re starving
Unless you’re legitimately poor, chronically underpaid, or in poverty, money is just numbers on a screen.
The true value of money comes from what it does for us, not the simple state of having it.
Having money means nothing unless you give it a job.
- Saving up for a trip to Europe.
- Building an emergency fund in case you or a spouse lose a job.
- Want to buy a house? You’ll need a down payment first.
- Christmas always seems to suck your bank account dry, so why not save up during the year?
What’s Your Life Script?
Money won’t make you happy.
What money does for you has the potential to bring happiness into your life.
Freedom.
Security.
Opportunity.
I didn’t learn about money in the way I should have until I’d almost finished college. Even now I feel behind the curve, but I know that’s just my ingrained cynicism talking.
What did you grow up thinking about money? Maybe that having X amount would make you happy, and once you reached it you looked around like confused John Travolta?
