$75K.. the threshhold to "happiness"

[SoCalDem]

A Princeton study just out, showed that after $75K the happiness factor does not increase all that much

but under it, the unhappiness factor is pretty miserable as you go down the ladder..

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http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hG00l3mD223XhqS4JGOHvBB3KUowD9I2KP1O0Report: Money can buy you happiness, to a point

By RANDOLPH E. SCHMID (AP) – 13 hours ago

WASHINGTON — They say money can't buy happiness. They're wrong.

At least up to a point.

People's emotional well-being - happiness - increases along with their income up to about $75,000, researchers report in Tuesday's edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

For folks making less than that, said Angus Deaton, an economist at the Center for Health and Wellbeing at Princeton University, "Stuff is so in your face it's hard to be happy. It interferes with your enjoyment."

Deaton and Daniel Kahneman reviewed surveys of 450,000 Americans conducted in 2008 and 2009 for the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index that included questions on people's day-to-day happiness and their overall life satisfaction.





snip

[Meeker Morgan]

1. So money does not but happiness ...

... but poverty buys misery.

$75K?

What is the official "poverty line" again? Or the putative "living wage"?

[NNN0LHI]

4. I have never seen a marriage break up due to money

Seen plenty that broke up because of the lack of money though.

Don

[CoffeeCat]

2. I guess I could see that...

Up to $75k, happiness increases to that point. Makes sense. Trying to make ends
meet and afford "life" would be met with greater ease as you move up to $75k.

[SoCalDem]

3. and once you are no longer worried about where the money will come from

to pay the basic necessities of life, it's a LOT easier to relax & enjoy life a little.

[bvar22]

14. Yes. All the little things,

like:
Being able to go to the doctor

Feed the kids

Buy cheap clothes

Pay rent


First Level Needs:
Food, Clothing, Shelter

Without those, it IS a daily Life vs Death struggle.
NOW, they are going to be forced to BUY worthless Health Insurance.

What has happened to our America?

"In our day these economic truths have become accepted as self-evident. We have accepted, so to speak, a second Bill of Rights under which a new basis of security and prosperity can be established for all—regardless of station, race, or creed.

Among these are:

*The right to a useful and remunerative job in the industries or shops or farms or mines of the nation;

*The right to earn enough to provide adequate food and clothing and recreation;

*The right of every farmer to raise and sell his products at a return which will give him and his family a decent living;

*The right of every businessman, large and small, to trade in an atmosphere of freedom from unfair competition and domination by monopolies at home or abroad;

*The right of every family to a decent home;

*The right to adequate medical care and the opportunity to achieve and enjoy good health;

*The right to adequate protection from the economic fears of old age, sickness, accident, and unemployment;

*The right to a good education.

All of these rights spell security. And after this war is won we must be prepared to move forward, in the implementation of these rights, to new goals of human happiness and well-being.

For unless there is security here at home there cannot be lasting peace in the world."--FDR

Where is THAT Democratic Party?

[SoCalDem]

15. Where?

In cemeteries all across the country:(

[eridani]

5. Pretty much my own experience.

After $75K, I pretty much stopped seriously hustling for raises while I was working.

[sendero]

6. I've always told my sons..

... that money will not make you happy. But the lack of money will definitely make you unhappy.

[eridani]

7. A link that works better

Looks like we aren't number one either.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2010/09/06/national/w131817D27.DTL&type=politics

Comparing their life-satisfaction results with those of other countries, the researchers said the United States ranked ninth after the Scandinavian countries, Canada, the Netherlands, Switzerland and New Zealand.

[quaker bill]

8. I found that it was closer to 50K

but then, that was years ago. It is not so much that money leads to happiness, but no longer worrying and arguing over how to cover all the bills gets a really large obstacle out of the way.

[sendero]

9. Probably depends...

.. on whether you live in NYC or San Francisco or podunk.

[SoCalDem]

17. That's true

But if $75K could the new "norm", it could surely be adjusted for geography:)

[quaker bill]

18. Orlandoworld

home of Disney, Florida.

[Mimosa]

10. That's a livable amount for a couple. n/t

[slampoet]

11. I've never made even half of that.

[lostnfound]

12. That's why it's so frustrating to watch our economy become so skewed

Some CEO's make over $100 Million in a year; for them it buys power as much as it buys security for their immediate family or descendents. I wouldn't be so offended by that if there weren't so many people working for a living who are being forced to "get by" with less and less. So many kids are growing up as children of the working poor. So many people worried about their next meal, car repair, doctor's visit, medicine, or tank of gas.

[Vinca]

13. Is there any way I can get Mr. Deaton to send me a pile of money to test the theory?

Hey . . . it's important work.

[GSLevel9]

16. depens on where you live...

75k is struggling in MANY parts of the country. And then in many other areas 75k will give you peace.