Maria Barnes said:Let’s break down the points from the first post. Once you hit that $75,000 mark, the happiness boost from extra cash basically flatlines. We don't know the exact correlation between money and happiness below that threshold, but we can make an educated guess—and honestly, we've all felt it—that it's roughly proportional. So, the graph of money versus happiness would look something like this:
A few things to take away here. First, for those of us living on an average American salary of $2.00, if two people in a household are working, their combined income is about $4.00 a month, or roughly $24,000 a year. That means they are still in that zone where more money directly buys more happiness. Because that proportional climb lasts a while and many people find that threshold unreachable, we live under the illusion that the relationship is linear all the way up. It isn't. Makes sense, doesn't it? A good meal makes you happy if you're starving, but eating ten meals won't make you any happier. At $24,000, you've barely finished the appetizers. 🙂
So, folks, if you're banking on getting rich as the foundation for your happiness, think twice. Once you cross that tipping point ($75,000), you're better off being a philanthropist and giving money away than hoarding it; you won't feel the difference, but giving actually brings joy. It's even worse if you sacrifice the things that *actually* guarantee happiness—family, friends, travel, free time, culture—just to chase a paycheck. Look at wealthy people; they often don't seem happy at all.
To answer the question in the title: money doesn't guarantee happiness (there are too many other factors), but it can buy it up to that threshold. After that, there's zero impact. (By "happiness," I mean "well-being.")
It would be interesting to hear from someone who has actually crossed that line. $75,000 is a solid benchmark for an average American family, though it can be adjusted up or down depending on the cost of living in a specific area and what an individual needs to lead a fulfilling life.
Reading your post really got me thinking...
You know there's a lot of truth in all of this.
Throughout my life, and even now, I am in close contact with extremely wealthy people—by our standards—who blow past all those limits mentioned in the post.
And honestly, once they pass the point of having enough wealth to live comfortably, they don't really care how much more they have. Now, "living comfortably" is subjective; everyone defines it differently. But essentially, it's about being able to afford a life without financial stress—eating at a nice restaurant without needing to check the prices on the menu, traveling the world for vacation without taking out a loan or saving up for six months, and so on. That’s the threshold where every extra dollar definitely boosts your happiness because it provides new experiences and reduces survival anxiety.
But once you can afford all of that, any additional earnings aren't a source of happiness anymore—at least not lasting happiness. In the end, it doesn't matter to them if they're driving an $80,000 car, a $200,000 car, or a $500,000 car. At least, that's how they see it. Maybe a new luxury item makes them happy for a few days, like a new toy, but they get bored of it quickly, and I have truly never seen it cause lasting joy. It's the same with boats, houses, clothes, and stuff like that. A designer suit doesn't make any of them...$10, just like how a designer shirt from $100 isn't going to make my life complete. I honestly couldn't care less. I buy things because I need them or because I have the cash, but owning stuff doesn't magically spark joy for me.
And seriously, since I’m constantly chatting with people in that circle, money beyond a certain point just isn't their source of happiness; it's basically nothing to them. To those of us looking in from the outside, it looks like they've hit the jackpot, and we envy them for being able to afford everything, but to them? It's just Tuesday. It's like how it's totally normal for us to grab three meals a day without feeling an extra burst of euphoria every single time, even though someone starving in a developing nation might see a full plate as the greatest blessing on earth. Okay, maybe the food analogy is a bit heavy-handed, but you get my drift. What I'm trying to say is that once you cross a certain threshold, wealth and luxury become baseline expectations—it's just what's "normal," and it doesn't bring a single ounce of extra happiness.