How much money do you need to be happy?

blunt_crayon

how much money do you need to be happy? apparently the actual amount isn't that relevant, it just needs to be more than the people around you. studies have shown that people are happier when they have a financial advantage over their peers, to the point that people would rather have 40k a year if everyone else had 30k, than 50k a year if everyone else had 60k. so instead of buying the worst house in the best street, you should buy the best house in the worst street. (i should point out that most of this is what i remember reading in a book by merryn somerset webb, the editor of moneyweek)

apparently. can't say that personally it would make me happier to live with a bunch of chavs, but then i guess that's taking it very literally.

moggylover

Conrad wrote: »

Why is it society shows great respect for those that are good at money ticket accumulation, yet ignores the Dutch chap who has single handedly come to the rescue of sea Turtles in Indonesia without reward, and at great cost to himself?

Why do we routinely knight so many Civil Servants for just doing a good job, yet many who dedicate thier lives quietly to others are not sought out for attention particularly?

Simply? Because our society values money and things far more than it does the things that really matter:o .

Unfortunately, as this thread shows, there are still a large number (although I still believe that that number is actually a minority of our population in real terms) who identify themselves and their success firmly with dosh and show and who would not be satisfied with any kind of quiet self-approbation for a good cause well supported. If they were to donate, then they would still want it to be for the show and the acclaim, and not just because it needed doing.

However, there are, equally, millions who are willing to contribute in their own small way, and without hope or want of thanks and glory - and I personally hold those people to be my own heroes: and many of them have incomes that would be laughable to those in need of another new car this year or a Ferrari in their future.:D

Good on you for the turtles, btw. Gorillas and big cats and bears are my things:o

JayScottGreenspan

moggylover wrote: »

NOPE! The vast majority of the Country DO NOT have an unbelievably fantastic standard of living!

Compared to almost every other human that has ever existed, I would say they do.

moggylover

JayScottGreenspan wrote: »

Compared to almost every other human that has ever existed, I would say they do.

I think that if we compare to less advanced Countries then yes. However, that our Society should have so much debt, and people who are sadly disenfranchised and feel without hope in the way that Society has developed then I cannot agree.

Actually, one often sees happier faces in poverty stricken third World countries than one sees sitting in BMW's in traffic jams here;) . Makes one think that does:D

But then it would take more than material things for me to consider it a wonderful life, and perhaps that is the difference.

JayScottGreenspan

moggylover wrote: »

that our Society should have so much debt, and people who are sadly disenfranchised and feel without hope in the way that Society has developed then I cannot agree.

I agree. Think we were at cross purposes a bit there.

Debt is not conducive to happiness. You're run of the mill debt free MSE'er is probably much happier than the average 'man on the street'.

moggylover

lostinrates wrote: »

LOL, one of our rich neighbours has just replaced his ferrari with a huge black, blacked out windowed rangerover which he enjoys driving everyone else off the road into the ditches and potholes...that of course HIS car could cope with.


I see absolutely nothing wrong in the lovely sentiments expressed by Ninky, and indeed you, but I don't think they are applicable to us all. I'm genuinely delighted for everyone who is fulfilled with less, but DH and I want the right to strive for more. We too lived with very little expenditure and have been wildly happy, but part of that happiness was living in the there and then and part has been constructing the plans for our dreams. We don't mind the scarifices and harder work these big dreams demand, and as you know from t'othrr board, its not something we want given to us: acheiving it with our own graft is part of it for us.

I think its suggesting lack of happiness in someone's own lifestyle that sometimes, though by know means always, results in plans like this.

Oh Lost! You do remind me of me when younger:o

I would have to point out that the points at which my perspective changed were

1) when I lost the love of my life, and my soul mate due to the fact that we had both been so obsessed with getting the things we thought we needed for the future that we lost sight of the here and now and he decided that he did not need so much and found (without talking to me first) someone whom he thought would be more easily satisfied with what they had. Turned out she was far greedier than me but wanted him to provide it all but there you are:D .

2) When I realised that at late 40's I was on the change and beginning to show signs of an inherited genetic problem that will probably mean that I end up in a wheelchair permanently well before 60 and that if I do not "stop and smell the roses" now I shall never get the chance:D .

When ones physical health goes awry, and ones mobility becomes limited then I think one stops worrying so much about a lot of what always seemed so important (especially my OCD tendencies that drove me to be a perfectionist in everthing) evaluate what is good and what is an illness in ones drive mechanism, and take a good look at what the real priorities of survival have to be.

Far from being a negative, now that I am coming to terms with all of it it is the most positive thing that has ever happened psychologically and I am finally learning to cast out my black dog, my OCD, and my low self-esteem which caused my drive and to strive instead for the balance that grows from seeing the wood instead of just the trees;)

What you think you need may not be what you need when you get there: it never was for me:o Now that I better know what I actually have, I have a better sense of balance and know that as I cannot have the one thing I really want (my legs back and no pain) I had better blooming well enjoy what I do have:D

geoffky

I have nearly a million in the bank and believe me it does not make you happy..it makes you worry that you are doing the right thing and managing it well...because imagine if i lost it all..:eek:

bendix

Conrad wrote: »

Bendix,

Does it bother you so many in the world have so little?
In Manilla I saw tots living without parents in boxes in the motorway central reservation.
For me there is a profound link between my hoarding and others going without.

I'm going to take your Manila (I spent a week every month there for the last four years for work), and trump it with Thailand where poverty is almost as bad.

But I don't really see your point. There is no link between those tragic tots in Manila, and Paul McCartney earning his millions. They are not interdependent.

We can argue forever about why those kids are begging on the highways. Each country will have it's own reasons, but in the Philippines case it is a tragic tale of Asia's richest country (in terms of mineral resources) being sold down the river by mass corruption, ineffective government and too much power in the hands of the Catholic Church who terrify Philippines mothers into thinking birth control is a sin.

So what's your answer? Another attempt at a supertax (something Paul McCartney was subjected to in the 1960s and 70s anyway) and stifling entrepeneurship and business and risk taking?

More loans - well, perhaps, it's a short-term fix but doesnt fix the problem and insteads creates more of a dependency culture? It makes the givers feel good for a while, but does nothing in the end.

Or encouraging business to grow, develop more jobs, more industries. Now why should anyone do that if they won't be rewarded for the risks they take.

People attack the super-rich, but Bill Gates has created more wealth for the rest of the world than he has for himself. How many millions of businesses have been improved thanks to his innovation, how many more jobs creating how many more better lives lifted from the breadline?

People see things in black and white. He's rich. He's poor . . Hand it over guys. Well, life isnt like that. It's far more complex.

bendix

moggylover wrote: »

I think that if we compare to less advanced Countries then yes. However, that our Society should have so much debt, and people who are sadly disenfranchised and feel without hope in the way that Society has developed then I cannot agree.

Actually, one often sees happier faces in poverty stricken third World countries than one sees sitting in BMW's in traffic jams here;) . Makes one think that does:D

But then it would take more than material things for me to consider it a wonderful life, and perhaps that is the difference.

How else can you compare standards of living, unless you compare to other people - either in other countries today, or our own country in the past?

As for your comment about happy faces in poverty stricken third world countries, forgive me but you have obviously not lived amongst those people and the whole tone smacks of the 'awwwwww, arent they lovely to be smiling paternalism' so rampant in the west.

They may smile when the cameras are out, when the tv crews are wandering around, or when they see tourists because that is all a novelty. But having lived amongst them for years, I can assure you EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM dreams of swapping their so called happy life there, with the miserable two car, TV and twice yearly holiday miserable existence over here.

Hence the immigration threads on this forum.

Conrad

I wonder if people with flash cars judge others by thier car, say when arriving at a wedding or something?
I used to have flash cars but they didn't make me happy. Now I drive a modest car people react differently to me, which is incredibly shallow of them.