How much money do you need to be happy?

JayScottGreenspan

lostinrates wrote: »

Or getting paid more the amount of time you will be commited to devoting to work anyway.

Do you mean like this:
Bill earns £10 an hour
Bill pays £20 an hour for Ted to do two hours of plastering that would have taken Bill ten hours.

If so, then I agree.

silvercar

JayScottGreenspan wrote:

When I see a flash car I sometimes think "wonder what hole in their life that's attempting to fill?".

The most pathetic thing is personalised number plates. Almost the definition of more money than sense. What do you buy if you've run out of things that actually make you happier? Do you give some money to charity to stop someone in the third world from going blind? No, you get your name on your numberplate. Lame. Totally lame.

JayScottGreenspan wrote:

What do I think about people in ridiculous cars? To borrow from a famous Indiana Jones scene:
"He chose poorly".

I think you have an issue with cars. Why is a personalised number plate a weaker choice than a plasma TV?

bendix

JayScottGreenspan wrote: »

After all, isn't that what MSE is all about?

No .. MSE is about saving money to ensure there is enough left over to do whatever the individual wants with. For one person that might be watching it grow in a bank account while he or she lives on beans. For another it might be splashing out on Porches. For many it will be somewhere in between.

All those choices are valid.

You're right. Consumers have so much choice and noone has a right to say one person's free choice is any less valid than anothers.

I love it when people condescendingly attack consumerism in others. I'm tempted to ask what is in your home if not consumer goods. YOUR choice in consumer goods which YOU have decided you want to acquire. And yet you pity other who make different choices. A bit presumptious, perhaps?

lostinrates

JayScottGreenspan wrote: »

Do you mean like this:
Bill earns £10 an hour
Bill pays £20 an hour for Ted to do two hours of plastering that would have taken Bill ten hours.

If so, then I agree.

Yes but I also mean: Mr Lostinrates i going to have to work full time. He can work fulltime for minimum wage or he can work fulltime for lots more than minimum wage.

It never quite equals out though, does it. DH of course works lot longer hours than 'full time' but he also knows he's really puching himself intellectually, and gets lots of opportunity for self improvment. If he did the 'normal' full time he might be paid less but be able to be more of a stickler for 9-6 hours. I guess. I think increasingly not though, and the job well done would always be important to mr lostinrates.

baby_boomer

I need £2K per month before tax once I'm shot of my dependants.

JayScottGreenspan

silvercar wrote: »

I think you have an issue with cars. Why is a personalised number plate a weaker choice than a plasma TV?

What possible purpose does a personalised number plate serve?

How much time with your loved ones would you be prepared to forego in order to have one?

silvercar

I have a lovely family, good friends and a balanced lifestyle. I'm happy!

I have enough money to do the things I want for myself and for others that I may want to support. I don't have so much money that I can throw money away frivously.

I balance my time between my work, my family, voluntary work and myself.

Sure there are little changes I would like, but part of not having everything helps you appreciate what you do have.

I'm happy.

silvercar

JayScottGreenspan wrote: »

What possible purpose does a personalised number plate serve?

It means you don't have the urgent need to change your car the minute it is 3 years old

It means that whenever someone like you looks at my car and thinks "how shallow!" I can think back "How shallow are you to judge me on my number plate."

How much time with your loved ones would you be prepared to forego in order to have one?

None, my loved one bought it for me. But then I had just bought him one. Both were big birthday presents, so if they hadn't been bought, money would have been frittered away on other trinkets.

JayScottGreenspan

bendix wrote: »

You're right. Consumers have so much choice and noone has a right to say one person's free choice is any less valid than anothers.

Err, what about free speech?

I respect everyone's right to buy a flash motor. But I reserve the right to think what I like about them.

lostinrates

JayScottGreenspan wrote: »

What possible purpose does a personalised number plate serve?

How much time with your loved ones would you be prepared to forego in order to have one?

Depends. I cannot, cannot change my mobile number. I will find it very hard to learn a new one (my broken brain). I know my numberplate too, and though I'm quite prepared to have a new one the idea of learning it makes me a little yucky feeling . I'd like the same number for life: but personally I wouldn't pay for it.