How much money do you need to be happy?

moggylover

SingleSue wrote: »

What amount would make me happy?

Being able to just put anything I wanted in the shopping trolley at the supermarket without worrying about how much it would cost and very carefully adding it into the calculator to make sure I don't go over my budget.

:T :T :T Oh God Sue! These are my thoughts entirely! You can stuff your fancy cars, clothes and other carp but I DO feel poor if I cannot just buy (sometimes, not all the time) something I "fancy" to eat rather than just what I can afford:o

moggylover

bendix wrote: »

To go back to ninky's comment that there are very few utopian societies ever been tried, so it's impossible to judge if they have been successful or not . . . . . here is the reason why.

Someone has to define the term. What exactly does utopian mean, and if there is someone defining that term for everyone else, does that imply a godlike status for them - someone uber-utopian, for example?

Pol Pot believed his system would lead to an agrarian Utopia for his country, free from the shackles of capitalism and the West. His thinking was largely based on the Cambodian concept of Ankhar, a variation of Buddhist Philosophy. Lenin took the Marxist utopian vision and applied it to Russia - he thought he was doing it for the right reasons. Mao too.

The Pilgrims who left England for America did so to establish a religious utopia where everyone could be free, equal and prosper (unless you thought differently to them, of course). Ditto every other quasi-utopian movement.

And they all imploded. Every one. Without exception.

Because the ignore the human desire to succeed, grow and enhance one's lot. To push a utopian philosophy is, ironically, the antithesis of the very level of fairness and democracy utopia-advocates want. And there's the irony.

The concept of utopia is fundamentally flawed. It's paradoxical in that the very act of defining utopia places the definer above the defined, and so is contaminated immediately.

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Just A thought!
I prayed to My God in the dark of a night,
When sad thoughts had me all at sea,
"Oh Lord! Let us live in a perfect World,
Where everyone lives perfectly".

"Well, whose view of perfect"
He asked with a laugh,
"For each person that's different,
You see".

So I thought for a moment, then took back my plea,
For a thought hit me hard, suddenly!
That if ever we lived in a perfect World,
There'd be nowhere for imperfect me!!

Conrad

I know some very happy contented people that don't worry about thier comparative wealth status, and to me these are the worlds most sucessful people, not bloaters that want ever more.

I'm appauled people like Sir Paul McCartney gets away with hoarding £800m in wealth. I don't care if he gives some to charity, the point is £800m is ensnared under his sole control, which therefore means there is less to go around.

I think one day we will view excessive wealth hoarding with contempt. He could fare well on say £1m in the Bank and a mortgage free home.

Next time you applaud Sir Paul, Sting or Ben Elton, jst keep in your mind these people have trapped a disproportionate store of wealth fenced off from the rest of Humanity.

INT1

Conrad wrote: »

I know some very happy contented people that don't worry about thier comparative wealth status, and to me these are the worlds most sucessful people, not bloaters that want ever more.

I'm appauled people like Sir Paul McCartney gets away with hoarding £800m in wealth. I don't care if he gives some to charity, the point is £800m is ensnared under his sole control, which therefore means there is less to go around.

I think one day we will view excessive wealth hoarding with contempt. He could fare well on say £1m in the Bank and a mortgage free home.

Next time you applaud Sir Paul, Sting or Ben Elton, jst keep in your mind these people have trapped a disproportionate store of wealth fenced off from the rest of Humanity.

Same goes to Footballers!
David Beckham, what's the point in it all??

Conrad

aldo wrote: »

Same goes to Footballers!
David Beckham, what's the point in it all??

I agree. What is in Poshs mind when she dedicates herself to ever greater hoarding? It boils down to what exactly? She can buy even bigger homes to make the contrast between her and others even more stark. She can buy £2m ring, to prove what exactly - it's just a collection of atoms like everything else.

I honestly think these people aren't very deep, and fail to even begin to engage with the meaning of life.

I could work harder and one day buy a bigger house, but I have a 5 bed, that's plenty - to upscale would in the main be to impress status into the faces of others. Very shallow.

BONO - does he need half a billion in wealth? Yet he wants me to donate on red nose day to build a tally that will be far smaller than the wealth of one man - himself.

I bet Lenny Henry has ensnared a few tens of millions too. Sick really

bendix

Yes, it's awful when people are successful isn't it? I personally think we should aim for a cult of mediocrity where everyone is the same as everyone else. That would teach those rich 'uns.

Here's a thought. Perhaps they are building wealth not just for themselves, but to secure and embellish the lives of their kids and their kids' kids ad infinitium.

Isn't that one of the most basic of all human desires?

bendix

reduceditem wrote: »

There are plenty of people out there who would do exactly that

Indeed there are. Me, for example.

Phirefly

I'm definitely happier now I'm earning more. I like being able to buy a round of drinks without a moments thought. I like being back to my income/expenditure levels of 1998 when I was waitressing and living at home - those were happy days.

I dreamt last night that Mr.P and I went to stay at the Beckhams, they lived in the castle that was on this weeks' grand designs revisited. Their wet room was carpeted and kept flooding. Mr P borrowed his boss's Phantom and he almost drove it off a flyover.

Victoria was surprisingly pleasant.

mitchaa

The people who are saying £25-30k. Are you in receipt of state benefits or living in council/social housing?

Any family with a sizeable mortgage would struggle on the above or certainly have to be frugal with spending i would say.

tara747

aldo wrote: »

The more you earn the less bothered about bargain hunting, I guess people think if they work harder to earn more they should be rewarded.
A couple earning £12k each should find it enough to live on and bring up 1 child.

Nooooooo

I earn a fair bit more than the average wage and am totally into bargain hunting, I get a thrill out of getting something cheap!

A couple on £12k each would struggle to keep themselves, never mind a child imho.