The Happiness Factor
Everyone always wants a little more to be happy
I can’t get over thinking about this recent tweet from Derek Thompson in response to an article that appeared in the WSJ called The Pay Raise People Say They Need to Be Happy.
At first, I didn’t really believe this. That can’t be true, I thought. Every income level needs an additional 30-50% more to feel happy?
If you’re making making $150,000 you actually need $200,000? $200,000 you really need $350,000?
Then I thought back over my life. Sure enough, I’ve had that same mindset.
I can recall many points in my life where I’ve thought, if I could only make x amount more. Then I could buy this, or do that.
In looking back, I’ve actually been very fortunate to have grown my income every year. I’ve experienced that 30-50% increase a few times. But you know what didn’t change? My happiness level.
In fact, at certain points in my life, my happiness level decreased, even though my income increased and I was making more money than I ever had.
I bring this up because it takes things like this to put some perspective back into why we’re doing things in our personal or professional lives and how we view money.
Are we just working a job we hate for more money, to buy things we don’t need, to impress people we don’t even like?
Are we working to live or living to work?
Are we forgetting that there is no prize for being the richest person in the graveyard or that you’ll never see a U-Haul behind a hearse?
Are we working and living for happiness or dollars?
The happiness factor for everyone can vary. What makes one person happy may not make another.
We’re constantly longing for what we don’t have, instead of being grateful for what we do have.
One thing that is a never-ending wheel or continues to be an ever moving goalpost, is the chase for more money. There really is no end game. You can make more and more and more. There is no limit.
All that happens is your clock runs out. Your life ends.
If you’re lucky, you will get about 4,000 weeks in your life. That gets you to age 80. If you’re now 40, you have roughly 2,000 weeks remaining.
What is done in those weeks is determined by you. If you spend it unhappy or happy, is dependent upon you.
It’s your view, nobody else’s. The definition of success, like happiness, is up to you. It’s how you define it, nobody else.
The thing to remember is there is no competition. The only competition is against yourself.
Life is a series of stages. How you spend each stage is up to you.
When we’re young, we’re rich in time and energy, but have no money.
When we’re adults, we’re rich in money and energy, but have no time.
When we’re old, we’re rich in money and time, but have no energy.
The Coffee Table ☕
This past weekend’s Weekend Reading For Financial Planners from Kitces had a number of good posts in the weekly rundown of things worth reading. There were multiple posts that I found interesting from investing and handling clients to eating and working out. A good mix of informative posts.
I found this list of fast food chains with their number of US locations rather interesting and wanted to share it. I didn’t know that Subway still has as many locations as it does. I’m guessing soon Starbucks will have the most locations in the US.
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