Money and happiness

In a survey of 13 countries, the Skandia International’s Wealth Sentiment Monitor finds that of the money needed for people to feel happy is is around $161,000. I am assuming per year. The survey includes some very affluent regions like Saudi Arabia, Hong Kong, and Singapore and interestingly does not include the US.

That seems like a lot of money.

The figure I've always been shooting for was a widely publicized $75K per person, about $150K for our family.

Given the fact that we are talking about people's perceptions of something as hard to define as happiness and the striking regional variables in sampling, I recognize that these numbers have little value for individuals. Yet, I can't help but feel like I'm falling behind. I suspect pithy headlines like this were aiming for us to reflect on how much better or worse we feel relative to the $161K.

But when you read the report, there are many interesting observations about what people are doing and will do for money and the security and happiness it brings. Many are willing to move countries. Many are increasing their wealth primarily through cash (work, I am assuming), but next is through investments in property.

The way I've always seen the money and happiness connection is that money helps us provide for our necessities (enough to eat, house, clothing, home). From there additional money is used to fulfill the individual's desires like need for status symbols. Too bad these kinds of reports don't give us numbers (which I think would be easy to collect) on how much it actually costs to cover necessary costs and report on the discrepancy between required and desired incomes.