What’s Your Happy Number?

I’ve seen a lot of articles lately which say that the “happiness” number for most people is around $50,000 a year. Over 1,000 people were interviewed and asked about their happiness levels in different categories such as their health, social life, and so on.

A lot of interesting statistics were included in the survey. 64% of Americans experienced a financial hardship in the past year. This is definitely believable, especially with the economy.

Those who made less than $50,000 were not as happy as those who made at least $50,000. Also, those who made more than $75,000 were not happier than those who made $50,000. This is because it levels off and doesn’t make as much of a difference.

That means that the happiness range is between $50,000 to $75,000. So if you made $1,000,000, you are most likely not happier than someone who makes $50K.

This shocked me! I could do so much with $1,000,000, or even $200K or something higher. But I guess everything in the end leads to how once you make more money, you still don’t feel comparable to others who make slightly more. And also because life isn’t all about money and money can’t technically “buy” a person’s happiness.

I’m not exactly sure what my happiness number would be. I think $50K would be enough if I had no mortgage or student loans, but right now we are above $50K and it doesn’t seem like enough.

I know if we needed to, of course we could cut things from our life and then $50K would be fine, but I’m happy with my life where it is right now. A little above what we’re at right now would be perfect though because we would be able to pay everything off even faster, then save more and in the end be able to retire sooner. What could you do if you had more?

So I guess my happiness number all involves what would be able to let me retire sooner. A cool $1 mill would be nice. Ha but that will never happen 🙂

1. They’re more sad about getting older.
2. More likely to think they have health problems.
3. More likely to think that they don’t have enough money.
4. They feel lonely and like a burden.
5. Feel less active than others in areas such as travel, work and volunteering.

In the end, this $50,000 amount would most likely be higher if you lived in a different area such as New York, but I’m assuming this survey was taken by people who lived all over.  $50K is a good amount for where I live in the Midwest, but the lifestyle would be TOTALLY different in New York City of course.