That's only true to a point and that point is not very high. There is some good literature on this, but after a handful of standard deviations above high-average income the happiness effect plateaus. Multimillionaires aren't any happier than millionaires and often work more / stress more to get there.
You know, I happen to be ok with it plateauing, as long as I’m on the damn plateau.
I’m not even within view range of the plateau at the moment. Might even be a different continent.
But then, I’m not dumb enough to keep working/trying to earn more once I’m set to be comfortable for the rest of my life. So maybe that’s the difference.
But what if 10 mil is enough for me to never work again and just spend all my time doing stuff I actually care about? I might even do work that matters to me that doesn't normally pay well if I can control it myself.
Steeve, unless you live in Palo Alto, you have a very pinky in the air definition of decent.
I said X SDs above the average so that would account for inflation. I don't know the current number. At one point I think it was like $270k a year. Nothing completely insane. I would guess now it's probably like $450k a year roughly. You make that and you are as happy as someone making double that.