I think money prevents certain types misery more than it buys happiness.
For example, flights with stopovers and shitty public transportation make me miserable and usually sick. By spending money on direct flights and taxis, I save myself many days of life that would otherwise be lost (I have to travel a lot).
Similarly, knowing I can afford good medical care if I get sick, or find a new apartment if mine becomes unpleasant, or send my kids to a private school if public schools are too useless… these things don’t make me deeply happy, but if they were not true, that would make me constantly anxious.
Money is a cushion against disaster. If something goes awry, you can use it to buy medical or legal or technical assistance. However, for me personally it does not cause an actually happy or joyful affect, nor does it seem to buy the things that do (except very indirectly).
I think I saw that on LessWrong quite recently. That study is trying to refute the claim that income satisficing happens at ~$20k (and is mostly focused on countries rather than individuals). $20k << $75k.
When we analyze these data more formally in regressions we find no evidence of a significant break in either the happiness-income relationship, nor in the life satisfaction-income relationship, even at annual incomes up to half a million dollars.
OK, I believe there is conflicting research. There usually is. And as usual, I don’t know what to make of it, except that the preponderance of search hits supports $75k as satisficing. shrug
I think money prevents certain types misery more than it buys happiness.
For example, flights with stopovers and shitty public transportation make me miserable and usually sick. By spending money on direct flights and taxis, I save myself many days of life that would otherwise be lost (I have to travel a lot).
Similarly, knowing I can afford good medical care if I get sick, or find a new apartment if mine becomes unpleasant, or send my kids to a private school if public schools are too useless… these things don’t make me deeply happy, but if they were not true, that would make me constantly anxious.
Money is a cushion against disaster. If something goes awry, you can use it to buy medical or legal or technical assistance. However, for me personally it does not cause an actually happy or joyful affect, nor does it seem to buy the things that do (except very indirectly).
Since you didn’t spell it out this aspect of it: one aspect of this would be to invest in better insurance policies.
The studies on income satisficing (past 75k, more money doesn’t correlate with more happiness) certainly suggest that this is true.
But I’m still hoping it’s not, and most people just haven’t figured out how to buy happiness efficiently. Seems worth trying, at any rate.
And other studies suggest that it isn’t.
I think I saw that on LessWrong quite recently. That study is trying to refute the claim that income satisficing happens at ~$20k (and is mostly focused on countries rather than individuals). $20k << $75k.
OK, I believe there is conflicting research. There usually is. And as usual, I don’t know what to make of it, except that the preponderance of search hits supports $75k as satisficing. shrug
Certain people know how to spend money right and other don’t, and for some reason different studies are biased towards different types of people?