Does happiness have a price? For a majority of Americans, the answer is yes — but it doesn’t come cheap.
About 6 in 10 of Americans believe money can buy happiness, according to a new poll from financial services firm Empower. Yet to achieve happiness through financial means, most people say they’d need a significant raise, as well as a big chunk of money in the bank.
Median household income in the U.S. stands at about $74,000 annually, but respondents told Empower that they’d need to earn roughly $284,000 each year to achieve happiness.
And as for wealth, Americans said they’d need even more in the bank to feel content: $1.2 million, to be exact, the poll found. Many people are wealthier than they were a few years ago, thanks to the rise in real estate and stock market values, yet the median net worth of U.S. households stood at $192,900 in 2022, according to the Federal Reserve.
It can’t buy you happiness. But it can buy stuff that makes you happy.
Like, not having to worry about the choice between rent and fiod, or car loan and electrical bill. (Not to mention all the other stuff that’s pretty fun, too.)
I don’t know if paying my electricity bill counts as buying something that makes me happy…
ever been without electricity? Some homes, no power means no heat, no cooking, no internet. it’s just a shell that’s nominally warmer than the outside. Stressing about simply surviving is going to pretty much make anybody unhappy. so not having to worry about paying those bills… perhaps it’s best to say, buying relief from unhappiness?
Yeah. Relief from unhappiness is a much better way to put it. Happy is not the same as not-sad.
Finding happiness in life usually goes beyond “having the bare minimum of my basic needs met”.
Makes you happier than not being able to pay it.
Not-sad is different from happiness
Buy a puppy