At what income level did you suddenly feel happy/satisfied?

37 comments

1. Haven’t found that yet. I make about 110k a year now, 6 years ago I was making 30k.

   Life is definitely easier, but you settle into it. Now I’m really just trying to reach the next level of about 150k. It’s a treadmill. I’m sure that I will be trying to make more and more until I retire and can hopefully do that early.

2. My largest raise brought me up to 85k. Thought i’d finally reached a point where i’d feel comfortable settling down, having a kid and buying a house. Then the housing market lost its collective mind and inflation happened. Back to square one.

3. once I started making around 50k, I could afford to save and also afford to not budget (bank account kept going up so I must have been doing something right).

   I make quite a bit more than that now but things are a little more stressful because then I was only responsible for myself and now I have a family, which is expensive!

4. I dunno about everyone else, but when I started making money and buying nicer stuff, I wanted to make more money so I could buy nicer stuff. Then I had kids, and I wanted to make more money so I could pay for their college while continuing to buy stuff. And of course I now want them to have nice things too.

   And, by the way, “stuff” isn’t necessarily things you buy at a store—it’s home improvements that meet some of my decarbonization objectives: insulation, heat pumps, solar panels. None of it’s “necessary,” but my definition of “enough” has expanded.

5. It wasn’t sudden.

   But when my husband and I bought our first home together (as opposed to his first home before then), we felt happy and satisfied. We bought well under what we qualified for, and then we’re pretty frugal, but could afford various vacation. With no kids, we’ve also been able to save a healthy amount for retirement.

6. No one is ever satisfied.

7. I’ll be the first to admit that being financially secure is a massive load off your shoulders after spending years in debt and living off of credit cards. But it doesn’t suddenly just make you feel okay. If you’re an anxious and stressed out person you’ll always find a reason to not be content. There’s always a next level you wish you were at.

8. I’ll let you know if I ever get there

9. My husband and I combined are at about $100k. Up until recently I wasn’t feeling comfortable because I had a lot of debt but with a recent inheritance I was able to pay off everything but my house and federal student loans. I finally feel like I have room to breathe while still seeing my savings grow.

10. Havnt got there yet.

    But when I got to about $45k it took a load of stress off. This was back in like 2010, so things were different lol my rent was $570 a month in Charlotte for a 1 bedroom.

    But that was when i went from paycheck-to-paycheck to being able to save, I remember that specifically

11. No amount of money is gonna flip a switch and make you happy.

    But about $70,000 did give me a more breathing room in my budget than I’d had before that. So it dialed back one anxiety. I could go grocery shopping without worrying about hamburgers throwing me over budget. That would be a bit over $100K today, because inflation has been brutal since then.

12. It’s a little less stressful when you earn more in theory, but happiness is not necessarily attached to income. There are happy poor people and extremely wealthy miserable people.

13. I was/am fine with $60k but will jump to $300k next year. That will be way more than I need, but it will allow me to save for retirement.

14. I went from 28k out of college to 200k by middle age and I feel even more anxious about my finances than ever (and I’m relatively frugal… drive a 13 year old car, have things around the house that need repair, only eat out a couple of times a month, etc.). I would need a sum of money that allows me to retire safely before I would feel satisfied but I am not even halfway to that number.

15. Happiness and satisfaction aren’t related to income.

    But I started feeling _comfortable_ and not perpetually _anxious_ at around $40,000/year

16. When I hit 50k I was feeling pretty solid, now that I’m making closer to 100k I still feel pretty satisfied. I haven’t changed my lifestyle much between the 2 tho.

17. Money satisfies nothing. It just makes you more of what you already were. It does allow you to fulfill some specific desires which you may or may not find satisfying. Depends what they are. See the second sentence.

18. People feel happy and satisfied?

19. I quit my job last year and took a 40% raise to go somewhere else. Even with my cost of living having gone up significantly, I’m now at the point I’m happy. I would love more money of course, but I’m at the point I can take vacations and buy basically whatever I want without worrying about it. It’s freeing.

    Except a house or new car. But I’m a millennial near a major city, so that’s never going to happen.

20. $110K though it had to do more with how the rest of my life was going. However, that was also arguably related to money.

    What the money allowed me to do was:

    Go to weekly therapy to address my underlying emotional issues and reach a happier, healthier mental space

    Have a safety net of savings so I wasn’t worried about losing my job

    Take group fitness classes three times a week to stay in shape

    Afford high quality, fresh, organic foods

    Get my own 1-bedroom apartment in a HCOL coastal city (living alone is so relaxing) where there were plenty of other young professionals to befriend

    Go out on the weekends and meet people

    Say “yes” to fun activities and fun vacations with friends, both new and old

    All of which set me up to meet the right person at the right time and enter a healthy, loving relationship with an amazing man.

21. Went from $30k -> $120k -> $200k, expected to make ~$220k this year. It still doesn’t feel like enough, but that’s because I’m maxing out retirement accounts and I bought a house. There’s always a feeling of “if I made a little bit more, then…”. Regardless of how I feel at present, I’ll concede that my satisfaction toward my *future* financial well-being has improved dramatically. So I guess the best answer is when I made enough to save aggressively for retirement.

22. At $250k we finally felt comfortable and secure. Everything since then has been gravy.

23. There is a lot of research that seems to indicate people’s happiness reaches a peak around $75K of personal annual income and tends to stay the same or decrease after that. Obviously it’s different for everyone. You won’t “suddenly” feel satisfied just because of your annual income.

24. I’ve always been happy/satisfied regardless of my income level.

    I make a very comfortable mid six figure salary now and enjoy my lifestyle but I had a lot of fun as a new college grad moving into his first real apartment with nothing but lawn furniture. I certainly feel more secure today but I wouldn’t say I’m any happier – at least not because I make a lot more money.

    My happiness mostly comes from my wife, kids, friends, and family.

25. The jump from multiple part-time jobs, making ~35k/year total, to making 65k/year with one full-time salaried job was HUGE.

26. For me it wasn’t just hitting a number, it was consistently earning a certain amount. When I earned 150K for about 5 years in a row I realized I had stopped looking at prices.

    But there were other milestones too. When I was single and started earning around 90K I felt a lot more relaxed. 75K or 80K might have done it, but I had a big jump from 57K straight to 90K so I don’t know.

27. Not there yet. Gross, I’m at $63k/yr. Total houshold gross is $87,000k/yr. Family of 5. It still feels like a big struggle. I think we’d feel very comfortable at $150k.

28. san francisco. i was still struggling at 100k

29. You know, I feel just as secure now that I make enough money to put me in the top 2% of earners as I did when I made 50k a year. I don’t think any number would just make me feel financially secure, but what does make me feel secure is the fact that my house is paid off, my life insurance is paid up and I can afford all my bills. I don’t have kids, so no worries on that front.

30. Damn dude Im broke and Im not less happy because of it. Are we really tying our money to happiness?

31. I like living very simple, so I net 40k and have everything I need, and am able to put money away, so I’m more than satisfied. Am I going to complain about more, absolutely not, but I’m not out actively trying to make more either.

32. Went from working at Target (and not getting full time hours, but working a shitty shift) to a CAD job making $20/hr, full time, normalish business hours. Despite working more hours it felt like I had more free time (since I wasn’t dead on my feet whenever I was off work, and I actually got *weekends*), and basically tripled my income to 40k/year. I haven’t worried about money since then.

33. *cries in sales job

34. At about 50k (100k household) we were no longer living paycheck to paycheck and didn’t have to stress about money all of the time.. so that was nice.

    We still can’t afford fancy vacations, a 2nd house, boats, ect.. so I’d take a little more money if anyone is offering.

35. Currently at about $230k and it’s not enough. I don’t think there’s ever going to be enough. The more I make, the higher my expectations become.

36. >At what income level did you suddenly feel happy/satisfied?

    Just a little more

37. Still don’t at over $100k. I mean, I started in my 20’s around $27k.

    BUT, I live in the metro DC area due to my job and the average income in my community is dual income making over $200k. It’s relative.

    My retirement saving so far is good though.