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by JimboOmega 3822 days ago
I think studies have shown that past a relatively low (by SV standards) level of income ($75kish I think) the relationship between money and happiness breaks down.

The argument can definitely be made that the happiness difference between "comfortable and independent" and "Zuckerberg" is not all that great.
2 comments
jkyle 3822 days ago
> I think studies have shown that past a relatively low (by SV standards) level of income ($75kish I think) the relationship between money and happiness breaks down.

This is true. But while that is low by SV standards, the $75k threshold from the study is targeted to "median america" cost of living.

If you adjust for cost of living and for purchasing power over the 6 years since the study was conducted, you end up with quite a bit more for areas like San Francisco. In fact, you'd probably be looking at more like 175-185k. [1]

1. http://www.advisorperspectives.com/dshort/commentaries/Happi...

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monsieurbanana 3821 days ago
That's not intuitive for me. I personally think my threshold would rather be "comfortable and independent without having to work".

Not that I don't want to work anymore, but being able to leave my programming job and becoming a dog breeder would make a lot of difference. And take month longs vacations to travel whenever I wanted.

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