{"id":10818,"date":"2023-11-27T18:13:34","date_gmt":"2023-11-27T18:13:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/connectwithfund.com\/tech\/americans-think-they-need-to-make-284000-to-be-happy-theyre-wrong-and-so-is-the-research\/"},"modified":"2023-11-27T18:13:35","modified_gmt":"2023-11-27T18:13:35","slug":"americans-think-they-need-to-make-284000-to-be-happy-theyre-wrong-and-so-is-the-research","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/connectwithfund.com\/?p=10818","title":{"rendered":"Americans Think They Need To Make $284,000 To Be Happy. They\u2019re Wrong\u2014And So Is The Research."},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<h2 class=\"subhead-embed color-accent bg-base font-accent font-size text-align\">OBSERVATIONS FROM THE FINTECH<fbs-ticker data-name=\"ECH\" data-href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/investment-funds\/ech\/\" data-type=\"etf\"><br \/>\n  ECH<br \/>\n <\/fbs-ticker> SNARK TANK<\/h2>\n<p>How much more money would you need to make you \u201chappy\u201d? That\u2019s the question financial services firm Empower put to Americans in a recent survey which revealed:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Financial happiness means different things to different people. <\/strong>Two-thirds of respondents associated on-time bill payment and being debt-free with financial happiness. Half said happiness was being able to afford everyday luxuries without worry, while others said it\u2019s found in spending on experiences with those they cherish and in optimism for what&#8217;s next.<\/li>\n<li><strong>More money=less problems.<\/strong> Seven in 10 respondents said that having more money would solve most of their problems. A third said that $15,000 would have a \u201cmeaningful\u201d impact in their lives, and boost their feeling of financial happiness for six months. For 42% of Americans, $25,000 would be needed to have an impact, but for 17%, all they would need is $5,000.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Americans need a lot of money to be happy. <\/strong>Overall, Americans said they\u2019d need an annual income of $284,000 to be happy\u2014about four times today\u2019s median salary of $74k. Men need more than twice as much\u2014$381k vs. $183k as women do (clearly, my wife and 3 daughters weren\u2019t surveyed). Millennials put their number at a whopping $525k per year, with Gen Zers, Gen Xers, and Baby Boomers expressing a need for $125k to $130k annually.<\/li>\n<li><strong>There\u2019s a magic net worth that produces happiness. <\/strong>The generations also diverged on their perspectives on what net worth would be required to produce happiness. Half a million would make Gen Zers happy, Baby Boomers want twice that, and it would take $1.7 million to make Millennials happy. My, how things have changed. A 2019 study from Department26 found that &#8220;Millennials don&#8217;t believe in money, they believe in themselves.&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><fbs-ad position=\"inread\" progressive=\"\" ad-id=\"article-0-inread\" aria-hidden=\"true\" role=\"presentation\"><\/fbs-ad><\/p>\n<p>Other findings from the study included these nonsensical results:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>62% of Millennials say they\u2019re willing to pay $7 for a daily coffee because of the joy it brings. <\/strong>They can\u2019t get the same level of \u201cjoy\u201d from a $5 cup of coffee?<\/li>\n<li><strong>73% of people say they\u2019d give up social media if it meant financial happiness.<\/strong> With the exception of a small percentage of people who generate income from their social media efforts, social media participation doesn\u2019t impact financial happiness, so why ask about this nonsensical connection?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2 class=\"subhead-embed color-accent bg-base font-accent font-size text-align\">While We\u2019re Getting Rid Of Junk Fees, Can We Also Ban Junk Research?<\/h2>\n<p>Kudos to Empower for touching a nerve with this study which earned it coverage in major news outlets like CBS, Fortune, and, yes, Forbes. The \u201cresearch,\u201d however has some flaws which impugn its legitimacy:<\/p>\n<p><strong>1) Happiness is neither a binary nor measurable concept. <\/strong>Asking someone what would make them \u201chappy\u201d implies that there is a level that can be attained, or a bar to be cleared, that would make them change from \u201cunhappy\u201d or \u201cnot happy\u201d (which are not the same things) to a state called \u201chappy.\u201d This isn\u2019t how \u201chappiness\u201d works, however.<\/p>\n<p><strong>2) The research doesn\u2019t break out happiness by income and net worth.<\/strong> The study captures the percentage of respondents who are happy with various aspects of their financial life. But it doesn\u2019t report results by income and net worth. It\u2019s possible that there are a lot of Americans who make and have a lot of money but are financially unhappy, and those that don\u2019t make or have a lot of money but are happy. It\u2019s also feasible that there are many people \u201chappy\u201d with what they already have, and that might still be happy with less than what they currently have.<\/p>\n<p><strong>3) The questions are impossible to answer accurately. <\/strong>If you don\u2019t make (anywhere near) $500,000 today, how could you possibly know what it\u2019s like to make that kind of money? You might be better able to meet the financial commitments you currently have, but what\u2019s not to say that you wouldn\u2019t have new commitments that would be equally hard to meet at a $500k income level?<\/p>\n<p>To underscore the self-serving nature of this \u201cresearch,\u201d Empower\u2019s write up of the results concludes with the following point:<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cThe secret to experiencing more happiness? Having a plan of action: 73% believe that \u2018a solid financial plan would bring me happiness.\u2019\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n<p>Really? A financial plan\u2014in and of itself\u2014isn\u2019t likely to produce happiness if you need to make four times more than you already do and need $1 million more in net worth.<\/p>\n<p><em>Realizing<\/em> the plan might do that\u2014but the plan itself won\u2019t.<\/p>\n<p>But, as they say&#8230;whatever makes you happy.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Read the full article <a href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/ronshevlin\/2023\/11\/26\/americans-think-they-need-to-make-284k-to-be-happy-theyre-wrong-and-so-is-the-research\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">here<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>OBSERVATIONS FROM THE FINTECH ECH SNARK TANK How much more money would you need to make you \u201chappy\u201d? That\u2019s the question financial services firm Empower put to Americans in a recent survey which revealed: Financial happiness means different things to different people. Two-thirds of respondents associated on-time bill payment and being debt-free with financial happiness. Half said happiness was being able to afford everyday luxuries without worry, while others said it\u2019s found in spending on experiences with those they cherish and in optimism for what&#8217;s next. More money=less problems. Seven in 10 respondents said that having more money would solve<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10819,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10818","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tech"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Americans Think They Need To Make $284,000 To Be Happy. 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