I think the happiness research finds that people get happier up to the point of making 80k and then it levels off. Jesus was right guys.

One of the best years of my life was immediately after college, I was a medical assistance making $14/hour which in 2010 wasn’t bad. 50 hours a week. Wife (girlfriend at the time) was a j crew manager making slightly less than that. Together we had more than enough for ourselves. We lived in a larger sized apartment in Milwaukee. No stress. Just work and then hang out with each other or friends. Went on a 2 week Europe trip, several trips to west coast as well. Fucked around in BnP and found one of my best mates ever on JSP and one of the few I met in person (same hometown, Des Moines). Rip Dan

Happiness you can find through a lot of different mechanisms. I’m not more or less happy now, I am happy in different ways. I have a daughter and a career , but don’t have carefree ignorance. Human life is a road with lots of twists and turns before the end

Thanks for sharing.

As I look at my 2 year old, I honestly think childhood was the best time of my life. It didn't matter that I lived in a very poor country, didn't matter that my diet would be considered poor or whatever. People that have that view on money and/or look down on people who don't have money really missed the mark on what happiness is about.

I loved my 90s-00s American childhood but it sounds different than yours. In contrast, mine was filled with So much gluttony. So many dunkaroos. Surge at movies behind your parents back. Rice crispy TREATs cereal. Kids these days don’t even know. The same diet todsy would be considered child abuse lol

This post was edited by Bazi on Oct 14 2022 08:43pm

Absolutely. It just irks me the way that some people think you have to make buku bucks to be satisfied, or in this case not a slave (I guess?).

The 80k you threw out is perfectly comfortable for a couple with a family. If you are responsible you can be happy with much less.

very well said. sadly, most people are so deep in consumerism it just scales off their income and they never feel like they have enough.

Wife and I make 100k together.

When you adjust for cost of living its about 120k. We live in a below average city.

We're hopefully gonna see a 50% increase with new jobs soon. Don't know what we're gonna do with the extra. Will max out our tax advantaged accounts pretty quick.

Where do you find the calculator for the us average city? All the calcs I can seem to find are comparing one place to another.

Basic food is 800usd per year.
Basic housing, like a small room in a shared flat, is like 2000usd per year. Including electricity, heating and hot water (of course in limited quantity).
Clothing 200usd.
Basic hygiene and cleaning 200usd.
Another 200usd for some basic culture like a shared internet, a computer every 7 years, single subscription netflix-like that you swap from time to time, some older games that sell cheap.
Beer/coke/crisps 100usd (big coke bottles are more cost effective than cans).
Tram/bus yearly ticket OR a basic small, used car: 500-1000usd.
Mobile plan and a phone every 2-3 years: 300usd.
Forgot anything?
As long as you are healthy, 4300-5000usd per year is often enough, and anything else is extra that you can either save or spend on luxuries like holidays.
Add 2500usd for every children.
Of course if you live in an expensive place like new york then the prices will be higher.
Now the things get more difficult if you have health problems, as then the costs might get basically unlimited.

If your happy and you know it clap your hands