to a limit.
Money buys quality of life which is an essential factor in happiness. In studies at Berkeley they determined that increasing annual income makes you happier. But only up to about $75,000. After that increasing your income has no further effect on your quality of life. You’ve aleady got at least one of everything you can buy.
Rich people think money doesn’t buy happiness because they’ve passed the limit. But that limit is about seven times the poverty level, about ten times the cap on disability benefits, about five times minimum wage, almost four times what I make, and only twice or less a living wage depending on your state.
And the studies at Berkeley cover the rich people thing. They found rich people tend to think that when increasing your income doesn’t make you happier, it means you need to increase your income even more. And that’s exactly wrong.
The primary finding of the happiness studies is that what makes people happy is making other people happy. To get happier rich people don’t need to increase their wealth, they need to put a cap on it and give the rest away, like the Obamas have done. Has there ever been a happier couple in the White House? That’s a rhetorical question. No, there hasn’t.
Rich conservatives despise redistribution of wealth but, even outside of genuine economic reasons, it is good for them personally too.
In other words having enough to live comfortably but not extravagantly. Given the cost of decent housing, food and healthcare alone it makes sense. Furthermore, if you are healthy and have all the basics covered you have more time and resources with which to help others :)!