Shortly after I graduated and started working, there was an article in the "Living" section of the local newspaper. You know, where they put the fluffier human interest pieces as opposed to hard news. It was entitled "How Much is Enough?" and really had an impact on me.
The journalist had interviewed many people at many different income levels, and asked two simple questions, "How much are you making now?" and "How much would be enough for you to be comfortably well-off?" The person making $15,000 said they were just getting by, and thought $30,000 would be enough to live very comfortably. The person making $30,000 said the same, but they thought $60,000 was where well-off started. The person making $60,000 thought $120,000 was the magic number, and so on and so forth up to the family bringing in $5 million. They said that the yacht and the horses and sports cars were all very nice, but they wouldn't really be well-off unless they had $10 million! Now I'm sure that there's a lower limit to this, and I bet the top end was a setup, but basically the point was that everyone thought that about twice what they currently had was "enough".
At the time I had just started my first "real" job, and I was making $36,000. One of the perks of engineering is the high starting salaries, and it was easily more than enough for a single person with no debts in a low cost of living area. I resolved then and there that I would always look at whatever I was making as "enough". I've been stumbling with this a little bit lately, as we can't afford to do the amount of travel and home improvements we used to do when we had two incomes. But overall we are definitely blessed to have much more than "enough".
How much is enough?
February 3rd, 2007 at 02:16 pm
February 3rd, 2007 at 02:27 pm 1170512872
February 3rd, 2007 at 02:39 pm 1170513548
February 3rd, 2007 at 03:17 pm 1170515847
February 3rd, 2007 at 03:41 pm 1170517270
February 3rd, 2007 at 04:07 pm 1170518862
February 4th, 2007 at 01:55 am 1170554148
The definition of true happiness is being satisfied with what you have.