I was perusing some of the personal finance blogs today and came across this little gem: Richer Than Rockefeller: Putting Wealth in Perspective. The author of this piece makes an excellent point.
If your household annual income is over $50,000, then you are in the top 1% richest in the world. (See for yourself at the Global Rich List.) And if we can agree that most of us are living a more comfortable life than a billionaire at the turn of the Twentieth Century, then shouldn’t we be happy with what we have?
It pays to keep things in perspective. Even the poorest in America live well compared to people in some parts of the world.
Also, the suggestion to disengage from the struggle to "keep up with the Joneses" is great. If you can do this, the secret to happiness is right in front of you. The middle class in the United States are very well off. We have health care, plenty of food, good education, and high speed internet.
We have everything we need to be happy. However we can be our own worst enemies. In the land of plenty, why are so many of us striving for a larger house or newer car at the expense of real happiness?
The answer is that wealth is relative. Recent research has shown that it's not necessarily your absolute level of wealth, but rather your wealth compared to your peers. If you make more than your co-workers you're happy, make less you're unhappy.
Can Money Buy Happiness?
According to this article at the American.com:
Money may not buy happiness, but there is one important way in which money and happiness are related: At any given moment, richer individuals within a country tend to be happier than poorer folks. In 2004, Americans earning more than $75,000 per year were more than twice as likely to say they were very happy than those earning less than $25,000.
Making more than our neighbors makes us happy. According to The Millionaire Next Door
Even though the wealthy in The Millionaire Next Door lead the same lifestyle as the less wealthy around them, driving similar automobiles and living in comparable homes, their overall higher level of net worth, relative to those around them, could make them much happier.
This is a pretty clever strategy when you think about it. Millionaires tend to be frugal, so living below their means in a modest neighborhood would appeal to their nature. The happiness of knowing you have more than those around you is a nice bonus.
What do you think? Are you happier when you find out someone makes less than you do? Does money buy happiness? Can we learn to appreciate how much we really have in this country?
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