this post was submitted on 21 Nov 2023
160 points (96.5% liked)

News

23284 readers
3422 users here now

Welcome to the News community!

Rules:

1. Be civil


Attack the argument, not the person. No racism/sexism/bigotry. Good faith argumentation only. This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban. Do not respond to rule-breaking content; report it and move on.


2. All posts should contain a source (url) that is as reliable and unbiased as possible and must only contain one link.


Obvious right or left wing sources will be removed at the mods discretion. We have an actively updated blocklist, which you can see here: https://lemmy.world/post/2246130 if you feel like any website is missing, contact the mods. Supporting links can be added in comments or posted seperately but not to the post body.


3. No bots, spam or self-promotion.


Only approved bots, which follow the guidelines for bots set by the instance, are allowed.


4. Post titles should be the same as the article used as source.


Posts which titles don’t match the source won’t be removed, but the autoMod will notify you, and if your title misrepresents the original article, the post will be deleted. If the site changed their headline, the bot might still contact you, just ignore it, we won’t delete your post.


5. Only recent news is allowed.


Posts must be news from the most recent 30 days.


6. All posts must be news articles.


No opinion pieces, Listicles, editorials or celebrity gossip is allowed. All posts will be judged on a case-by-case basis.


7. No duplicate posts.


If a source you used was already posted by someone else, the autoMod will leave a message. Please remove your post if the autoMod is correct. If the post that matches your post is very old, we refer you to rule 5.


8. Misinformation is prohibited.


Misinformation / propaganda is strictly prohibited. Any comment or post containing or linking to misinformation will be removed. If you feel that your post has been removed in error, credible sources must be provided.


9. No link shorteners.


The auto mod will contact you if a link shortener is detected, please delete your post if they are right.


10. Don't copy entire article in your post body


For copyright reasons, you are not allowed to copy an entire article into your post body. This is an instance wide rule, that is strictly enforced in this community.

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 

Does happiness have a price? For a majority of Americans, the answer is yes — but it doesn't come cheap.

About 6 in 10 of Americans believe money can buy happiness, according to a new poll from financial services firm Empower. Yet to achieve happiness through financial means, most people say they'd need a significant raise, as well as a big chunk of money in the bank.

Median household income in the U.S. stands at about $74,000 annually, but respondents told Empower that they'd need to earn roughly $284,000 each year to achieve happiness.

And as for wealth, Americans said they'd need even more in the bank to feel content: $1.2 million, to be exact, the poll found. Many people are wealthier than they were a few years ago, thanks to the rise in real estate and stock market values, yet the median net worth of U.S. households stood at $192,900 in 2022, according to the Federal Reserve.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] otp@sh.itjust.works 1 points 11 months ago (3 children)

I don't know if paying my electricity bill counts as buying something that makes me happy..

[–] FuglyDuck@lemmy.world 9 points 11 months ago (1 children)

ever been without electricity? Some homes, no power means no heat, no cooking, no internet. it's just a shell that's nominally warmer than the outside. Stressing about simply surviving is going to pretty much make anybody unhappy. so not having to worry about paying those bills... perhaps it's best to say, buying relief from unhappiness?

[–] otp@sh.itjust.works 6 points 11 months ago

Yeah. Relief from unhappiness is a much better way to put it. Happy is not the same as not-sad.

Finding happiness in life usually goes beyond "having the bare minimum of my basic needs met".

[–] SCB@lemmy.world 7 points 11 months ago (1 children)

When you have repeatedly had to choose between having power or water for a given month, not having to do that makes you very happy.

[–] otp@sh.itjust.works 2 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I think the removal of a negative stimulus is a different kind of emotion than the addition of a positive stimulus.

I get where y'all are coming from. I really do.

I still think it's a misrepresentation of what "Money doesn't buy happiness" means.

And yes, studies do show that money does buy (read: positively correlate with) happiness. Not just what this study seems to be reporting by asking people what they want, but by actually examining for correlations. It does seem to max out at a number far lower than a lot of politicians and C-suite execs are making though.

I'm not saying "Money doesn't buy happiness". I'm just saying that "Buying things that make you happy" is different from "Meeting basic human needs in the modern world".

[–] SCB@lemmy.world 4 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I don't think you're arguing against the concept or anything. I'd thought maybe you hadn't seen what people meant.

I can for sure understand your perspective.

[–] otp@sh.itjust.works 3 points 11 months ago (1 children)
[–] remus989@sh.itjust.works 2 points 11 months ago

Aww, niceness on the internet!

[–] Evilcoleslaw@lemmy.world 3 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Makes you happier than not being able to pay it.

[–] otp@sh.itjust.works 1 points 11 months ago

Not-sad is different from happiness