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nexus2045

Making 500-700k at a FAANG right now.

Money certainly makes me worry less, not complaining.

I still feel like a cog in a machine.

If anything, it further isolated all the problems in my life that money could never really solve.

Meaningful friendships, dating, self-control and discipline, self-esteem.

Before, I could go by telling myself the story that "if only I had X amount of income, I'd be happy".

Now, I don't have that excuse any more.

I stare at the mirror, still see the same person, and realize that no amount of money will help.

A nice problem to have I guess, but problems that have plagued me my entire life.

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"You don't seem to realize that a poor person who is unhappy is in a better position than a rich person who is unhappy. Because the poor person has hope. He thinks money would help."

-Jean Kerr

Complete anti-scientific hogwash only rich people would repeat, again.

There are more than a few studies behind it. Is that "scientific"? Remember that viral story about the guy who made the min salary in his company $70K? What did he base that number on, do you think?

Separately, if someone said that your take is "complete anti-scientific hogwash only poor people would repeat," would you think their opinion valid?

… maybe cite them? While I could see a study that says being vastly wealthy doesn't lead to happiness, the kinda wealth gap being discussed here is "cannot easily afford a home" ($70k/y; max $1.7k/mo affordable) and "can trivially afford a home" ($500k/y–$700k/y; max $17.5k/mo affordable). (For reference, homes in my area are currently ~$4.8k/mo.)

If happiness = owning a home, certainly.

Here is the study by the late great Kahneman:

Kahneman, D. & Deaton, A. (2010). High income improves evaluation of life but not emotional well-being. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1011492107

And a 2021 follow-up that addresses criticisms of the original (TLDR: if you were already happy, you get more happy > 75K. If you were unhappy, you don't get more happy > 75K.)

Killingsworth, Kahneman, M.A. (2021). Experienced well-being rises with income, even above $75,000 per year. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2016976118

And the HN thread when the study first dropped: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1381927

The Daniel Kahneman? I didn't realize he was so prolific.

> anti-scientific

What the hell does science have to do with this? Please stop conflating regression analysis of the results of a questionnaire with "science".

There are plenty of studies showing a diminishing return in happiness / general satisfaction after a certain income threshold. You can look themselves up yourself.

I agree with and appreciate that saying, while not being rich.

Is the plan then to retire fairly early and focus on people stuff and hobbies?

If they leave you fulfilled via purpose...

Make a change, it's never too late. And you certainly have the means

I don't care about your singular experience.

I could send you paper and paper that wealth/income and stability increases happiness aggregated.

I could send you papers that would show that sending people scientific proof doesn't convince people and that wouldn't convince you.

> I could send you paper and paper that wealth/income and stability increases happiness aggregated

Nobody disputed that. You made a statement about "something only someone with a high income would say." That's drawing the generality to a specific. It would be like concluding from the fact that most dogs are black, brown and white, that every dog is black, brown or white.

In this case, it could absolutely be the case that the factors that cause money to turn into happiness are not present among FAANG employees to a greater degree than population.

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