**The Rich Are Not Who We Think They Are. And Happiness Is Not What We Think It Is, Either.** **By Seth Stephens-Davidowitz, The New York Times, May 14, 2022**
**....To get rich... the more than 140,000 Americans who earn more than $1.58 million per year....** **Own a regional, unsexy business (auto dealerships, auto repair shops, beverage distributors, gas stations and business equipment contractors)...market research firm... Avoid price competition...**
**...To be happy...data from more than 30,000 adults...three million data points...**
**He debunked a popular myth that there is no effect of money on happiness beyond $75,000 per year, but he did confirm a law of diminishing returns to money. ... A net worth of $8 million offers a boost of happiness that is roughly half as large as the happiness boost from being married....**
**The activities that make people happiest include sex, exercise and gardening. People get a big happiness boost from being with a romantic partner or friends but not from other people, like colleagues, children or acquaintances. ... work is the second-most-miserable activity; of 40 activities, only being sick in bed makes people less happy than working. ...** [end quote]
Time to walk my dogs in the sun and local woodland trail…
Wendy
…To get rich… the more than 140,000 Americans who earn more than $1.58 million per year… Own a regional, unsexy business (auto dealerships, auto repair shops, beverage distributors, gas stations and business equipment contractors)…market research firm… Avoid price competition…
And as a worker and consumer, you can get rich by “minimizing the skim” of uncompensated overtime in employment and “excessive fees, expenses and costs” in your consumer purchases.
WOW! One of those hit accurately close to home for me. Amazing. And yes its true - there are many owners of unsexy businesses - accumulating real wealth.
As far as happiness… I’ve seen it time and time again… the richer folk many times are not happier. Quite the opposite. The trick is - that wealth should NOT be one’s identity. It can certainly enhance one’s life. Make things easier. But the happiness, and content-ness should’ve been there REGARDLESS whether you shop at Marshall’s or Neiman’s.
I notice this all the time. In my old life - many many times I was around people whose wealth I was in awe of. A mentor of mine since I was a teenager - I am positive he’s worth $100 million +. BUT - he and his Wife started out with nothing. They were happy. And yes now they have the pro-package replete with chartered planes and all of it- but they’re still the same people. But for every family like this – there’s plenty of people with similar fortunes where family members don’t speak to one another.
Before this early retirement - I was fortunate in the ‘unsexy’ business world and I vacationed at amazing places. Our yearly Florida stay - I’d be surrounded by Bentleys, families with nannies. Heck - made a friend on the beach this guy is an industrialist in Italy - he had his Ferrari shipped to Florida from Italy, and he was living in a place for $2200 per night for over a year - why? American passport for his newborn baby (though I still think he didn’t tell me the real reason). Anyway the point… every time me and DW were at one of these places we’d walk the beach and EVERY TIME - the more humble middle class hotels - -you could see families happy, talking, playing laughing - but at the hotshot place - so many people were buried in their phones, barely speaking - even looking uptight.
That being said, I’m sure if I Googled it - it would say that being poor sucks. So in my own mind - I’d summarize it as money does NOT buy happiness – but it might be one helluva down payment. I’m fortunate in that I and my family grew up at Kmart. We’ve had good fortune to live well since then…but we’re equally happy at Marshall’s and McDonald’s.
The moment money becomes one’s identity - get ready for the biggest waste of money possible.
I’m at my local Dunkin right now - I’m in my Amazon Basics brand sweatpants, while the LuluLemon crowd is trickling in. Time to go home now… big day of doing nothing planned.
…To get rich… the more than 140,000 Americans who earn more than $1.58 million per year… Own a regional, unsexy business (auto dealerships, auto repair shops, beverage distributors, gas stations and business equipment contractors)…market research firm… Avoid price competition…
So rehashing “The Millionaire Next Door”? Nice to know nothing has changed over the past 25 years.
why? American passport for his newborn baby (though I still think he didn’t tell me the real reason).
It’s amazing how much regret this move will cause their family in the future. When that baby turns 30 or 40 or 50 and inherits the business, he will have a huge tax headache, and massive tax and compliance costs, for the rest of his life. In the end he will “curse” his parents for saddling him with US citizenship.