Money Can Buy Happiness - to a point

[Mike OReilly]

You're on a run Gord ... another interesting study.

If further work replicates these findings, it is another indication of how pernicious and damaging economic inequality can be to a society.

Although the report touches on this, what I'd love to see is the detailed analysis on how participants responded to loss. Was there a difference observed in the fMRI measures?

Humans feel loss greater than gain (based on other well-established research). So if upper SES folks have a stronger response to gain, do they also have it towards loss? And vice-versa?

[senormechanico]

Originally Posted by Kettlewell

Coming up on our 42nd wedding anniversary! Just this morning, first thing as I was drinking my coffee, my wife said she had been thinking about our summer cruising plans and where we should go...

We are coming up on our 54th and I am passing along a piece of advice which was given to me years ago.
An old man with a bunch of money said to me, "With all the money in the world but without your health, you have nothing."
I tried to take his advice to stay healthy.
My advice is, take every day as a gift, we went cruising and had a great time on a great boat.

Now, with Janet's Alzheimer's our cruising, even daysails are pretty much a thing of the past.
A good sailing partner who could to fast tacks in tight channels went to needing to have help getting dressed and undressed in a few short years.
Stuff like this can sneak up on you and there's nothing you can do about it.

[merrydolphin]

To seriously answer this with an example:

My wife and I quit our jobs at the height of our carriers. We had a paid for 17 yr old 46’ boat, a 100 Ton Masters ticket and a PADI divemaster/instructors license, my wife a skilled RN and cook. We half jokingly say that we “took a vow of poverty”. And both quit our carriers at age 45, giving up the height of our earning yrs, sailed over the horizon and never looked back.

We were never in poverty and we were never wealthy ( at least financially). Now in contrast, my busness partner ( now 74) is still working 60+ hr weeks. Granted, he’s probably worth a couple of million or so and I wouldn’t trade with him for anything.

We have had a life that most only dream of………and we lived the dream!
We did dive/sail crewed charters of a week or so terms for about 2+ months a year. Spent about a month bringing the boat back to “yacht” condition and did what we wanted (mostly sail, dive, and play music, Im a musician). FUN with other cruisers! I also certified other fellow cruisers as Scuba divers. And took the occasional Captain/ferry jobs.

I am now near 80, still not in poverty and not wealthy but man what a life! Still sail and dive some, play in a couple of bands for fun and side money. As they say in the south. “ you’ve had a blessed lahf”. And indeed we have. When we were cruising the Caribbean people would ask us “ did you have a dot com start up or inheritance or something”? Nope. Just worked hard and focused on the dream. Drove old used cars etc. sold everything and took off. Just average people. I could have stayed in business and had a million or so by now…..maybe. But made the RIGHT decision.

[Fore and Aft]

Merrydolphin thats so true, so many of my customers leave their retirement to late and really aren't fit for cruising. Or they're just so focused on earning money that when they stop they're lost.
Through our kids we became good friends with a trust fund couple. Money seemed to be no problem and they holidayed and lived high on the hog. But even our teenage son mentioned to us that they didn't seem to happy with each other. In contrast the wife (together 29 years) and I are worth hardly anything but are living the best life possible.
At a kids birthday party we spoke with a pastor and his wife. They both freely admitted to not having much and as long as they had their kids, health and congregation that was all they needed. It was slightly funny as before they found God they had lived a fairly decent lifestyle.
Cheers

[GordMay]

An excellent article, with copious links to primary sources:
“Gen Z is unhappier at work than any other generation.
Here are the two things they want*” ~ by Eve Upton-Clark
➥ https://www.businessinsider.com/gen-...loyalty-2024-2

* Salary and career growth.

[Kettlewell]

Merrydolphin thats so true, so many of my customers leave their retirement to late and really aren't fit for cruising. Or they're just so focused on earning money that when they stop they're lost.

And, if you leave the cruising until you can retire you won't have the skills to do it with your reduced physical capacity. OTOH, if you buy a small, cheap boat and just go when you are younger you will have the ability to compensate for physical limitations, and you'll just enjoy it so much more. I think of all the stupid things we did when we first started cruising on small boats, and how they could be serious and dangerous problems if instead we did them on bigger boats at our current ages.

[GordMay]

The top 10 happiest countries in the world 2024
Finland [for 7 consecutive years]
Denmark
Iceland
Sweden
Israel
Netherlands
Norway
Luxembourg
Switzerland
Australia.

Released each year, on World Happiness Day [1], the World Happiness Report [2] ranks more than 140 countries, on how happy they are, based on survey data, from the Gallup World Poll [3].
The study analyses factors including life expectancy, confidence in government, average income, and social support.
And, Finland consistently ranks highly, in all of these areas; except, if you're under 30 or over 60. [4]

Meanwhile, in second place was Denmark, closely followed by Iceland, and Sweden. Fellow Nordic country, Norway, was in seventh place.

Globally, this year’s study finds that those born before 1965 are largely happier than those since 1980, with Millennial life evaluations dropping with each year of age.

[1] International Day of Happiness: 20 March, 2024
➥ https://www.un.org/en/observances/happiness-day

[2] World Happiness Report 2024
➥ https://worldhappiness.report/ed/2024/

[3] Gallup World Poll
➥ https://www.gallup.com/178667/gallup...poll-work.aspx

[4] What's the Happiest Country on Earth?
It's not Finland, if you're under 30 or over 60. Lithuania and Denmark, respectively, took those honours.
➥ https://news.gallup.com/poll/612125/...try-earth.aspx

[Mike OReilly]

Globally, this year’s study finds that those born before 1965 are largely happier than those since 1980, with Millennial life evaluations dropping with each year of age.

Certainly aligns with other data regarding economic prosperity and social dysfunction.

[more]

Originally Posted by mvweebles

opened the restaurant.

if sombody give me 5 milion $ and only must be manager/owner of restourant i say thanks i go ditching by hand new panama canal.

[Kettlewell]

Globally, this year’s study finds that those born before 1965 are largely happier than those since 1980, with Millennial life evaluations dropping with each year of age.

I venture to guess this has a lot to do with online life and social media replacing in-person social activities and actually doing stuff out in the real world. Even though both of our kids had computers and phones since they were quite young, and used them a lot, we also took them on hikes, sailing voyages, trips of all sorts, paddling expenditions, etc. My son made a lot more money in his first job out of college than I ever made at any point in my career (now retired). I don't think money and economic prosperity is the real problem--it is lack of connection to the real world and what is truly important for happiness--connections to other people and nature. We're animals. Analog beings designed and adapted over millions of years to live in nature, seek out companions to share lives with. When we cut ourselves off from those things we are cutting ourselves off from what we are built for.

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by Kettlewell

I venture to guess this has a lot to do with online life and social media replacing in-person social activities and actually doing stuff out in the real world. Even though both of our kids had computers and phones since they were quite young, and used them a lot, we also took them on hikes, sailing voyages, trips of all sorts, paddling expenditions, etc. My son made a lot more money in his first job out of college than I ever made at any point in my career (now retired). I don't think money and economic prosperity is the real problem--it is lack of connection to the real world and what is truly important for happiness--connections to other people and nature.

Data and research supports both reasons.

[Bowdrie]

Originally Posted by GordMay

The top 10 happiest countries in the world 2024
Finland [for 7 consecutive years]
Denmark
Iceland
Sweden
Israel
Netherlands
Norway
Luxembourg
Switzerland
Australia.
Meanwhile, in second place was Denmark, closely followed by Iceland, and Sweden. Fellow Nordic country, Norway, was in seventh place.

Gord, to exaggerate a bit, at least 1/2 the countries on that "top 10" list are hardly the size of a big ranch in Texas.
Those kinds of studies have a good-sized portion of BS, as the "Elephants in the room", (that we're not allowed to discuss,) are never acknowledged.

[Mike OReilly]

It's true... As the report notes, of the top 20 "happiest" countries, only two have populations over 30 million: Canada & the United Kingdom (actually, over 40 million).

Not sure what the "elephant" is. A lot of the declines of some countries, for example Canada, the US and Germany, are more about other countries gaining, rather than those countries losing. Although in all three cases, there were small drops in their absolute scores when compared year-to-year.