Anonymous wrote:I think it's when you can buy what you want and don't have to worry about money anymore.

We make about $350K. We live comfortably but I would definitely like to be able to send my 3 kids to private school and still feel like I could easily pay for their college educations, to have full-time household help at home, to support my parents in their later years so they didn't have to worry about money and take several "big" trips a year (10K+) and make more generous (25K+) yearly donations to causes I support. We are not able to do this at 350K, maybe at 500-700.

So you're not happy unless your life has no obstacles whatsoever, even to vague whims?

I think it's when you can buy what you want and don't have to worry about money anymore.

We make about $350K. We live comfortably but I would definitely like to be able to send my 3 kids to private school and still feel like I could easily pay for their college educations, to have full-time household help at home, to support my parents in their later years so they didn't have to worry about money and take several "big" trips a year (10K+) and make more generous (25K+) yearly donations to causes I support. We are not able to do this at 350K, maybe at 500-700.

For me it would be less of an income number and more about having enough in savings that I was financially independent and no longer had to work. Knowing that I could walk away at any time would be extremely satisfying even if I chose to continue working.

There was a study on this topic that set the number at 70k. Maybe do a COL adjustment for DC and that'd be somewhere between 150-200?

For me I think it's not income it's wealth that matters (and not in the DCUM "if you don't have 20MM you're a poor" sense). Our HHI has not changed from last year but now that our EF is funded I'm much less stressed. I could even be less stressed on 50k less than we made last year, because having nothing in savings is terrifying for me. When I have savings my "necessary income" level becomes less obnoxious.

I felt like after we passed 400K and I really never had to worry about money it felt great. We aren't extravagant, but I never have to think twice about making day to day purchases, hiring a babysitter for help on the weekends, etc. That to me is very, very nice.

I stopped feeling a significant difference around $250K. It's enough to cover all of our needs and plenty of our wants. I haven't stressed about money in years.

We have to make choices sometimes, sure, but I think that's a good thing. I appreciate my choices that much more. I like to tell DH that we can buy pretty much anything we want, but not everything ... so we choose what is most important to us. It helps me focus on my priorities without feeling like I have to give a lot up.

Happiness is relative.

- If you are above average among your peers, then you will be happier regardless of how much money you have.
- If you don't have many peers to gauge yourself against, then you will be happier if your income is increasing at a good pace.

None of the above is tied to a specific level of income and applies equally to a poor villager in Africa or a billionaire in NY.

We're pretty happy on 100k. Sure more would be nice, but we aren't unhappy with our lives...

10,000

There is no set income level. It's really a declining scale with diminishing returns to each marginal dollar, but with some threshold effects where increasing income creates meaningful bumps upward, generally at points like: "can pay kids' private school tuition without worrying about it"; "F- You Money"; "can vacation in countries that only rich people know exist"; "can afford private jet"; or "can afford NFL team." There may be higher points I am sadly not aware of.

At a certain level, money doesn't buy happiness if the money is buying material things, but money absolutely buys happiness if it is used to buy time-saving things...like housecleaners and lawn care.

So just add up all of your necessities to have peace of mind (retirement, college savings, long term healthcare, daily expenses, travel, decent house, commute, etc.) and then add-in services to have other people do everything you hate spending time to do (cleaning house, landscaping, cooking, etc).

I think the first part probably takes about $250k HHI in DC. The second part probably takes another $100k. So...$350k in DC.

This won't be popular, and I know there is research to the contrary, but for me it was at about $750k. At that point we could do pretty much what we wanted (within reason), not worry much about money, save for retirement, have a second house, pay for college, outsource stuff we don't want to do, etc. Money we've earned over that level tended to not make much difference in our life - mostly went to savings.

I stopped feeling a difference after 500k.

I guess for us that was enough to meet all of our needs and most of our wants.

It's different for different people. Some people want a big house and lots of land. Others want a two-bedroom condo.

$300k?

$150k?

Anything below 150k and it’s hard to live in DC.