I think many of these reports saying you need to make $X to be happy is pretty silly, but it does prompt interesting discussions. I think the title of the article is a misnomer because money defiitely doesn't buy happiness...but, $90k could very well be the income where you don't worry about money and can focus on things that can make you happy.

I'm a single male in my mid-30s making mid-$200s and I'm neither happy nor unhappy. I definitely think that you need to have your basic needs to be met (food, shelter) and you need to earn a certain amount of money to pay for that. But, "basic needs" vary widely by individual/household. I think I've known this all along (maybe just getting older too), but I'm definitely realizing that beyond a certain point, extra money/income provides me very little marginal utility. I just save more money and spend more, but this doesn't make me any happier. I live in a nicer place, drive a fancier car, wear more expensive clothes, etc... But, I'm realizing that buying nicer stuff is like a sugar high...provides a temporary boost, but eventually it doesn't change much.

Things clearly change drastically when you have a family...

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let me get this straight, people are saying sure you can live happily on $75k a year in DC if your single or married without kids. But if you have kids you'll need to make $350k+ a year to be happy?

I call BS on that. Kids themselves do not cost $250k+ a year extra to raise. Let me be perfectly clear here, it's not the kids that are costing you that much more, it's YOUR choices. You are choosing to spend/waste that much money on your kids. When all they really need from you is your love, time, and basic needs met.

you are living in a dream world. Babies need vaccinations, well baby visits w pediatrician, health insurance, day care, parents, good food, clothes, toys, babysitters

There is no way that by choices you can keep a baby with $200 per month, mabe per day

What do you think basic needs are? $200 a day, what a joke. That's $73,000 a year. Entire families live on less than that.