I recall reading Mark Zuckerberg’s take on billionaires: ‘No one deserves to have that much money.’ And most people would agree with that.
And then, on the other side of the spectrum, I recall an acquaintance struggling financially, saying, “I don’t need a lot of money.” Which blew my mind because you’d never think to say, “I don’t need a lot of good health,” so why would you put it out there that you don’t need a lot of wealth?
Between the two extremes begs the question, “how much is enough?” For example, researchers at Princeton University found in 2010 that we reach a certain level of happiness when we make an income of about US$75,000 (with inflation, I think this should be about $100K in today’s dollars).
And any amount beyond that does not add to one’s sense of happiness. So although I am sure if I offered $10M to someone gratefully earning $75,000, they’d be more than happy to accept it.
Studies completed after that found that higher incomes were associated with a greater sense of well-being. So, is an annual income of US$75,000 enough? Most would agree that enough arrives when you’ve achieved financial freedom when your decisions are not based on how much money you do or do not have.
For me, enough is when you do what you love and not what you have to do. My question is, how much is enough?