<p>You know the whole deal. Go to a good college, get in, pick a money maker major, do well, then you'll make a load of money after a few years or at least after graduate school. Like how true IS this? I have heard rumors about how unless you make 100,000 + per year, you wouldn't be happy. How much money do you really need to support u, a dog, and have a pretty good social/party life? cuz after all, entertainment costs money :(</p>
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I have heard rumors about how unless you make 100,000 + per year, you wouldn't be happy.
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<p>Whoever started this rumor is just about as ignorant a person can possibly get.</p>
<p>Exactly.
There are plenty of people who don't make tons of money, but are very happy. There are plenty of people who make tons of money, but are very unhappy. Look at Anna Nicole Smith, etc. Money can't buy happiness.</p>
<p>Personally, I'd say ~50k </p>
<p>yes I am one of those people who are planning on majoring in something I truly like and be poor and jobless, etc.</p>
<p>For me, 200k is the bare minimum. There are certain luxuries that I have come to need, not to mention the cost of living in NY.</p>
<p>My econ major friends are convinced I'll be living in a cardboard box, so I suppose I won't need much money. :)</p>
<p>makshim brings up a good point, though. Cost of living varies wildly throughout the country- something to consider when comparing graduate stipends or salaries.</p>
<p>loll, i'm thinking about majoring in something that makes little to no $$ (aka. creative writting and philosophy) since it's something i really enjoy and i could picture myself doing it for the rest of my life. Eh...well, that is, given that i don't starve first ^^;;;</p>
<p>i've been getting mixed responses from ppl. Some r like "follow your heart and do what you truly like" others r like "take the traditional route - aka. business/medicine/engineering and you won't have any regrets." </p>
<p>can alot money truly make u happy? and vice versa, can you be happy with barely any money?</p>
<p>I'm with you. As long as I'm doing something I love, I would be happy with 50k</p>
<p>lost dream u r quite the creative "writter" already. I don't think you need any further training. Seriously, how old are you? Rumors that income determines happiness? ........</p>
<p>Studies show that once you reach the middle class and can afford to eat, have a little fun sometimes etc., additional money does little to make one more happy.</p>
<p>I think we all know deep within ourselves how happy we will be able to be at certain level. For me, I would be happy living in a teeny apartment in the big apple, or a nice house in Colorado or Seattle. As long as I'm surrounded by amazing people, have money for my health food, a couple international travel trips a year, and rent, and don't have to worry about getting sick or taking a day off, I'd be happy. So I guess I'd need about 50-75k minumum. </p>
<p>But no one, NO ONE, can tell you what you need to be happy. Remember that.</p>
<p>ferris,</p>
<p>i'm sure thats true - HOWEVER - I'm sure having a ton of stuff and then going down to the description you gave would greatly reduce your happiness.</p>
<p>my mom always said "money doesn't make you happy, but it makes life a whole lot easier."</p>
<p>On another note - the type of lifestyle I would like to live would require at least $400k a year coming in - probably a fair amount more.</p>
<p>"On another note - the type of lifestyle I would like to live would require at least $400k a year coming in - probably a fair amount more."</p>
<p>But attaining those things doesn't mean you'll be happy.</p>
<p>1 million per year. On a superficial level you can pretty much live like a 20 million per year person.</p>
<p>My dad majored in philosophy and now hates his life. He is always depressed and takes his aggrevation out on me and my mom all the time. It really is annoying because I get in trouble for the most retarded things such as asking him to shut off "It never rains in california" which he plays on repeat throughout the house. Anyway, he doesn't make that much money because yeah, philosophy, but my mom makes a ton. We live in Jersey in a beautiful house and by no means are in poor economic condition. I have no clue what my mom makes but its enough to own our 3/4 million dollar house with no mortgage, fully own three nice cars, buy all our clothes from nordstrom, and still not have any debt. I think my dad is just miserable because he feels the husband should always make more money than the wife. Meanwhile, I just sit here questioning why he hates his life and profession so much. He choose it. When I hear his lectures or read his essays I can tell he loves the topic. I really don't get it. </p>
<p>I assume that my attitude is attributed to being in his presence my whole life. I feel that money doesn't matter and you should just do what you want. No matter how much I make in the years to come I will make sure I am not miserable. There's no way I could be. Afterall, they always say you should live your life with no regrets. So why should you regret your major/career. Like the great Gandolf once said (this is not a direct quote because that wouldn't really fit in context) don't question why something happened the way it did. All you should do is decide what to do with the time that is given to you. </p>
<p>That whole post was probably poorly written and organized. Whatever, I'm not editing a post on CC.</p>
<p>It's sad that the continuum of money is slapped right on top of the continuum of happiness...</p>
<p>my pscyh research paper was on how money affects happiness, and basically i learned something i already knew, you don't need money to lead a happy life.</p>
<p>second of all you don't necessarily need to go to a good college to make a lot of money. i live in a really wealthy town and i know a bunch of kids from self made families that have sooo much money, yet the kids are complaining that they have no good legacies. meaning that their parents didn't necessarily go to the top schools</p>
<p>OHH and i ready a funny article in the University of Hawaii magazine about a alumni who was sick of being surrounded in his office by people who went to better schools so he made the biggest individual donation to the school under the stipulations that it is to be used in order to raise the schools ranking in certain programs</p>
<p>My recommendation is to find something you love. Happiness will come with it. Everything else is material. You can raise up or down your standard of living and still be happy. When I was growing up, I wanted to be a teacher and a coach, probably in reverse order, but I was told you can't make any money. My dad convinced me to be a CPA. I have been sorry for that decision ever since. I do what I do to make money and hate going to work everyday. Which isn't worth the happiness I would have recieved coaching. You will achieve much higher goals by doing something you enjoy doing.</p>
<p>About 30% more than you earn now, whatever that is ;)</p>
<p>Actually research has shown that many people focus on what other people have to decide if they're happy (so YOU can get out of this trap by knowing about it). For example, take 2 worlds. In world A, everyone has an income of $50,000 per year. In world B, 20% have an income of $60,000 but the other 80% earn $75,000. Would you rather live in world A, or in world B if you had the $60K income? Most people choose world A, even though their income would be 20% higher in world B. It's not just how you're doing, its how you're doing compared to everyone else. See <a href="http://www.hope.edu/academic/psychology/myerstxt/happy/happy4.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.hope.edu/academic/psychology/myerstxt/happy/happy4.html</a></p>
<p>Three interesting articles about research into what makes people happy are at <a href="http://tinyurl.com/ltn5w%5B/url%5D">http://tinyurl.com/ltn5w</a> <a href="http://tinyurl.com/28p2qp%5B/url%5D">http://tinyurl.com/28p2qp</a>, and <a href="http://www.davidmyers.org/Brix?pageID=48%5B/url%5D">http://www.davidmyers.org/Brix?pageID=48</a></p>
<p>There is a great article about choosing a life direction at <a href="http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/13/ldrplus.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/13/ldrplus.html</a></p>