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@taniwharugby Sure you adjust because you have to, it doesn't mean that you want to, and yes at some point that becomes necessary. Whether that is retirement or job loss.
There was interesting survey that I might have already mentioned in here (actually there are quite a few) about income and happiness. This particular one (in US) found that an income around $100k was optimal. Enough for holidays, pay the bills, eat well, etc. More income than that didn't make much difference to happiness. Less than that and people wanted more. QI I thought.
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@Snowy said in Happiness Scale:
@taniwharugby Sure you adjust because you have to, it doesn't mean that you want to, and yes at some point that becomes necessary. Whether that is retirement or job loss.
There was interesting survey that I might have already mentioned in here (actually there are quite a few) about income and happiness. This particular one (in US) found that an income around $100k was optimal. Enough for holidays, pay the bills, eat well, etc. More income than that didn't make much difference to happiness. Less than that and people wanted more. QI I thought.
Can relate to that. I planned for my retirement on the basis of the income I'd need to have a real good life and I've ended up spending far less than I thought I would. My pension fund is actually worth more now that it was 7 years ago when I started drawing on it. Often talk about the things we want to do (and can do) with Mrs M, but it always comes down to a realisation that we pretty much do what we want to do anyway. Apart from the family health situation, life is good.
In contrast, my ex inherited a load of money a few years back and it almost totally screwed her life as she felt almost obligated to spend the bloody stuff and then started worrying that it would run-out.
So I guess the thing with money and happiness is to have enough to be secure but also be able to buy stuff/do things when you feel you need to. Having earned the money yourself helps - you neither feel guilty about spending it nor guilty being cautious with it
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@Victor-Meldrew said in Happiness Scale:
I planned for my retirement on the basis of the income I'd need to have a real good life and I've ended up spending far less than I thought I would. My pension fund is actually worth more now that it was 7 years ago when I started drawing on it.
Curious as to whether you ever added up the costs of going to work?
Certainly in the pre-COVID years I'd be talking about hundreds a month once I considered transport, clothing, lunch, coffee etc even just for an office job that is effectively a few miles from our house.
My car insurance dropped significantly once I informed them I was no longer driving to work, as one example. My coffee and lunch costs have plummeted tho you could argue I was incurring those costs at a much higher rate than I needed to
It isn't going to buy an investment property, but I reckon there is a few thousand a year just on that alone.
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@Victor-Meldrew said in Happiness Scale:
So I guess the thing with money and happiness is to have enough to be secure but also be able to buy stuff/do things when you feel you need to.
Yep. That is what the surveys found.
I read them because I wanted to try and find out what I needed to be happy (and I wasn't at the time). There was also a review of why airline pilots dropped dead within a couple of years of retiring which obviously got me thinking, so I "bailed out" early.
We have enough, but it is hard to make it work income wise when you are developing a 22 acre lifestyle property. Just the trees and gardens are a huge expense, let alone moving a 100 year old house. We feel like Tom and Barbara Good at times, whereas previously I was more Charles Lindberg in my head, well not really, (without the Nazi thing and stolen baby obviously), but he was the only wealthy aviator I could think of , money wasn't ever a problem. Now I have to think about it.
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@NTA said in Happiness Scale:
Curious as to whether you ever added up the costs of going to work?
Not really - ran my own micro-business so any travel costs were expensed to the company or client.
Certainly in the pre-COVID years I'd be talking about hundreds a month once I considered transport, clothing, lunch, coffee etc even just for an office job that is effectively a few miles from our house.
Again, meals coffee etc was expensed. But I did spend more money working - business suits, shoes etc.
I decided I wanted to retire when I wanted to retire (if that makes sense!). Put as much money in my pension as I could, which still left me with a pretty good lifestyle but without wasting money on status symbol shit like cars.
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@Snowy said in Happiness Scale:
@Victor-Meldrew said in Happiness Scale:
So I guess the thing with money and happiness is to have enough to be secure but also be able to buy stuff/do things when you feel you need to.
Yep. That is what the surveys found.
There was also a review of why airline pilots dropped dead within a couple of years of retiring which obviously got me thinking, so I "bailed out" early.
That must have been a bit of a worry for your passengers... -
@Snowy said in Happiness Scale:
@Victor-Meldrew said in Happiness Scale:
So I guess the thing with money and happiness is to have enough to be secure but also be able to buy stuff/do things when you feel you need to.
Yep. That is what the surveys found.
I read them because I wanted to try and find out what I needed to be happy (and I wasn't at the time). There was also a review of why airline pilots dropped dead within a couple of years of retiring which obviously got me thinking, so I "bailed out" early.
We have enough, but it is hard to make it work income wise when you are developing a 22 acre lifestyle property. Just the trees and gardens are a huge expense, let alone moving a 100 year old house. We feel like Tom and Barbara Good at times, whereas previously I was more Charles Lindberg in my head, well not really, (without the Nazi thing and stolen baby obviously), but he was the only wealthy aviator I could think of , money wasn't ever a problem. Now I have to think about it.
I was on the high-flyer treadmill for a while. Globe-trotting for a major Management Consultancy firm earning a lot of money in exotic places, then onto a major Investment bank. Had a big house with an affordable mortgage, but looking back it wasn't a happy nor a fulfilling career.
Epiphany was during a visit to NZ and looking over Auckland harbour, drinking Sauvignon Blanc and eating fish and chips. Came back and pretty much resigned there and then, though stayed for a year then set myself up doing freelance work.
That last 15 years of my working life was generally great - actually enjoyed going to work on Monday, met some great people and helped make their working lives better, more productive and less stressful. There's a huge difference to coming home absolutely knackered late on Friday nite and coming home absolutely knackered but fulfilled late on Friday nite. Happiest time of my life.
Without meaning to sound soppy, sentimental, or like a life-coach, I've somehow engineered a bloody good last 20 years and been blessed, Even the messy and stressful divorce had a gold lining - I met Mrs Meldrew
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@Snowy said in Happiness Scale:
Nah they didn't give a toss whether I was there or not. They all think that the plane flies itself.
Mate of mine was a BA Captain. Used to hate having ex-RAF blokes as co-pilots as "they want to bloody well fly the plane all the time"
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@Victor-Meldrew said in Happiness Scale:
@Snowy said in Happiness Scale:
Nah they didn't give a toss whether I was there or not. They all think that the plane flies itself.
Mate of mine was a BA Captain. Used to hate having ex-RAF blokes as co-pilots as "they want to bloody well fly the plane all the time"
Yep. We had a heap of ex BA guys (known as Nigels) that were ex RAF cadets that got laid off with cut backs in defence spending, and came to us. I tried to explain that if you fucked with controls, touched switches, pushed buttons on computers, things tended to go wrong. So "leave thing fucking thing alone, it is doing perfectly well" was a common comment from me.
We had one captain that would put the auto pilot on, just after takeoff, even if the F/O was flying, and then order his meal. I agreed with this policy, but I never did it.
@Victor-Meldrew said in Happiness Scale:
Epiphany was during a visit to NZ and looking over Auckland harbour, drinking Sauvignon Blanc and eating fish and chips. Came back and pretty much resigned there and then, though stayed for a year then set myself up doing freelance work.
Very similar. Came home, realised what I was missing, decision made. I miss flying jets but not the job.
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@Snowy said in Happiness Scale:
We had one captain that would put the auto pilot on, just after takeoff, even if the F/O was flying, and then order his meal. I agreed with this policy, but I never did it.
Steve's attitude was "I'm really only there for when things go wrong". You got the very strong sense he'd do OK when things did go wrong though...
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@Victor-Meldrew said in Happiness Scale:
Steve's attitude was "I'm really only there for when things go wrong". You got the very strong sense he'd do OK when things did go wrong though...
I'm with Steve. It is pretty much what we were trained to do - wait for shit to happen and fix it.
Having said that, they don't fly themselves. Try doing nothing at VR and things don't end well.
Anyway, happiness is sense of purpose for some, my job used to give me that and I'm only just finding it again. "Retirement" is a strange thing - I have no time spare other than the time I spend on here.
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@Bones said in Happiness Scale:
@Snowy you own a hardware store don't you? I grew up in one.
Sort of. We do all home decoration, paint, flooring, curtains, blinds, etc, rather than saws and hammers. Works for doing up houses, so I see your point about "gentrification" (used loosely) of houses to make money. That is what I have done last few years.
So was it a hammer hardware? One of the old Mitre10s before they became mega? Or your parents own individual one? I love hardware stores.
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@Snowy yeah was independent (Mackies Store), then Value Rite, then True Value, then something else I think and then Hammer. Was a bit of a bazaar as was a newsagents and sold some toys as well as being a dry cleaning agents in the independent years.
I'm the most disappointing son of a hardware store owner though.
And just to be on topic for once, I'm sure I'm a shitload happier than my parents were at the same age. No kids though.
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Happiness Scale
