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How much money is required for enduring happiness?

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sravna

sravna

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We see people not being happy in spite of possessing money beyond or even way beyond what is sufficient for happiness. To put things in perspective, let me get quantitative for a change and calculate how much money is required for people in their lives for a very good standard of living. I assume only the husband is working and a family has two children. I assume that the person works for a period of 40 years.

Major Expenses:

Education of two children - 1 crore
Marriage of two children - 1 crore
Health Expenses - 1 crore
House, Car and other amenities- 1 crore
Savings and recurring expenses and some charity- 1 crore

So a person has to earn 5 crores over a period of 40 years that is approximately 1 lakh per month.

This is for a good living. Beyond that I think the focus on money would not bring net positive results. Earning half of this or even quarter of this still need not diminish your happiness much as you can still make a good living. But beyond 1 lakh a month ones attention should not be on money but more on developing one's inner self.

Also I am not against money that comes as a side benefit whatever the amount be but without focusing on it and not worrying about it.

To sum up I would say without hurting others we can earn enough to enjoy a good living and our satisfaction would be even better if we only focus on giving our best and not on money.
 
The 1 lakh per month is the average salary over a period of 40 years. But a person's income increases due to seniority, merit or if self employed the business grows etc. So roughly this 1 lakh per month over 40 years would correspond to Rs. 30,000-40,000 per month or so starting income according to todays standards
 
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The ceiling of money upto which there is net happiness is not high and so any who just focuses on giving the best can earn that money without carrying the burden on the head of having to achieve the results and get all the net happiness he can from money.
 
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Nothing in this world ensure enduring happiness be it money or love or anything.

Happiness to a great extent is relatively speaking and even though it also depends on many external criteria it is very hard to pin point what really makes us happy.(if it actually even exists).

Coming to money..we do need some amount of money for comfortable living and to maintain self and family in terms of health expenses,education,entertainment and savings.

But its not really easy to know how much is enough or how much is too less.

In life if we have money are our main motive we seldom make right decisions....life might actually be chaotic.

But on the other hand having a holistic view in life balances out everything and money is usually adequate for a comfortable living.
 
renuka said:
Nothing in this world ensure enduring happiness be it money or love or anything.

Happiness to a great extent is relatively speaking and even though it also depends on many external criteria it is very hard to pin point what really makes us happy.(if it actually even exists).

Coming to money..we do need some amount of money for comfortable living and to maintain self and family in terms of health expenses,education,entertainment and savings.

But its not really easy to know how much is enough or how much is too less.

In life if we have money are our main motive we seldom make right decisions....life might actually be chaotic.

But on the other hand having a holistic view in life balances out everything and money is usually adequate for a comfortable living.
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Dear Renuka,

I meant how much money is sufficient in its contribution to enduring happiness. Working on inner self is the enduring way though we need to take care of external factors such as money to the required extent. What I did was I tried to quantify it with respect to money.
 
sravna said:
Major Expenses:

Education of two children - 1 crore
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If it is IB curriculum, it should be much more including the college exp.

Marriage of two children - 1 crore
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This depends on how lavish we would want to do it. But guess it should be ok for the next five years.
Health Expenses - 1 crore
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This is anybody's guess. 1 crore can be depleted in just a month depending on the ailment. Doctors (pardon me, resident doc :D ) mostly are businessmen and not doctors; hospitals are corporates. If it benefits him and his company (hospital), the doctor would not hesitate, with all the modern gadgets at his disposal, to leech out the patient's resources using sophisticated medical jargon. So...
House, Car and other amenities- 1 crore
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This is a bare minimum and depdending on requirements it will soar...
Savings and recurring expenses and some charity- 1 crore
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hmmmm...

So a person has to earn 5 crores over a period of 40 years that is approximately 1 lakh per month.
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With inflation, this has to go up every year...

Happiness is very subjective and it depends on individuals to find out what level would fit them.
 
sravna said:
Dear Renuka,

I meant how much money is sufficient in its contribution to enduring happiness. Working on inner self is the enduring way though we need to take care of external factors such as money to the required extent. What I did was I tried to quantify it with respect to money.
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There is actually no answer to this question cos everyone has different needs...different desires and different situations to face in life.
 
Dear Auh , Renuka,

I understand. I am talking of those who have not reached the level of ceiling I am talking about and not about those who already are very wealthy. My yardstick is the middle class standard of living. I believe from thereon, there are two other main factors that give happiness, one is human need for attention from others and and the other is satisfaction in helping others. For the former, focusing on accomplishments through intellectual and special skills do a much better job in giving net happiness and for the latter the inclination to help others similarly does a much better job in giving you the fulfillment.
 
Dear Sravna,

From my personal stint in India I noted mostly its the Middle Class who have the most desires.

The lower income class know they survive on daily basis..so being able to see another day itself is a big achievement.

The upper income class and the rich usually have more than enough money to live like Kings.

Some of my rich friends from India never left India to migrate to USA cos they say why leave India when they can be King in India and indeed some do live like kings.

Recently I saw a Tamil movie where this middle class guy was hoping to get a girlfriend and his friend advised him to chase a rich girl cos a rich girl has everything and wont really have unfulfilled dreams but a middle class girl would have unfulfilled dreams and would only want more money.

So its easier to entice a rich girl and live off her.

Back to topic...so you have to take into account the desires of a Middle Class person too.

They are surely not willing to just live with bare minimum anymore especially the females.
 
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renuka said:
Dear Sravna,

From my personal stint in India I noted mostly its the Middle Class who have the most desires.

The lower income class know they survive on daily basis..so being able to see another day itself is a big achievement.

The upper income class and the rich usually have more than enough money to live like Kings.

Some of my rich friends from India never left India to migrate to USA cos they say why leave India when they can be King in India and indeed some do life like kings.

Recently I saw a Tamil movie where this middle class guy was hoping to get a girlfriend and his friend advised him to chase a rich girl cos a rich girl has everything and wont really have unfulfilled dreams but a middle class girl would have unfulfilled dreams and would only want more money.

So its easier to entice a rich girl and live off her.

Back to topic...so you have to take into account the desires of a Middle Class person too.

They are surely not willing to just live with bare minimum anymore especially the females.
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Yes Renuka. Middle class men and women have desires.

Let us assume you have immense talent. Would using your talent and focusing on becoming wealthy give happiness?

Let us say you focus on bringing out the best in you, money would automatically follow.The talent is an inner factor to be used at your will and disposal. Nobody can take away your talent. If you focus on it, you would both be acclaimed for your talent and be very wealthy too. But if you focus on just becoming wealthy using your talent, the external factors begin to play a greater role as becoming wealthy is not at your will and disposal.

When you take off the burden of having to accomplish a result, the level of happiness automatically rises.So after a certain extent focusing on inner self brings the best results.
 
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I am not against setting of goals but if such goals are directed towards accomplishing a result in your inner self, it would be a lot more effective means to happiness. For example let us say you start your career. You set a goal that within the next 3 years you would accomplish a certain financial objective and you create a plan for it.

But had you set your goal that within the next three years I would reduce my greed, and think about how to go about it, that would be a lot more worthy goal because by controlling your greed you have a balanced approach to increasing your wealth and you don't usurp others territory. You still have the same talent. People may still work against you but not as vigorously as when you trample them. People may actually begin to like you for your good qualities. That not only decreases the stress but also enhances your performance.
 
sravna said:
I am not against setting of goals but if such goals are directed towards accomplishing a result in your inner self, it would be a lot more effective means to happiness. For example let us say you start your career. You set a goal that within the next 3 years you would accomplish a certain financial objective and you create a plan for it.

But had you set your goal that within the next three years I would reduce my greed, and think about how to go about it, that would be a lot more worthy goal because by controlling your greed you have a balanced approach to increasing your wealth and you don't usurp others territory. You still have the same talent. People may still work against you but not as vigorously as when you trample them. People may actually begin to like you for your good qualities. That not only decreases the stress but also enhances your performance.
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I have set my goal, when I leave this body I will be without greed.
If you lead a worldly life (not sanyas), how do you manage life. I agree you have to live within your means. But I am greedy for my next breadth to just survive. How do you get over your greed? Or do you have a different definition of the word greed?
Your need to write and set up a website for your business is "greed". How do you advice others not to have greed?
 
prasad1 said:
I have set my goal, when I leave this body I will be without greed.
If you lead a worldly life (not sanyas), how do you manage life. I agree you have to live within your means. But I am greedy for my next breadth to just survive. How do you get over your greed? Or do you have a different definition of the word greed?
Your need to write and set up a website for your business is "greed". How do you advice others not to have greed?
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Dear Shri Prasad,

Any thing you seek in excess can make you insensitive to and transgressing on others legitimate rights. Something that is excess for some may seem to be normal for others. So to clarify, something is in excess for you if you can only fulfill the desires you set out for by taking off what others are righteously entitled to.
 
sravna said:
Dear Shri Prasad,

Any thing you seek in excess can make you insensitive to and transgressing on others legitimate rights. Something that is excess for some may seem to be normal for others. So to clarify, something is in excess for you if you can only fulfill the desires you set out for by taking off what others are righteously entitled to.
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Even one paise others make is greed in my definition.
Again talking in "tongue". Please speak in plain English.
What portion of assets is rightly entitled? Why should a lazy, stupid person be entitled to anything, and why not the smart, hard working people be getting everything. Unless you reward the deserving at the cost of UN-deserving, why would anybody work?
When you start rewarding the merit as opposed to entitlement, there will be income inequality. There will be incentive to progress. Five fingers of the hand are not same. There is no uniformity in God's creation.

Blaming problems on "greed" is a mindless cliche.
Greed is a constant. Did you ever turn down a raise? We need a free market because it restrains greed.
We don't have fixed resources! Thanks to economic liberalization, 7 billion people on earth live better than ever. Poverty decreases. That should prove we don't have fixed resources. Rather than one cake or a fixed supply of cake, greedy entrepreneurs -- like Bill Gates and Steve Jobs -- make more and bigger cakes. Everyone gets richer. The producers, however greedy, are heroes. Inequality is a product of freedom. When people are free, some will acquire much more than others. Forty years of reporting taught me that letting the wealthy indulge their greed protects consumers and helps poor people much more than government programs do. Just keep them away from government power.
The pursuit of self-interest -- greed, if you will -- benefits everyone. We should free the market and enjoy the prosperity.
 
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Dear Shri Prasad,

When you begin to think I want to become very wealthy or very popular instead of thinking I want to become less greedy or less angry is when you set a wrong goal. You can be very wealthy without focusing on that goal. There is more intelligence in this than simply trying to accumulate wealth.

People who are greedy really do not care much for others, think they are special and deserve most of the share of what is made. Most people are intelligent enough to succeed greatly, if given the right encouragement and environment, As you think it is not preserve of a very few.

You are what you are because of nature and environment. You did not and cannot choose to be intelligent or stupid. The knowledge you add is a minuscule of what is there. Even Newton acknowledges this and says he is only standing on the shoulders of giants. If you are able to develop this type of humility and be empathetic, your pursuits will be harmless and your wealthiness be welcome.
 
sravna said:
Yes Renuka. Middle class men and women have desires.

Let us assume you have immense talent. Would using your talent and focusing on becoming wealthy give happiness?

Let us say you focus on bringing out the best in you, money would automatically follow.The talent is an inner factor to be used at your will and disposal. Nobody can take away your talent. If you focus on it, you would both be acclaimed for your talent and be very wealthy too. But if you focus on just becoming wealthy using your talent, the external factors begin to play a greater role as becoming wealthy is not at your will and disposal.

When you take off the burden of having to accomplish a result, the level of happiness automatically rises.So after a certain extent focusing on inner self brings the best results.
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Dear Sravna,

I lead life kind of simple....that is I do not really focus on anything too much.

Talent or non talent...both do not define the real me.

Being talented is just part of our existence.

I do not like to be to goal focused in life cos that leads to pressure,competition,stress and unlimited desires.

I do not like to be acclaimed for anything I do cos I feel its not easy handling even too much attention....and wanting to be acclaimed too is nothing but Kama(desire).

Life is all about being dutiful.

Choose what suits our temperament the most and work along those lines applying ethics all the way..and everything should fall in place.

If nothing falls in place..change the Modus Operandi.

I am not too concerned about happiness either becos in life there is no real steady state.
 
I like post #14 of prasadji and post #16 of renukaji.

Two different ways to live life.

How to live in a world which has so much to offer?

There can be no one approach.

Money is important-make it the easiest way possible without hurting any one too much including yourself.

How much- Do not think you are taking anybodys bread to justify inability to make it. Amass as much as you can with optimal effort.

Talent -value your own and do not be ashamed of it. Some are more talented than others. No harm boasting about talent .Everyone is talented in some

way or other. Some are unable to convert it into money by properly channeling it or because of just lack of desire to think in money terms

Some of us like to drift in life ,not hanging on to something for long, looking for new pastures,try for new experiences .

We all would like to escape from scrutiny of others, do what we feel like doing.

At the same time, a sense of responsibility brings us back to what we consider as our duty.It is just a instinctive feeling to do the right thing to all -relatives,friends,

society at large.

Ultimately we are our own judges.

If we feel we have done more good than bad and collected all money we could in a way fair to all around us , then we can be happy.
 
I like the posts # 16 and #17 by Smt. Renuka and Krish Ji. I am only against mindless money making. Apply your mind and see around and you will find plenty of rationale for making money.
 
Some how I am unable to get convinced that financial ups and downs affects the level of happiness one would have in his life. Although the arguments given above cannot be discarded, we see plenty of rich people find difficult to bring the smile of happiness and spend most of their time protecting their richness. On the other hand we also see a lot of people lead a peaceful and happy life with nothing much to spend. However we all are human after all, and would always love to believe the other shore is greener!
 
hi

money can buy comforts.....not happiness.....likewise we can buy great bed in velvet with high cost.....but we can't buy sleep....


so sleep is the purpose of the bed.......then bed is useless......likewise money can be useless,,,,,money has limitations.....

VIDYAA DADAHTI VINAYAM....VINYAT YATI PATRATHAAM.....PAATRATVAAD DHANAM AAPNOTI.....DHANAAD DHARMAM...TATAH

SUKHAM.....meaning of this sloka......knowledge gives humblesness.....from humble to great position......from position we

get money/wealth......from money to dharma.....from dharma to happiness......
 
Dear Renuka,

What I mean is money is only a convenient way to value and exchange our services. We offer some services to the society and we require some services for survival and peace. So the real focus should be on the service otherwise it is mindless money making where we splurge on meaningless things and stash our wealth in banks and so on because we lose the focus on the real thing.
 
sravna said:
Dear Renuka,

What I mean is money is only a convenient way to value and exchange our services. We offer some services to the society and we require some services for survival and peace. So the real focus should be on the service otherwise it is mindless money making where we splurge on meaningless things and stash our wealth in banks and so on because we lose the focus on the real thing.
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Dear Sravna,

What you have written is the ideal situation but actually believe me its not easy to be service oriented in this busy paced world.

Mostly the best we can aim for is to be ethical even if we lead transaction style lives.

Personally I do not believe in wasting money.

For example today in the newspaper there was an article on how much people who do not earn much are willing to empty almost their whole savings to bid for a lucky car number plate.

They believe that its worth spending the money cos a lucky car number plate would yield luck!LOL

I do not believe in buying luck!

When I buy cars I do not even care to find out what the number plate would be....I just tell the car dealer just take whatever number the Road Transport Dept gives.

How can numbers change my Karma? Not possible right? So why waste money?

BTW Sravna...many people run so called service oriented lives..but on deeper dissection there is almost always an ulterior motive.

Many do it for some political mileage.

There are many doctors whom I know who give free services to their patients and act like saints and later stand for elections!

So they were just building up their political careers...so who does selfless service? No one.

Everyone has motives..so the best is just do our duty.
 
One cannot be totally service oriented, It is an idealists dream.

Clever women like renukahji would look for motives for altruism and find some reason .

She might be correct too.

But as an engineer I think if someone gives 90% and takes back 10% for himself also it is a fair deal.

One does not look for perfection and unadulterated service with no selfishness. Just an ideal not possinble in practice.

Who wants to be a Mahatma ?
 
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