As has been discussed elsewhere, this slides a bit depending on where you live and I've seen charts that list how much you need to make for your market to be happy enough, but that's not germane to the overall point.
It is ultimately true that money and things can't buy happiness. Life experiences, friends and family have a far greater affect on happiness. Going on a memorable vacation, for instance, will do more for your happiness than remodeling your home. There are several reasons why increased money doesn't necessarily make people happier:
# Making more money often requires more time and responsibility. Neither tends to make people happier. If you have to spend more time working to make more money, you might be happier making less because you'll have more time to spend on your hobbies.
# People tend to spend more money the more money they make, often in ways that don't make them that much happier. Making $150,000 a year? Time for you to buy a house fitting of a man who makes $150,000 a year! Even though, you might be happier living in a smaller, simpler house and a bigger house and mortgage means you may not be paying a lower percentage of your income towards housing. Or you might be happier with a smaller mortgage that doesn't require a $150,000 a year job to support (it's harder to find high paying jobs, which makes the threat of losing them more stressful).
# One of the great keys to happiness and longevity is friendship. If making more money requires you to spend less time with friends and making friends, it won't make you happier.
As for me, what would make me happier financially? Not having a mortgage would be number one. Well, wouldn't making more money help that? Yes, but the temptation for a lot of people would be to just get a bigger, more expensive place.
This is why you'll find households in the 90+ percentile will mortgage payments late into life. Instead of paying off their mortgage faster, they get bigger houses, do remodeling and spend more and more on their houses. My wife and I might get a slightly bigger place when we have kids, but we'd like to be mortgage free by the time kids go off to college.
It is ultimately true that money and things can't buy happiness. Life experiences, friends and family have a far greater affect on happiness. Going on a memorable vacation, for instance, will do more for your happiness than remodeling your home. There are several reasons why increased money doesn't necessarily make people happier:
# Making more money often requires more time and responsibility. Neither tends to make people happier. If you have to spend more time working to make more money, you might be happier making less because you'll have more time to spend on your hobbies.
# People tend to spend more money the more money they make, often in ways that don't make them that much happier. Making $150,000 a year? Time for you to buy a house fitting of a man who makes $150,000 a year! Even though, you might be happier living in a smaller, simpler house and a bigger house and mortgage means you may not be paying a lower percentage of your income towards housing. Or you might be happier with a smaller mortgage that doesn't require a $150,000 a year job to support (it's harder to find high paying jobs, which makes the threat of losing them more stressful).
# One of the great keys to happiness and longevity is friendship. If making more money requires you to spend less time with friends and making friends, it won't make you happier.