Investing for Beginners | Start here - Why Earning More Money Will Never Make You Happy

Looking for help with Financial Planning? I am a Chartered Wealth Manager and Partner in a financial planning practice based in the UK. If you would like to find out more about working with us, please follow this link: https://go.novawm.com/yt/3 Can money buy you happiness? In this video, I deep-dive into the science behind why money can't buy happiness and discuss how our relentless pursuit of money is sabotaging our mental wellbeing. The science behind why simply earning more money will never make you happy: *"High income improves evaluation of life but not emotional well-being"* Daniel Kahneman and Angus Deaton 2010 https://www.pnas.org/content/107/38/16489 *"Lottery winners and accident victims: is happiness relative?"* P Brickman, D Coates, R Janoff-Bulman 1978 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/690806/ *Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs* https://www.simplypsychology.org/maslow.html The amount past which money ceases to make you happy will depend on where you live and the size of your family. But roughly this converts to: *US $75,000 UK £40,000 London £55,000* The point is not to fixate on what that figure is for you, but just to be mindful that you will, as some point, get to a position where earning more money will not have the same effects on your mental wellbeing as it did before. Being aware of this will allow you to then start to divert your efforts into areas of life that will actually help you and the people around you. The hedonic treadmill, also known as *hedonic adaptation*, is the observed tendency of humans to quickly return to a relatively stable level of happiness despite major positive or negative events or life changes. When I was a financial adviser, I worked with people earning thousands and some people earning millions a year. And I can tell you that money is not a predictor of happiness. After a certain point, more money ceases to make us happy. This point is generally after we have enough money to satisfy our basic needs, as detailed in Maslows Hierarchy of needs. https://www.simplypsychology.org/maslow.html The actual monetary figure that you'd need to accomplish this will depend on where you live. But once you are earning enough, your efforts would be much better spent on building relationships and finding a true purpose in life. However, money can buy you freedom, and it does this by allowing you to make choices. To choose where you live, or what job you do. To be able to see a doctor whenever you need to or get help looking after children. It definitely helps to make life easier and gives you more time to focus on the important things in life... or so you'd think. But just as money can free you it can also become a trap. As people earn more and more, they become accustomed to the luxuries that they can afford. So much so that they are unable to give them up and end up spending more than they can afford or getting stuck in jobs that they hate. The classic case of Golden Handcuffs. DISCLAIMER: This channel is for education purposes only and does not constitute financial advice - James is not responsible for investment actions taken by viewers. Please seek out a regulated advisor if you require assistance. James Shack™ property of James Shackell Copyright © James Shackell 2020. All rights reserved. The author asserts their moral right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this channel and any video published on it.