Jean Chatzky, You Don’t Have to Be Rich

Jean Chatzky wrote a book that, in internet terms, came out forever ago (2003).  She talks about studies (her own included) that question the notion that money buys happiness.  Well, that is not completely accurate; money does buy happiness, but once you make between $50,000 and $75,000 per year, money buys you no more happiness.

There are two things I would like to take away from this book.

1) Make a list of things that are free or cheap that you love to do.

Chatzky writes that having a plan of things to do when you want to some kind of entertainment or family time that are cheap or free will help when one is tempted to take the family to an expensive dinner or amusement  park (my own paraphrase).  I find this idea fairly compelling.  When I was working on this project last year, having a plan was everything.  If I didn’t plan dinner, pizza it is!  If I didn’t plan Saturday family time, the mall it is!  Well, or $75 at Target later.  Fact: plan your life and things get easier.

2) You can give yourself a $25,000 raise in happiness.

Remember when I said that once you get between $50,000 and $75,000, you get no (or minimally) happier?  The fact is that those who make $75,000 are happier than those who make $50,000 except in one instance: those who make $50,000 and diligently watch their cash flow.  So if you make $50,000 and diligently watch your cash flow, it is like you gave yourself a $25,00 per year raise!

Tl;dr: Plan your life and control your finances and you can be just as happy as people with MUCH more money.