Constant Luxury is No Luxury At All

“But just as the human body didn’t evolve to deal well with today’s easy access to abundant fat and sugars, and will crave an extra cheeseburger when it shouldn’t, the human mind, apparently, didn’t evolve to deal with excess money, and will desire more long after wealth has become a burden rather than a comfort. A vast body of psychological evidence shows that the pleasures of consumption wear off through time and depend heavily on one’s frame of reference. Most of us, for instance, occasionally spoil ourselves with outbursts of deliberate and perhaps excessive consumption: a fancy spa treatment, dinner at an expensive restaurant, a shopping spree. In the case of the very wealthy, such forms of consumption can become so commonplace as to lose all psychological benefit: constant luxury is, in a sense, no luxury at all.”

Excerpt from Secret Fears of the Super-Rich by Graeme Wood.

The Only Things We Need

We use the word “need” much too casually. The only things we truly need are the basics of physical survival—air, water, food, clothing, shelter—and everyone reading this book already has these. We also need the basics of intellectual and emotional well-being—love, family, friendship, satisfying work, hobbies, faith—each reader has his or her own list here. But it’s a short list, and it does not—or should not—include the $500 jacket or the $100,000 car, because there are other jackets and cars. It should not include this particular job or sale or deal, because there are other jobs and sales and deals.

Excerpt from Start With No by Jim Camp.

Happy People Make More Money

Some people think that money is not important for happiness, or even that rich people are not happy. On the contrary, research has shown that people who are well-off financially are happier than poor people (Diener & Biwas-Diener, 2002; Diener & Seligman, 2004). It has usually been assumed that financial success brings happiness. But it is also true that happy people make more money. Indeed, happy people are successful in many areas of life that require motivation and persistence, including domains such as work and income (Lyubomirsky et al., 2005).

Excerpt from Life Goals and Well-Being: Are Extrinsic Aspirations Always Detrimental to Well-Being? by Ingrid Brdar, Majda Rijavec & Dubravka Miljkovic