Money doesn't equal happiness
Doubling your income barely nudges your happiness, and research shows it would take a staggering 1,640% income boost to gain a single standard deviation in well-being. This dismantles the belief that wealth meaningfully drives happiness, placing income’s effect closer to negligible than transformative. Even these small numbers likely overstate reality, as they don’t fully adjust for other factors influencing happiness. The real takeaway: chasing extreme wealth for emotional payoff is irrational—energy is better spent mastering fulfillment strategies that money can’t buy.