Poor or rich enough - Is Your Income Enough for You?

Is the money you earn enough for you? – Somewhat quasi-scientifically, I’ve been asking this question from people I meet. They don’t have to disclose the income, but just answer if they are satisfied with their income. The hundreds (over 500) of people I’ve talked to, from all income levels, age groups, professions and ethnicities, both men and women; have generally said “It’s never enough. I could do with more.” What does this tell about humans?

Just a few (5%) have said that “Yes, I earn more than I need. Actually I don’t need all this.”

Now I wonder which is more surprising - the shortage of people happy with what they earn or that there are even this many?

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How High is Your Income?

The median annual family income in USA is around 46 000 US $. This is only 5,02 cms of US $ 100 bills.

The richest American, Bill Gates, with around $ 50 Billion (now that he’s poorer due to the recession) would reach a height of over 50 km if he piled his wealth in 100$ bills. It is impossible for him to convert his wealth into banknotes as there are only 2 billion US$ bills in circulation. The US Treasury wouldn’t be too eager to print more for him as printing a new $ bill costs $8.02.

Mr Bill Gates could probably reach the moon if he piled his wealth using Zimbabwean dollars.

You can calculate the height of your annual income easily.

• First convert your annual income to US dollars. One US dollar bill is 0.010922 cm thick. 
• Then calculate how many 100 US dollar bills (use 1 US dollar bills if you are in teaching, taking care of the sick and the old or are a writer in India or Namibia) you get per year 
• Multiply that amount by 0.010922 cm to get your annual income height in cms.

Earning More than Others is Important

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Rather than the actual earning, the relative earning or comparative spending power is more important for many people, especially younger and ambitious men. In societies like the USA, raw money power is measured by conspicuous consumption. This trend has spread to former Eastern Block countries including China.

In societies, like the Scandinavian welfare societies, where incomes are more evenly distributed, people compare their incomes less with their neighbours. But they compare instead with history.

“I earn much more than my father.” or “My grandfather could never have afforded what I can.” are often typical sentiments.

Economists measure inequality among people in societies with measures like the Gini, Theil and Hoover Index (also called the Robin Hood index). Hoover Index measures the total community income that would have to be taken from the richer half of the population and given to the poorer half so that perfect equality is achieved.


Women Complain About Earning Less

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Women in Western democracies persistently complain that they earn less than men.

Is that a fact?

The research findings of the Institute of Economic Affairs, a UK free market think tank since 1955, are startling:

• Women’s mean part-time earnings are now higher than those of male part-timers.
• 22-29 year old women earn only 1% less than men
• Men tend to work longer hours and put in more overtime, with twice as many male as female managers working more than 48 hours a week.
• Typically men seek higher pay and career success and women seek job satisfaction.
• 75% of women plan to take a career break against 12% of men.
• Men lose their jobs more often and get injured more often at work.

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Yet another research finding discloses that in USA, female graduates earn $8,000 less than men per year a year after graduating. Men earned $42,918, women earned $35,296 in 2009.

Famous Quotes About Income

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“When there is an income tax, the just man will pay more and the unjust less on the same amount of income.” Plato, Greek Philosopher (428 – 348 B.C.)

“Expenditure rises to meet income.” C. Northcote Parkinson (English writer 1909-1993)

“Good management is better than good income.” Portuguese proverb. 

“Between persons of equal income there is no social distinction except the distinction of merit. Money is nothing: character, conduct, and capacity are everything. There would be great people and ordinary people and little people, but the great would always be those who had done great things, and never the idiots whose mothers had spoiled them and whose fathers had left them a hundred thousand a year; and the little would be persons of small minds and mean characters, and not poor persons who had never had a chance. That is why idiots are always in favour of inequality of income (their only chance of eminence), and the really great in favour of equality.” George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950). Irish playwright and 1925 Nobelist.

We live in two worlds: an outer world of things and a rich inner world

We live in two worlds! Now, this may seem very strange but we do live in two distinct worlds. 

The first is a world of things, events and other people.

Then we also live in an inner world of thoughts, impressions and reactions to outer stimuli.

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These two worlds are very different. The outer world contains all that is needed to create experience for us except one thing we all desperately seek - happiness.


Is it True that Greater Happiness Can be Found in the Inner World?

The problem with satisfaction and 'happiness' in the outer sphere of activity is that it is conditional. When the conditions change, dissatisfaction enters.

Greater happiness can be found only in the inner world. Everything that we can find in the outer world can bring satisfaction, pride, joy but all these may turn stale and seem transitory. Thus we can observe two important things about life.

• There are people who have much in the outer world yet are not happy. 
• There are people who need very little on the outside to find happiness in the inner world. 

But it doesn't follow that if you have little possessions, you'll automatically be happier. Studying happy people would reveal the success formula to be rather a state of mind, which is a function of the inner world.

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Trying to satisfy the hunger within by getting more and more is an endless process. The thirst is never quenched.

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So, how does one achieve tranquility, gratefulness and true contentment while being truly what we are, without deadening our senses and desensitising our feelings. Yes, it is possible.

Achieving this is the art of living - so simple essentially yet so difficult. It is a matter of spirit. 

The first picture is from a shop window in Munich, Germany. I spent a lovely Easter there with friends.


PERMA = Positive Psychology Approach to Happiness

Martin Seligman, the famous American psychologist (his concept of learned helplessness is very much utilised by scientific and clinical psychologists) has suggested 5 items that seem to bring happiness more often than not:

1. Pleasure (sensory pleasure e.g. warm baths and tasty foods)
2. Engagement (the mysterious state called flow when we are absorbed yet challenged in doing something)
3. Relationships (human relationships are a good indicator of life satisfaction)
4. Meaning (belonging to something larger than self or a quest)
5. Accomplishments (realising tangible goals)

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Here, the yardstick is not how much money you have, or the size of your car or the value of your house or how impressive the job title sounds.

The five items are very much about achieving a significant balance between inner world and outer world matters. It does not mean that the quantity the items bring more pleasure, but the individual experience of them. So, one slice of pizza can bring more happiness than six whole pizzas, in the right circumstances.

The clue is that it is not other people who dictate the criteria, but the criteria comes from within us.