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Money actually can buy happiness, study says

#1
C C Offline
https://www.vice.com/en/article/g5bm4b/m...study-says

EXCERPTS: More than 10 years ago, researchers suggested that money can buy happiness, and that it costs about $75,000 a year. A complicated and nuanced study by Nobel Prize winning economists explained that money increased happiness, but that things tended to plateau around $75,000. Any less and sadness increased, but earning more didn’t add to a sense of wellbeing. The research worked its way into opinion pages and launched a thousand blogs.

The obvious appeal of the idea is that money can buy happiness in the sense that it can provide for basic necessities and stability, but not much beyond that, meaning that multi billionaires like Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos are much richer but not all that happier than the rest of us. The only problem with this idea is that it's wrong, and that we'd all obviously be much happier if we had millions of dollars. A new study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences says that the $75,000 figure is bullshit and that happiness continues to increase past that threshold.

The study, titled "Experienced well-being rises with income", even above $75,000 per year, doesn’t mince words. “There was … no evidence of an income threshold at which experienced and evaluative well-being diverged, suggesting that higher incomes are associated with both feeling better day-to-day and being more satisfied with life overall.”

The new study is the work of Matt Killingsworth, a senior fellow at Wharton School for Business at the University of Pennsylvania. His study is based on 1,725,994 samples pulled from 33,391 employed adults in the United States. [...] Killingsworth also collected basic data about his subject’s income and life in general. ... He believes the difference in results is down to a difference in sample size and data collection method. “Arguably, I have some of the best data that exists on how people are really feeling in daily life,” he said.

Killingsworth said he thinks the original study is more nuanced than it’s gotten credit for and he also understands why it’s become a rooted part of pop-psychology. “The nice way to look at it is the appealing notion that, ‘If I can just get to some level of income, I can stop worrying about money,’” he said. “I think that’s kind of attractive. And even if what I’ve found is true, that $75,000 isn’t a key threshold, there probably is some value in bringing as many people as possible up to some basic level of financial security.”

He also stressed that money isn’t everything, and that the pursuit of wealth itself isn’t a means to happiness. [...] One thing was universally true across all his subjects. Anyone who conflated money with personal success was miserable. “It’s especially bad if you don’t earn much money,” he said. “But there doesn’t seem to be any point where conflating personal success with your financial outcome is a good thing...having more [money] is good, but being fixated on it and using it to define your self worth is probably not such a great idea.” (MORE - details)
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Cynical Sindee: So bear in mind that it's not just Leftarian dogma and social agenda that the later revised or often non-replicated, debunked, retracted, publish or perish, "compromised by university policies or funding-sources" studies of the human-oriented sciences may try to conform/adjust to in terms of their conclusions. (Or even with respect to their very set-up beforehand to get _X_ results.) But also some of the traditional platitudes they will sentimentally cater to, especially if it's one that makes the underclasses feel better. As with that earlier research emphasizing that there wasn't more happiness beyond the $75,000 point. Even the newer study's architect seems to be hedging a bit in that respect, to soothe the common person's mindset.
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#2
Zinjanthropos Online
Wall St. Hedge Fund managers not having much fun this week. They're getting killed, losing billions, by being beaten at their own game. Check GME stock and see what they've done. Has to do with social media and a practice called short selling. Basically short sellers are allowed to borrow shares from financial institutions at a price and then they sell them while working price down and when time comes to return the borrowed shares they buy them back at the low prices they created and pocket the difference. Many people have lost life savings to these crooks so no one is feeling sorry. Unless you tell brokerage you don’t want your shares borrowed then it’s automatically assumed you allow it, absolute bs IMO. Like owning a car and somebody else lends it to another person, all perfectly legal. Hedge funds make money without owning a share as unbelievable as that sounds.

All it took was an army of social media nerds to turn the Hedge Funds from predator to prey. Call themselves Wall Street Bets (WSB) about 800k strong. I think the group buys the borrowed shares and when Hedge Fund wants to cash in the ante is raised and the borrowed shares that have to be returned have their prices inflated . This results in a short squeeze where the hedge funds are forced to buy back the stocks. Short buying at inflated prices and the frenzy picks up momentum, the prices go through the roof. Many are claiming its a large group of Reddit investors who figured it out but might be the Chinese for all I know. I think it could be the end of short selling, thank goodness....I hate those bastards.

Fortunately for me they are switching their attention to a Canadian company Blackberry. I only have 2000 (had 2200) shares that I paid $18000 CDN for. Today the Reddit guys are killing the Blackberry shorters as the share price has hit $30 and I estimate it to go higher. Danger is not knowing exactly what price it will hit to remove buyers from taking risk. It will be game over then and the price will drop. Or the Ontario Securities people may halt trading at some point. Sold 200 this morning for $29 so I have a good portion of my original stake back. Now just an educated guess as when to get out completely, wait for the share price to drop and buy back in. The stock may also continue upwards and as long as there's buyers it will go high. If I sell to early I could lose the opportunity to cash in once goes higher. The company has reinvented itself from mobile phone manufacturer to cyber security and is positioned quite well with many irons in the fire. I'm thinking it will be halted but at what price? Hoping for $50 by Friday and I'm out unless I get too nervous. Anxious times but not fun for hedge funds.

Edit: Blackberry shares hit $35+ CDN around 2 pm.
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#3
Leigha Offline
Money can buy things, but not sustainable happiness. Guess it depends if one’s happiness hinges on things.
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#4
confused2 Offline
My rich friend rang me the other day in a somewhat suicidal frame of mind. Just about everyone, including his real family, just want money from him. I've known him so long he's like the brother I never wanted.
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