Money

Happiness can be “bought” up to a point (aim for the ever-elusive enough)

Having too little or too much money can have negative effects.

Happiness is a place between too little and too much. ― Finnish Proverb

Money only affects emotional well-being (happiness) up to an annual
income of $60,000-$75,000.

At $40K, health, relationships, and purpose become more important. Around $50K, more income had no relationship with day-to-day happiness

Once a person or family reaches a moderate level of income, here are the factors that research has shown contribute most to happiness: good health, personal growth, strong social relationships, service to others, connection with nature. ― Duane Elgin

Why doesn’t more money keep buying us more happiness? The
answer may be related to the hedonic treadmill (or hedonic adaptation):

The hedonic treadmill, also known as hedonic adaptation, is the observed
tendency of humans to quickly return to a relatively stable level
of happiness despite major positive or negative events or life
changes. According to this theory, as a person makes more money, expectations and desires rise in tandem, which results in no permanent gain in happiness…

Hedonic adaptation is a process or mechanism that reduces the affective impact of emotional events. Generally, hedonic adaptation involves a happiness ‘set point’, whereby humans generally maintain a constant level of
happiness throughout their lives, despite events that occur in their
environment. The process of hedonic adaptation is often conceptualized as a
treadmill, since one must continually work to maintain a certain level of happiness.

Others conceptualize hedonic adaptation as functioning similarly to a thermostat (a negative feedback system) that works to maintain an individual’s happiness set point.

If you worship money and things ― if they are where you tap real meaning in life ― then you will never have enough. Never feel you have enough … On one level, we all know this stuff already … The trick is keeping the truth up-front in daily Consciousness. ― David Foster Wallace, This is Water

People who live far below their means enjoy a freedom that people busy upgrading their lifestyles can’t fathom. ― Naval Ravikant

For too long we have been dreaming a dream from which we are now waking up: the dream that if we just improve the socioeconomic situation of people, everything will be okay, people will become happy. The truth is that as the struggle for survival has subsided, the question has emerged: survival for what? Ever more people today have the means to live, but no meaning to live for. ― Viktor Frankl

• The chief discovery which I have made is that man may lead a perfectly honourable, sufficing, and even joyous existence upon a very small income. Money plays a part in human existence much less important than we suppose. The best boon that money can bestow upon us is independence. How much money do we need to secure independence? That must depend on the nature of our wants. ― W. J. Dawson, The Quest of the Simple Life