Reframing Wealth: The Subtractive Nature of Money and Happiness

If you're a founder doing at least $3M/year in sales, check out Hampton: https://www.joinhampton.com/.

There is no amount of money that will make you happy. There is also no amount that will stop making you more happy. 

Both of those things are true.

Our producer is not rich. But she has talked to 100+ people who are, and she (I) has learned a lot about your kind (is that wrong to say?).

In the Moneywise pilot, we asked the question “at what point will more money stop making you happy”. Turns out, that was a pretty stupid question. So in this episode, we’re fixing that.

This is an episode of Moneywise unlike any other. This is a solo essay-style inside-outsider's take on wealth and happiness, based on the past year of peaking behind the curtain at what truly makes millionaires lives better… and worse. Backed up by quotes from our guests and of course, real studies.

Here’s what we talk about:

• Money doesn’t make you happy. It can only remove stress.
• The “happiness number” is a myth but knowing your “freedom number” changes everything.
• Most people don’t want money, they want the freedom they think money will give them.
• Hitting your financial goal won’t feel like you imagined.
• Founders often feel lost post-exit because they unknowingly traded hope for cash.
• Wealth adds new stress.
• Money can’t buy you meaningful experiences, and you need to stop thinking it can.
• If you expect money to do the emotional heavy lifting in your life, you will never be satisfied.
• Money is the key, not the door. It unlocks your potential but it won’t add anything more to your life.

Cool Links:

• Hampton https://www.joinhampton.com/
• Lower Street https://www.lowerstreet.co/
  
  

Chapters:
(00:00) Introduction and Confession
(00:35) Reflecting on 50 Episodes
(02:24) Revisiting the Happiness Threshold
(03:09) Money as a Subtractive Tool
(03:48) The Freedom Number vs. Happiness
(05:07) Studies and Research on Wealth and Happiness
(14:39) The Hedonic Treadmill and Wealth's Paradox
(17:45) Hope and the Entrepreneur's Journey
(25:26) Concluding Thoughts and Freedom Numbers

This podcast is a ridiculous concept: high-net-worth people reveal their personal finances.

Inspired by real conversations happening in the Hampton community.

You Host - Jackie Lamport

• Not really the host, but the producer.
• Wrote this sentence.
• Older than I appear, I promise.

References:

• Kahneman, D., & Deaton, A. (2010). "High income improves evaluation of life but not emotional well-being." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 107(38), 16489-16493. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1011492107
• Jebb, A. T., Tay, L., Diener, E., & Oishi, S. (2018). "Happiness, income satiation and turning points around the world." Nature Human Behaviour, 2, 33-38. DOI: 10.1038/s41562-017-0277-0
• Killingsworth, M. A. (2021). "Experienced well-being rises with income, even above $75,000 per year." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 118(4). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2016976118
  Link, B. G., Phelan, J., Bresnahan, M., Stueve, A., & Moore, R. E. (1995). American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 65(3), 347-354. DOI: 10.1037/h0079653
• Donnelly, G. E., Zheng, T., Haisley, E., & Norton, M. I. (2018). "The Amount and Source of Millionaires’ Wealth (Moderately) Predicts Their Happiness." Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 44(5), 684-699. DOI: 10.1177/0146167217746340
• Luthar, S. S., & Becker, B. E. (2002). "Privileged but Pressured? A Study of Affluent Youth." Child Development, 73(5), 1593-1610. DOI: 10.1111/1467-8624.00492.