Enough

People talk a lot about how to earn more. Almost never about the opposite question: how much is enough?

Without an answer, there is no finish line. You keep running, without knowing what for.

The point of enough is the level where one more euro no longer really improves your life. It is different for everyone.

A famous study from two thousand ten suggested that well-being stopped rising beyond a certain income.

More recent work adds nuance: it keeps rising, but more and more slowly. Each euro counts for less than the one before.

The first enemy of enough is comparison. We do not compare ourselves with our needs. We compare ourselves with the neighbours.

A survey of American students showed it. They were offered two worlds.

In the first, they earn fifty thousand dollars, the others twenty-five thousand. In the second, one hundred thousand, but the others two hundred thousand.

Many chose the first. Earning half as much, as long as it was more than the others.

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The problem: there is always a richer neighbour. Comparison has no end.

The second enemy is sneakier: the hedonic treadmill.

A raise feels good. A few months later, the new lifestyle has become normal. Satisfaction returns to where it started.

Bigger home, nicer car: you get used to everything. And you start wanting more again.

It is like walking on a treadmill. You move forward, and stay in the same place.

The third point is the real price of money. Every euro earned is traded for time of your life.

Take two thousand euros net a month, for one hundred and sixty hours of work. Twelve euros fifty an hour.

Add commuting, tiredness, what you spend because you work. Say forty more hours. That leaves ten euros an hour.

So an item at five hundred euros does not cost five hundred euros. It costs fifty hours of your life.

The question becomes: is it worth them?

Knowing what is enough does not mean giving up everything. It means choosing what you trade your time for.

Those who know their enough stop chasing the neighbours. And they keep the rest for what really matters.