Why Making More Money Still Doesn’t Feel Like Enough

Indexed: 2026-05-22

[00:00:00]So, I'm currently reading this book called Good Money by John Coleman. And as of this recording, I haven't finished it yet, but early on in the book, he talks about something called The Financial Finish Line. And I found this incredibly fascinating because if you've watched this channel for some time, you know this is something I'm constantly thinking about. I'm fascinated by the idea of enough. I'm a huge advocate for knowing yourself and using that information to define what is enough for you. At what point have you built a net worth that gives you the option to walk away from a job and pursue something else or step into financial freedom or retire if that's something you want to do or just to simply say, "Hey, I am happy right here." Now, I'm not an advocate for complacency, so don't get the wrong idea here. But I don't think it does us any good to have the goal to accumulate an endless amount of money.

[00:00:55]I'm a huge believer in enjoying your money at all stages of life, enjoying that income you've worked so hard for, rather than holding on to this idea that I'll enjoy it one day, perhaps when I retire or when my income reaches the next benchmark or when I buy a better house. I don't like this idea of one day enjoying our money. I want you to enjoy it now. And yes, of course, we have seasons of life where we work incredibly hard and we save aggressively. And yes, those seasons are important, too. But I don't like the idea of holding on to hustle culture forever. Because there really has to be a point where we move past just saving and putting money away to actually enjoying this money. And this is why I really love that this idea was framed in this book. In my channel, you'll hear that I refer to it as enough. And in this book, they use the idea of the financial finish line, but they really focused on having you define it. That point where you say, "This is it. I don't necessarily need anymore."

[00:01:54]And I think that's an incredibly important concept. But here's the problem. We're actually really bad. I mean, shockingly bad at knowing what enough is. When we look through surveys, when people are asked how much income they think they need or what net worth they think they need, we tend to get a fairly predictable set of answers. Let's start with the exact question that empower asked their survey participants.

[00:02:19]How much does your annual salary need to be for you to feel happy or less stressed? Let's look at the answers from this survey because they are incredibly telling. If someone was earning under $25,000, the number that they said would make them feel better was $40,000.

[00:02:38]Between the income range of $25 to $34,000, that number jumped to $55,000 a year.

[00:02:46]For incomes $35,000 to $49,000 a year, the desired income jumped to $65,000.

[00:02:54]For an income of 50 to $74,000 a year, the desired income for happiness seemed to be $85,000 a year. Moving up the scales, going from 75 to $99,000 a year, desired income was pegged at $110,000 a year. For those making 100 to $149,000 a year, they said their desired income was around $130,000.

[00:03:19]You'll notice this is where we're actually within the range. We're very close here. Take note of that. Once we get to an income of $150 to $199,000 a year, the desired income for happiness was said to be $200,000 a year. Again, very close here. And finally, if you were already earning over $200,000 a year, the income survey respondents said they needed to feel less stressed or happier was closer to $350,000 a year. Now, step back and look at what's happening. At nearly every single income level, the answers seemed to be the same, just a little bit more. There didn't really seem to be many groups where they said, "Yeah, this is enough."

[00:04:04]On average, at lower income levels, people said that they needed roughly double their current income to reduce their stress and increase their happiness. But as you go all the way down that income chart, you'll notice at the uppermost income levels in terms of absolute dollars, that gap widened quite a bit. Going from 20 to $40,000 is a big leap. But going from $200 to $350,000, that's an extra $150,000.

[00:04:33]The largest jump on the chart came from the highest earners. So the more you make, the more you feel you need to make in order to be happy or in order to be less stressed. But something interesting happened in those middle income ranges around $1 to $150,000 a year. We actually see that the gap compresses quite a bit. And this is really where enough felt the closest. And this is a pattern we see in a lot of different data sets. And I've said this before about this pattern and about this income range where it feels like this is the range where many households feel like they're doing well relative to the general population, but their income isn't so high that they have access to exclusive clubs or exclusive circles.

[00:05:21]So, it's easier to feel like you have enough in this window. But once you work your way into the uppermost income levels, well then we start to see that shift again. For someone who's making half a million dollars a year, they might be friends with someone who's making a million dollars a year. And the person who's a millionaire might be friends with someone who's a deca millionaire. And this all starts to compound. There's always somebody around who's doing better than you. And if you're measuring yourself against them, it's not going to feel so good. So what does this actually tell us? It suggests that this isn't just about money.

[00:05:54]Because if it were, there would be a point where it would flatten out completely and then people would say, "This is it. I've arrived. I have enough." But that never happens. So, at some point, you have to ask yourself, is this really a money problem or is this a moving target problem? This leads to the uncomfortable idea. It's not that money doesn't help. It's that no amount of money by itself solves the problem or fixes this feeling. Of course, all of this discussion assumes we've moved past covering basic necessities because the answer at nearly every single income level seems to be the same. The answer seems to be more. But here's the part we don't talk about. Every time you move the goalpost, you're not just changing your number, you're changing your life because the next number, it isn't free.

[00:06:44]It might cost you time. It might cost you another two, three, or five years of continuing to work. That's five more years of early mornings, five more years of stress, five more years of saying just a little bit longer. And often what gets lost in that is everything that's happening in those years. Missing time with your kids while they're still young. Time with your family. Time where you actually have the energy, the health, and the freedom to enjoy the life you've worked so hard to build.

[00:07:13]Because the truth is, every extra dollar you chase has a cost. Maybe not financially, but it absolutely does in time. At some point, you really have to ask, it's not just about how much more can I make, but what am I trading my life for? Because there does come a point when you go from building your life to actually delaying it. And that's the cost of moving the goalpost. And this idea shows up in the data in a really powerful way. There was a survey that found only 8% of American investors with $1 million or more considered themselves wealthy with a staggering 31% of millionaires considering themselves middle class. This can feel surprising because if you've built up a portfolio that has 1, two, three, or more million dollars invested, you have to think at some point you start to feel wealthy, right? But this is really where things get nuanced. I've done a handful of videos on the idea of the middle class millionaire. And the people who reach this status did not get there overnight.

[00:08:15]It generally came through decades of discipline and intentional saving and frugal living. They're not living extravagantly. They're living in modest homes and modest cars. Yes, they are living a life that feels very middle class. So when that account balance changes and all of a sudden it's seven figures, their identity doesn't automatically change with it because the feeling of wealth isn't just tied to a number. It is also tied to your life and your lifestyle. It's anchored to how you live your life and how your life compares to the world around you. So you don't just wake up one day, see seven figures, and think, "Hey, now I'm rich."

[00:08:54]And that ties directly back to what we saw in the chart. No matter how much you make, what feels like enough is usually just a little bit more. So the question becomes, how do you actually determine what enough is? Realistically, if I were to ask you today, what's the income you would need to feel successful or to feel happier, would you ultimately end up picking a number that's higher than what you're currently earning? And if so, how much higher? Would it be 20% more or 50% more? Maybe even double. We see this pattern all of the time and we see it with net worth too. We create these milestones in our mind. Maybe it's a million, maybe it's 2 million, maybe it's even more. And then time passes and we hit them after years and decades of consistency and discipline and hard work, we hit it. And rather than celebrating, we look at that number and we say, "That isn't enough." And then we move the goalpost. Now, to be fair, we generally have good reasons for this.

[00:09:55]Maybe inflation feels like more of a threat. Maybe we want to be in a position to help our kids or our grandkids. Maybe we want to be able to take an additional vacation. Or we just want an extra cushion for some more security. But either way, we tend to move that goalpost. And there's actually a name for this in psychology. It's called the hydonic treadmill. And here's what it means. When your income or your net worth increases, so too does your happiness. But only temporarily. And then over time you tend to fall back to your baseline and you start wanting more again. In other words, you don't stay at I made it. You reset and start chasing the next level. Now, there is nothing inherently wrong with this. As you move through life, yes, your goals will evolve. And if you make more money and you want to upgrade your lifestyle, that's fine. But I do think there's incredible power and freedom in knowing what your enough number is. And that really brings me back to what I loved.

[00:10:51]so much about this chapter. It offered two very simple ways to step off the treadmill. The first is this. Decide what enough looks like before you get there. Decide today what net worth would feel like enough or look at an annual spending. What annual spending would feel like enough and then you can work back from there to discover a portfolio that could support that. But the key is this. You decide when you're still on the journey, not after you've arrived.

[00:11:21]Because the truth is, the best time to decide what wealthy means is when you aren't wealthy yet. Write it down. Keep it someplace you can come back to it.

[00:11:31]That decision is powerful. And the book actually gave an amazing example. He talked about a high- netw worth individual who got crystal clear on what was enough for him. And once he reached that milestone, he vowed to never be tempted by getting more. Anything beyond that number, he would give away to causes he cared about charities, his children, his community, because he knew what was enough for him. And that was really the first time I had ever heard about somebody sort of putting a cap on their wealth. And to be honest, I kind of loved that idea. Now, to be very clear, I am not advocating for a modest lifestyle. I'm not advocating for a lavish lifestyle or anything in between.

[00:12:14]What I'm doing is advocating for you taking the time to figure out what your ideal lifestyle would look like, what enough would be for you and actually writing that down. Then once you have that number, you work towards it. And once you get there, you give yourself permission to feel like it's enough, to not feel like you have to move the goalpost and go after some higher number. You give yourself permission to feel happy with what you've achieved.

[00:12:44]You don't have to reach your number and say, "Oh, I'll just grind it out a few more years just to be safe because you know what's enough." At the end of the day, there will always be someone who has more than you always. But what matters most is that you have enough for your life. No matter where you are on the wealth spectrum, it's easy to keep moving the goalpost unless you deliberately make the decision not to.

[00:13:10]And I find that idea incredibly freeing.

[00:13:13]So, what's your number? What is the ideal net worth or an income on an annual basis that would allow you to say, "Hey, this is enough." I'm very curious. Let's get this conversation going. Leave your thoughts in a comment down below. I post new videos every single week. If you got anything at all out of this one, please give it a like.

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[00:13:37]I'll see you soon. Bye.