How much money does it take to live better, not just richer?

The answer depends on where you start.

If you go from $20,000 to $50,000 per year, the impact is profound. You gain access to better healthcare, safer housing, decent education, and the ability to plan ahead. It's not just about comfort, it's about stability and agency.

Beyond $75,000–100,000, the gains shift. A landmark 2010 study by Daniel Kahneman and Angus Deaton found that while life satisfaction rises with income, day-to-day emotional well-being tends to plateau around that range.

More recently, a 2021 study by Matt Killingsworth suggested that happiness may continue to increase beyond that, but with diminishing returns. Each additional dollar buys less “happiness per unit.”

So yes, income matters, especially early on.

But as you move into higher brackets (from $150K to $10M or even $1B), the change is rarely in how you live, and more often in how others perceive you.

And there is exactly where the trap lies: chasing external markers when the internal experience stops improving.

Below is a simple visualisation of the curve: steep at the start, flattening as you go.

Wealth can buy freedom, but only if you know when to stop buying and start living.