Millennials have earned the most of any generation, but they still hold way less wealth, largely because cost of living has outpaced wage increases

Millennials have earned the most of any generation, but they still hold way less wealth, largely because cost of living has outpaced wage increases, per BI.

Millennials have stated they need $525,000 a year to ‘feel happy,' per Empower.

According to an Empower survey conducted by the Harris Poll, Millennials express the need for a $525,000 annual salary to attain financial happiness, surpassing the salary aspirations of other generations. The survey delves into the yearly salaries deemed necessary by Americans across different generations to achieve happiness, revealing that Millennials, born approximately between 1981 and 1996, exhibit salary expectations more than triple that of Gen X, the next generation with the highest salary needs.

Millennials, often in pivotal stages of life decisions such as homebuying and starting a family, attribute their relatively higher salary demands to various definitions of happiness, including timely bill payments, living debt-free, enjoying everyday luxuries without concerns, and homeownership. Empower Personal Wealth's President, Carol Waddell, emphasizes that every generation grapples with calculating financial happiness, requiring elements like hard work, planning, consistent savings, and a touch of luck.

The survey indicates that, according to respondents, Millennials believe they need nearly ten times the median salary, and other generations express the need for more than double the median amount, which is $55,068 annually according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. While 71% of Americans in the survey believe that having more money would solve most of their problems, the correlation between money and happiness remains complex. Past research, including a 2010 study by Nobel Prize winners Daniel Kahneman and Angus Deaton, suggests that money's impact on emotional well-being plateaus at an annual income of $75,000.

However, subsequent research by Matthew Killingsworth found a well-being boost even beyond this threshold. A recent collaborative analysis by Kahneman, Killingsworth, and Barbara Mellers concluded that larger incomes are generally associated with greater happiness for most people, with exceptions noted for the financially well-off but unhappy segment.

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