More money does not mean more happiness, but enough money does. The term ‘satiation point’ describes how much money you need, beyond which happiness isn’t affected. Most of us wouldn’t mind winning a million dollars, it isn’t that simple.

What you really want is freedom from your financial burdens. Instead of the most expensive houses and cars, we would rather not worry about rent. Rather than spoiling our children stiff, we just want to provide a healthy start to life.

Money is breathing room. But since money won’t find us on its own, we have to go out and earn it. If you’re going to go out searching for something, you need to know what you’re searching for.

So how much is enough for you?

Can’t I Just Have it All?

Most people will produce an answer like “a million” or answer with a question “how much money does Bill Gates have?”

Some just say, “more”.

But how much more? Making more money takes more work unless you are lucky enough to dig it from the ground. Bill Gates has almost $100 billion in assets.

But Gates worked hard and had incredible luck in both Microsoft and his numerous investments. He also sacrificed a lot, early in his career, to take advantage of the opportunity he saw.

Success in one area is a failure in another. More money means less time with family. Earning that bonus means sacrificing leisure and relaxation.

Even if you love your job, you hopefully also have other people and things you love. Since we all have a limited time on earth – you have to choose.

What number is worth the sacrifice?

What Does Enough Look Like?

How much money is in the world? There’s around $37 trillion in circulation. And then there’s an extra $1.2 quadrillion worth of investments, cryptocurrencies, and derivatives.

That’s $1,237,000,000,000,000 in total. The top 26 richest people in the world have as much wealth as the poorest 3.8 billion.

Wealth gap aside, there is a finite amount of money in the world, and it all needs to be shared amongst every human on earth.

So when you sit down to figure how your number, think about more than cash. How much do you need to earn every year? How much do you need in your account? How much of that can be in taxable, or non-taxable assets?

Most importantly, how much of that do you have in depreciating assets? Possessing expensive items that lose money every day, isn’t a good financial strategy.

How much would you have to earn to eliminate all financial concerns in your life?

Step One: What Matters to You?

First, you need to gather your thoughts alone. Ask yourself, what matters the most to you. What kind of purpose do you want to have?

What does your perfect day look like? What truly makes you happy? What kind of legacy do you want to leave behind?

These questions should help you figure out how much money you want to make. Relationships, work, and purpose that brings happiness will matter more than money.

Consider your lifestyle. Where you want to live, the house that you want to live in, the holidays that you want to take. The things that you want to be able to do with your family and your friends.

Step Two: Numbers

Once you clearly define what matters to you, you’ll need to calculate how much it will cost. It’s okay if your values change over time, but you’ll still need a starting goal.

Calculate the total cost and break that down into monthly and even daily increments. You’ll need to calculate specific amounts if you plan to retire.

Retirement calculations will differ from earnings calculations. Some experts estimate you’ll need to put aside 80% of your normal earnings per month.

What is Value to You?

There are a lot of rich, unhappy people, but there are also a lot of poor unhappy people. Money doesn’t make you happy, but not having food or paying rent will definitely stress you out.

Don’t spend life saying “that would be great”. Define what great is for you, and seek that greatness. Most people want more than they need and settled for less than they could have.

Or as Les Brown says “Most people don’t fail because they aim too high and miss. Most people fail because they aim too low and hit.”

Make sure you check out more of our blog for more tips on how to make your dream life a reality.