I think the graphs are a little misleading. They basically throw a bell curve on a graph and say too little money sucks, too much money sucks, you want to be right in the middle. But I disagree. It's not too much money that sucks, it's FAME that sucks. Every example they pointed to was for an extremely famous person. In truth you want to basically min/max your finances - maximize the amount of money you have, and minimize the amount of attention you get. Having a billion dollars is totally fine if nobody knows you have it!
> Having a billion dollars is totally fine if nobody knows you have it!
As someone who grew up with rich and poor people in my social circles I can assure you that fame is not the only phenomena that can drive people with a lot of money into unhappiness.
Most rich people I know of are more afraid to loose money than their poorer peers. When rich people interact with any sort of person they always have to suspect it is because of their money which leads to a very little trust into their environment. Their kids are not allowed to do anything, because they could be targets of kidnappings. Their houses are like fortresses. Or they live a false life and have to pretend they own less than they do which also doesn't feel natural.
Sure, I can imagine some billionaire who is not affected by all these things, but generally this holds true. There is quite definitly a sweet spot of wealth you can have in terms of happiness.
