# Do you need more money? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 23, 2010, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-need-more-money/554786 "2010-09-23T17:08:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![pbbth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f9ae1b/32.png) [@pbbth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pbbth)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2010, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-need-more-money/554786/41 "2010-09-24T15:46:02Z")
I voted that yes we need more money. We are in a strange spot financially. You know those emergencies you have been saving for? We had several of them all at once. My husband lost his job the week before our wedding (which was paid for by other people so our wedding was free to us), we had to pay a significant fee to have someone help us get out of our old, crappy apartment and into our new, safe apartment (ceiling collapses are now a thing of the past for us!), we have to pay to move him onto my health insurance which is a fairly significant expense, etc. Our emergency fund still has money in it but it is much less full than it was 90 days ago. We are at a point where we are just bringing in enough to live on with my salary and his unemployment but he has lots of interviews and it looks like he will be employed by October if this interview on Monday works out so theoretically we should be fine. However, if this interview or one of the others doesn’t work out and he is still unemployed on 12/1 our insurance costs are going up by $600 a month and that will fast suck away any money left in our emergency account. We are teetering on the temporarily-broke-but-fine/begging-for-change-downtown line and doing everything we can to avoid taking a turn for the worse. ---
**Author:** ![dangermom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2010, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-need-more-money/554786/42 "2010-09-24T16:14:09Z")
We fall between the last two options. We have enough for the moment, but my husband was laid off last week, so unless he finds something pretty soon we are going to be in deep yogurt. We spent most of 2009 without income and are still paying back the debt we incurred at that time, but this time I have a small job and we’ll get unemployment, so it’s not so dire. I hope. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Controvert](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dec6dc/32.png) [@The\_Controvert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Controvert)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2010, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-need-more-money/554786/43 "2010-09-24T16:59:33Z")
> [@pyromyte](#): > > No, its definately a “want” to maintain and improve my current lifestyle… I voted that I make substantially more than I _need_ and I certainly do not make ‘a lot’ of money. After viewing the results in which it would seem a good number of people sound like they barely make as much as they _need_. So apparently many responders misunderstood _need_, because I find it hard to believe that people that presumably have a computer and leisure time to post on the SDMB are barely making enough money to survive. > > > [@The\_Controvert](#): > > > > Happiness is a state of mind which you have control over, to some degree. A lot of times, you don’t need much to “be happy”. > > So is the question how much money do you need…to be happy? The question is do you need more money? It’s a different question to ask do you need more money _to be happy_. I agree with your view of need. Certainly the last two categories are not concerned with being set for life. Need is the bottom rung of Maslow’s hierarchy plus physical safety. I don’t classify the higher rungs as needs, because I don’t believe anyone really needs self-actualization, self-esteem, love, or future job / financial security. Those are “wants”. ---
**Author:** ![Chessic\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7c8e57/32.png) [@Chessic\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chessic_Sense)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2010, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-need-more-money/554786/44 "2010-09-24T17:19:53Z")
I had to do a household budget last night for the first time in a long time. I had to decide how much money I could spend on my private pilot certificate and how much I had to save for my wedding. Turns out, I can do both easily. I’m running a surplus of about $2,000 a month, which is more than I thought. It pisses me off when people describe me as “fortunate” or “blessed”. Um, no. I’ve been working toward this goal since I was 15, thanks. Luck didn’t have anything to do with it! /minirant. ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2010, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-need-more-money/554786/45 "2010-09-24T18:53:17Z")
> [@Chessic\_Sense](#): > > It pisses me off when people describe me as “fortunate” or “blessed”. Um, no. I’ve been working toward this goal since I was 15, thanks. Luck didn’t have anything to do with it! /minirant. At risk of pissing you off, I’ll go ahead and say, yes, you are fortunate and blessed (that our federal government hasn’t deem it too much of a surplus for you and helpfully taxed it away). ---
**Author:** ![pbbth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f9ae1b/32.png) [@pbbth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pbbth)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2010, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-need-more-money/554786/46 "2010-09-24T19:10:44Z")
> [@Chessic\_Sense](#): > > I had to do a household budget last night for the first time in a long time. I had to decide how much money I could spend on my private pilot certificate and how much I had to save for my wedding. Turns out, I can do both easily. I’m running a surplus of about $2,000 a month, which is more than I thought. > > It pisses me off when people describe me as “fortunate” or “blessed”. Um, no. I’ve been working toward this goal since I was 15, thanks. Luck didn’t have anything to do with it! /minirant. Being fortunate and blessed doesn’t mean you didn’t work your ass off to get there. It means lots of other people worked their asses off too but became disabled, had companies that went under and left them out of work, or other things that would have meant that their hard work didn’t work out the same way yours did. You certainly earned your place but a lot of crazy shit happens in life that could have derailed even the best laid plans. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2010, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-need-more-money/554786/47 "2010-09-24T19:55:19Z")
Second category. Able to save significant money, not enough saved to retire on. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-need-more-money/554786.md?page=2)