Happiness and Wealth
Jeanne at Body and Soul, Amanda at Pandagon, and Trish at The Countess talk about the pursuit of happiness and the role that money plays in being happy. They're riffing off an article in the New York Times that says that after a certain point money doesn't make us happy (well, duh!).
I actually think about this sort of thing a lot, especially this year. I have a low mortgage. I just paid off my car. If the price of gas goes through the roof, I can walk to work, to the grocery store, to the library. I have someone to clean my house once a week.
I have spent a lot of money this year but it's money I've been able to afford. And I am lucky enough to live within five miles of the vet school (which since I've lately been there four or five times a month, is definitely a good thing).
On the other hand, I have a job that is not challenging, has lots of stress, uses up vast amounts of energy, and forces me to spend my time on petty maintenance details, which I loathe. It also pays well and has good benefits. It pays for the person to clean my house once a week and the visits to the vet school and other important things. And there are worse jobs out there--less flexible, worse bosses, less secure.
The things I want that I don't have--except for power, which I would actually like a lot of--are only somewhat related to money. I want a bigger yard and a bigger bedroom. I want a job that actually uses the skills and knowledge I've acquired over the last twenty years, something that, as I told my boss once, couldn't actually be done by a bright high school student. And I want more time.
I don't have any answers/plans for this (obviously, or I wouldn't be spending hours of every day in my current job), and I'm grateful that the basics--food, shelter, medical care--are not what I'm worrying about at the moment. But I also know I have to keep looking. No one has perfect happiness, but then, that's why we talk about 'pursuit of...'