Who needs (lots of) money?
An economist friend once remarked that given a fixed amount of money to be earned over one person’s lifetime, that person’s happiness is probably maximized if their yearly salary increases as a step function every 2-3 years.
My happiness has greatly increased due to my own grad student-to-postdoc salary step. Unfortunately, after over a year the effect is already starting to wear off. I have learned to dipose of my "extra" income by shopping at Benetton instead of Target and am dreaming of the next salary increase. I figure the step up between a postdoc and a (semi-) permanent position has to be at least $30,000–$60,000 a year.
What would I do with all that money? Let’s see:
- New car. Let’s say $1000/month over 3 years.
- Housing upgrade of $300/month.
- Vacation budget inrease of $2400/year.
Hey– that only adds up to $18,000/year (and I don’t actually need any of those items)! Forget being a lawyer or doctor (see post below)– I am all set. At least until the next step in happiness wears off.
