Poverty is a criminal offense in America.

[CapnAwesome]

I'd be interested to see a link to this. I'm aware of studies showing that happiness plateaus at a certain level of income, but this is new.

I'm from a different life camp. My family isn't top 1%, but they're definitely top 5-10% income-wise. I inherited enough money to live well and do whatever I please- like being an old-ass grad student. It's absolutely awesome, and I never take it for granted, and I volunteer my ass off to help others.

it's always such a big difference when i compare my life to rich people's lives. I don't care much for the material goods, but If I am being honest I definitely really want that feeling that it's ok if I screw up, my family will still be fine. And also the fact that you can do whatever you like and not worry about income is definitely enviable, my choice of education has always been motivated by potential income.

First off thank you for the kind words, I think my life is awesome. At a certain point I decided that the rat race and pursuit of wealth was never going to make me happy. I think there is a point where things are very different when you have a family, it would be extremely difficult to do what I do with a family. However I also come from a relatively well off family that was extremely dysfunctional.

First hand I saw that material security is not a fair trade for freedom and happiness. It's an amazing moment when you realize that you don't have to do whatever makes you the most money, but rather can just do whatever you like in life.