Here're a couple of good articles I like to share:
https://thehappyphilosopher.com/how-understanding-the-marginal-utility-of-money-will-make-you-happier/
https://thehappyphilosopher.com/utility-happiness/
I liked these articles, but they are very theoretical. On top of which, despite frequenting this forum, I think things like nature, freedom, music, time to cook, time to spend with family - also have marginal utility. I had the fortune of being semi-retired at 40 - taking care of my disabled mother was sometimes more attention than day to day work - and now I have the fortune of returning to my career, and I am much, much happier with challenging work to fill 40 hours a week. I still take a walk outside for an hour a day, at lunch, while listening to my favorite music podcast. On longer daylight days I take a second walk in the evening. Exposure to a larger number of people than the two parents I live with (and occasional family), learning things about my industry, career, the world rather than being completely focussed on attending to my Mom's physical needs... I don't love my coworkers, but I like the variety and appreciate the kind of interaction I have with them. Honestly, there was very little rewarding or meaningful about caregiving, whatever the author of these articles expects.
For some reason, the articles reminded me of my 17 year old nephew who doesn't want to learn math because he doesn't see a real world utility to it. I'm not sure I did at his age either, for much of schooling, but I believed math is a Big Idea that has turned out to be important to science and business beyond what is obvious when you're taking a derivative. I also generally liked the process of learning, getting better and smarter. I think the same is true with nice objects, the pursuit of excellence, be it food or clothing or computers or cars - people like high quality far beyond its utility. When my nephew claims not to ENJOY math, I think he's got a low IQ and is bad at it (I didn't put any real time studying math to be excellent at it at his age).
Similarly, if you're buying the minimal happiness, most utility food, clothing, cell phone - you're probably poor (as the lead character in Inventing Anna says). OR you are saving up for something else. In my case, I sacrificed fancy objects to have a career I love, others do it to retire. That burning desire to do something else with your money than get nice gadgets is what's missing in these articles for me. That could be environmentalism, living lightly on the planet. It could be a sense of fairness, that being in a rich country we need to support those in poor countries. Some people do enjoy caregiving, esp as parents. Maybe it's writing, or research, or religious studies.
The thing is, I am from a third world country. Are people equally or more happy there? I dont know, everyone I know wants to come to the US. But sure, there is a stronger sense of family and community, much less divorce, stronger religious ties. There is more academic pressure in the US, more suicide I think. So why does everyone want to come to the US, are the streets paved with gold? I guess my point is, if you want to live poorly, or at least simply, you can probably retire today in a third world country. With rolling blackouts and polluted water and okay healthcare. Ex-pats in America all say they will retire there - and never do.