What's your "superficial" income target

[Khan]

I've never spent the income I receive... I honestly have no idea what spending say, 60k/year is actually like, and I consider $5-20 things rare treats that I enjoy ~1x a month(Costco Salmon slices w/ honey mustard at ~$11/lb, Frappucino's, etc.).

So, if I were netting ~100k/year, I know i'd have an absolute blast spending it up to about the 60k/year mark, I have no idea what the next 40k/year buys in extravagance, though I'm pretty sure I could actually get tired of scuba diving around that mark :P

[PDXTabs]

I've heard of the $75k threshold where that's the maximum enjoyment that you'll get out of your salary and anything above that doesn't change your happiness level but just wanted to hear other people's thoughts.

To the best of my knowledge the study that this comes from was published in 2010. It is actually $84k in today's dollars. I do ascribe to this thinking by the way, although I recently stumbled into a $125k base job. My standard of living has not changed, but my savings has shot up.

[EnjoyIt]

I've heard of the $75k threshold where that's the maximum enjoyment that you'll get out of your salary and anything above that doesn't change your happiness level but just wanted to hear other people's thoughts.

To the best of my knowledge the study that this comes from was published in 2010. It is actually $84k in today's dollars. I do ascribe to this thinking by the way, although I recently stumbled into a $125k base job. My standard of living has not changed, but my savings has shot up.
[/quote

This depends on where you live of coarse, but at some income level your basic needs are met very comfortably and extra money can be spent on luxuries and travel.  At some number a fancier, newer thing-a-ma-bob buys you absolutely no increase in happiness or if it does, the happiness is very short lived.  At $75k/yr with no debt you can have a very, very comfortable life with lots of travel and even sporadic toy purchases.  Like drug addiction, I think overpriced cars, homes, and jewelry destroy that possibility since there is no limit on how much you can spend on those things.

[Giro]

I disagree about the happiness threshold.  When I made $75k it was A LOT of money.  I could pay my bills and save for retirement  and be a fantastic single mom.  When my household income doubled, I thought it was an amazing amount of money.  Still could pay the bills but could save even more and live more lavishly.   We are now at over $300k in a very rural/cheap area of the country.  $300K is completely different than $75k.  With $300K we paid cash for house, we paid cash for new cars, and we put $150K in our investments each year.  That amount of money makes money a non-issue in your life. 

[2Birds1Stone]

I think our income peaked in 2016, we earned a combined $235k gross in our 20's.

My income is unlikely to reach those levels again before I FIRE in 2022. I had an exceptional year in commissioned sales.

I am very happy with any gross income over $120k a year. That level allows us to save ~60%+ of net income. Which will allow us to FIRE by 2022.