Asking ‘What do I need to be secure?’ highlights the issue. You don’t need anything.

Well, that’s not quite true. We all need food and roofs over our heads and access to health care. Those of us with spouses and kids need to be able to provide those things for them, too. A great many Americans are working long and stressful hours, and still struggling to provide just those things.

Being rich isn’t my dream, and I definitely don’t want to be famous. I just want some relative comfort without being stressed out by debt and bills.

As the saying goes, money doesn’t buy happiness, but the lack of it breeds misery. And studies have confirmed that to be true. People who make $80 million a year are really no happier than people who make $80k/year. But they’re both happier than someone who only makes $8,000/year.