Rima Grace

How much money is enough?

What's enough to feel comfortable or to stop feeling anxious?

It's a squishy question, and I don't think there's some magical number, but I am curious how people think of it and what it says about us.

So this week, I'm talking with a lot of folks with very different ideas on what enough means, including one woman who decided that for her, the answer was no money at all.

Those voices you heard at the top are listeners who called in and people we talked to on the streets of New York.

Nico, Richard, Claude, Itzy, Daryl, and Ernie.

I talked with another listener, Miriam Tinberg, who told me she spent years chasing higher numbers.

For a long time, she dreamed of making $100,000.

I was convinced when I hit that milestone, I'm going to feel like I've made it.

I'm going to feel wealthy.

I'm going to feel proud of myself.

I'm going to feel like finally I have a, quote, grown-up job.

She'd been working in marketing and in tech, living in Los Angeles.

And eventually she got there, even reached 115K.

You know, I cried.

It was like a very big deal.

It was a product manager.

I was managing a team of engineers.

I felt like for the first time I was able to spread my wings.

And then, I kid you not, within a couple pay cycles, it already started, the luster started to fade, like so fast.