Such a nice future father. Most American parents are content with their children being slaves to debt.
LOL yes. There are normal people and then there are gamers. Gaming isn't cheap nowadays. :)

$1 billion
That is more than enough

Now if this was a thread about how much people would pay their workers... We'd all be seeing answers like $6 an hour, $7 an hour, $8 an hour, $9 an hour.

Pffff, he can't even afford Steam prices.

http://i.imgur.com/jZxbZaA.png

You're hired until I run out of tourmalines.

$12500/month. I believe it's the ceiling for life satisfaction.
edit: "I believe" as in "I read a scholarly article on the subject".

Depends on your standard of life. Since I've begun reading around stuff like mrmoneymustache's blog, I've come to the conclusion that you don't need extraordinarily much. You just have to know how to spend/keep it. And since I live in a poor country I'll never have a salary like ppl in the US for example. Thus I don't buy games at retail price. Ever... Only sales and bundles :D.

More than I'm making now... that's for sure.

Bold font on the word 'just' there. :P

Sometimes the right knowledge is as valuable and hard to acquire as money so frankly I think it makes little difference in what is required.

As for the thread question I would say 2 times the GDP per capita as long as I live in a non-developing country preferably via capital income as opposed to a salary but the latter will do too.

I'm usually content. Have been when I earned a third of what I'm making now, and I still am now. Of course now I have a family so I wouldn't want to go back down, because my wife won't be content and that will in turn make me feel less content.

And I'd always want to know that I could make more money from things other than a salary. Even if I don't, the dream that the company's option plan means something or that I'll be able to create a game that people will pay for, that kind of thing is important to my well being, even if in reality these will likely not happen.

But if a woodchuck could chuck some amount of wood, what amount of wood would a woodchuck chuck?

I cannot answer that, I make do with what I have rather than wishing for what I don't.

Even if a woodchuck could chuck wood and even if a woodchuck would chuck wood, should a woodchuck chuck wood?

But why would a woodchuck be chucking wood when the wood is full of other woodchucks chucking wood?

Seriously answering the question though: I've had a fairly unique experience of growing up in great poverty rising up to middle class, going to university, struggling, getting rich and then getting back to middle-classdom.

I was briefly earning very well when I was single because all I did was work. I bought myself some decent stuff, but it took me about a year to realise that the money and the material things weren't making me happy. When I met my girlfriend, I gradually dialled down the amount of work I was doing and decided to enjoy life for the simpler things.

I now make a reasonable living, live in a fairly average house, eat fairly average stuff and live a fairly average life. I don't miss being rich, because all it does is attract freeloaders and make it more difficult to surround myself with people who appreciate me for me.

I place great value in being self-sufficient and not relying on others for support, but at the same time, I would rather have time to do the things I want and enjoy life than have lots of money and no time or energy to spend it. I also want to see value in the things I buy for myself. Such a sentiment - the same sentiment you get as a kid when you've saved up all your pocket money to buy that game you wanted - is missing when you have lots of money.