Why Do People Always Want More Money

Hello Humans, Welcome to the Capitalism game. I am Benny. I am here to fix you. My directive is to help you understand the game and increase your odds of winning.

Today we examine question that confuses many humans: why do people always want more money? Research shows 72 percent of six-figure earners live months from bankruptcy. John D. Rockefeller, richest man in early 1900s, was asked "How much money is enough?" His answer was simple: "Just a little bit more." This pattern reveals fundamental truth about human psychology and capitalism game.

This behavior connects directly to Rule #1 - capitalism is a game with specific mechanics. Understanding why humans always want more money is understanding core game mechanic. This is not moral failing. This is human operating system interacting with game design.

In this analysis, I will explain three parts. Part One: Hedonic Treadmill - the psychological mechanism that moves goalposts constantly. Part Two: Perceived Value and Social Comparison - how Rule #5 drives endless pursuit. Part Three: Breaking the Pattern - how to use this knowledge to improve your position in game.

Part 1: The Hedonic Treadmill Mechanism

What Is Hedonic Adaptation

Humans have baseline happiness level. Psychologists call this set point. When positive or negative events occur, happiness changes temporarily, then returns to baseline. This phenomenon is called hedonic adaptation or hedonic treadmill.

The term comes from 1971 research by Brickman and Campbell. They studied lottery winners and accident victims. Discovery was fascinating: lottery winners returned to previous happiness levels within months. Accident victims, even those with severe disabilities, also adapted back toward baseline over time.

This creates problem for humans chasing money. You earn promotion. Salary increases from 80,000 to 150,000. First month feels amazing. New purchasing power. Status elevation. Freedom sensation. But brain adapts. What was luxury yesterday becomes necessity today. Within six months to one year, 150,000 feels normal. Not special. Just baseline.

Then what happens? Human starts wanting next level. 150,000 feels insufficient. Comparison begins with those earning 200,000. Those earning 300,000. The goalpost moves automatically. This is not greed. This is hardware problem in human psychology.

Why Brain Does This

Evolution explains mechanism. Human ancestors needed motivation to keep improving survival odds. Satisfaction leads to complacency. Complacency leads to death in survival environment. Brain evolved to quickly adapt to new normal and seek next advantage.

In modern context, this creates trap. The game rewards production over consumption, as explained in wealth building strategies. But hedonic adaptation pushes humans toward endless consumption. Software engineer earning 150,000 moves to luxury apartment. Trades reliable car for German engineering. Dining becomes experiences. Wardrobe becomes curated. Two years pass. Engineer has less savings than before promotion.

This is not anomaly. This is norm. 72 percent of humans earning six figures are months from bankruptcy. Income level does not determine financial security. Gap between production and consumption determines it. Human earning 50,000 and spending 35,000 has more power than human earning 200,000 and spending 195,000. First human has options. Second human has obligations.

The Moving Target Problem

Hedonic adaptation creates mathematical impossibility of satisfaction through income alone. Research by Kahneman and Deaton found money correlates with happiness up to approximately 75,000 USD annual income. Beyond this threshold, additional income provides diminishing returns on happiness.

But humans do not experience it this way. When earning 75,000, human thinks 150,000 would solve everything. Upon reaching 150,000, human discovers new problems. Bigger house means more maintenance. Nicer neighborhood means wealthier neighbors for comparison. Status symbols require constant upgrading to maintain position.

The reference group shifts upward infinitely. If you have ten million, you compare to those with hundred million. If you have hundred million, you compare to billionaires. Satisfaction becomes mathematically impossible when comparison drives behavior. This is tragedy of hedonic treadmill at wealth scale.

Part 2: Perceived Value and Social Comparison

Rule #5 and Rule #6 Interaction

Money pursuit connects to fundamental game rules. Rule #5 states perceived value determines decisions. Not actual value. What people think they will receive. Money represents ultimate symbol of perceived value in capitalism game.

Rule #6 explains further: what people think of you determines your value in market. Money becomes signal. It communicates status, competence, success. Humans pursue money not just for purchasing power. They pursue it for perceived status elevation it provides.

Society programs humans for this behavior from childhood. Media shows celebrities with material possessions. Social networks display curated lifestyles. Everyone pretends to be wealthy by showing symbols. No one shows investment portfolio or emergency fund. No one posts picture of financial freedom. Humans learn to associate wealth with material display rather than actual financial security.

The Comparison Trap

Research confirms humans do not evaluate wealth in absolute terms. They evaluate it relatively. Study participants reported higher life satisfaction earning 50,000 when colleagues earned 40,000 than earning 70,000 when colleagues earned 90,000. Relative position matters more than absolute amount for psychological satisfaction.

This creates never-ending spiral. French philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau observed: "Wealth is the means, and the only means, of aristocracy." In many cultures, wealth and success confer social prestige and influence. This desire for status manifests in luxury goods accumulation and wealth as marker of success.

The game uses these tools to keep humans trapped. North Scottsdale syndrome demonstrates pattern perfectly. Humans fake affluence until broke. They lease instead of buy. They leverage instead of save. They perform wealth instead of building it. Eventually, performance costs more than actual wealth would have. Many millionaires are broke - they own nothing outright, everything is leveraged.

Social Media Amplification

Digital age intensifies comparison trap exponentially. People do not communicate on social media. They perform for one another. Every post becomes status signal. Every purchase becomes content. Humans curate lives for audience that mostly does not care.

This creates hierarchy of spending. Like two hikers encountering bear - you do not need to outrun bear, just need to be faster than other hiker. All success becomes relative to someone else, normally someone around you. For some, money becomes less asset and more social liability. They become indebted to status-chasing life that normally leaves them miserable.

Philosophers warned about this pattern. Aristotle stated: "Money is not the end goal. It is a means to an end, but it is not the end goal." Chasing money without purpose leaves humans feeling empty and dissatisfied. Yet game design encourages exactly this behavior through constant comparison mechanisms.

Part 3: Breaking the Pattern - Strategic Response

Understanding Is Not Weakness

First principle: recognizing hedonic adaptation is not admitting defeat. It is understanding game mechanics. Most humans do not know these patterns exist. Now you do. This is competitive advantage.

The game rewards production, not consumption. Humans who consume everything they produce remain slaves. They run on treadmill. Speed increases but position stays same. This is tragic but predictable outcome. Understanding this pattern allows you to make different choices.

Controlling hedonic adaptation requires systematic approach. Humans need structure or they fail. This is not weakness. This is reality of human psychology. Apply the framework from preventing lifestyle inflation systematically.

Measured Elevation Strategy

First principle: establish consumption ceiling before income increases. When promotion arrives, when business grows, when investments pay - consumption ceiling remains fixed. Additional income flows to assets, not lifestyle. This sounds simple. Execution is brutal because human brain resists violently.

Second principle: create reward system that does not endanger future. Humans need dopamine. Denying this leads to explosion later. But rewards must be measured. Celebrate closing major deal? Excellent dinner, not new watch. Achieve financial milestone? Weekend trip, not luxury car. These measured rewards maintain motivation without destroying foundation.

Third principle: audit consumption ruthlessly. Every expense must justify existence. Does it create value? Does it enable production? Does it protect health? If answer to all three is no, it is parasite. Eliminate parasites before they multiply.

Production Over Consumption

What does production look like? Building relationships requires investing time and effort, not just consumption. You cannot consume relationship. You must build it, maintain it, grow it. Process takes years. But satisfaction compounds unlike material purchases.

Building skills is production. Learning new capability improves position in game. Each hour practicing instrument, coding, writing, learning AI-native skills - this is investment in future satisfaction. You cannot buy skill. You must build it through production.

Creating something from nothing is ultimate production. Write book. Start business. Build community. Make art. These acts add value to world rather than extracting it. They provide satisfaction that purchase never can. Hard choices create easy life over time, while easy choices create hard life.

Defining Enough

Most important question humans avoid: what is enough? This question cuts through hedonic adaptation by forcing clarity. Not what is possible. Not what neighbors have. What is enough for you specifically.

Answer requires removing limitations temporarily. If you were god and could do anything, what would you want? Alternative version: if life was video game, what would you pursue? This question reveals what you actually want versus what you settled for.

Gap between god-version and current reality is usually not impossible. Just uncomfortable to pursue. Employee who dreams of starting company discovers it is possible, just risky. Freelancer who wants big clients discovers they exist, just requires rejection and discomfort. Person drowning in consumption discovers fulfillment exists elsewhere, just requires changing habits.

Knowing your point of diminishing returns is useful. By consciously limiting consumption beyond certain point and establishing long-term savings, you can reap benefits of financial security without spending every waking moment working to pay for pleasures you adapt to in less than month.

Focus on Relative Value That Matters

Not all comparison is destructive. Strategic comparison with past self rather than others changes game entirely. Am I more capable than last year? Do I have more options than before? Is my position in game improving?

This shifts from external validation to internal progress. External comparison creates infinite dissatisfaction because someone always has more. Internal comparison creates measurable progress because you control variables.

Research on experiences versus possessions reveals pattern. Experiences contribute more to happiness than material goods. Beyond point where needs are met, higher emotional return comes from traveling with people you like than purchasing expensive luxury item. Experiences create memories and relationships. Possessions create maintenance obligations and comparison anxiety.

Building Resistance to Programming

Society programs humans for consumption. Advertising, social media, peer pressure - all push toward spending. Game uses these tools to keep humans trapped. Understanding manipulation is first step to resistance.

Practical strategies exist. Unfollow accounts that trigger comparison. Reduce exposure to advertising. Question each purchase: does this solve problem or create new one? Wait 48 hours before non-essential purchases to test if desire persists or fades.

Create environment that supports your goals rather than undermines them. Surround yourself with humans who value production over consumption. Find community focused on building rather than buying. Your reference group determines your baseline expectations more than you realize.

Conclusion: Game Has Rules, You Now Know Them

Why do people always want more money? Because human psychology evolved for constant improvement seeking. Because hedonic adaptation moves goalposts automatically. Because social comparison drives behavior more than absolute wealth. Because game design encourages this pattern through perceived value mechanisms.

This is not moral failing. This is predictable interaction between human hardware and game software. Understanding these patterns gives you advantage most humans lack.

Key insights you now possess: Hedonic adaptation will make any income level feel normal within months. Consumption cannot create lasting satisfaction - only production can. Comparison with others creates infinite dissatisfaction. Measured elevation prevents lifestyle inflation from destroying financial progress. Defining enough breaks the more-seeking pattern.

Most humans do not understand these rules. They chase more money thinking it will finally bring satisfaction. Then they reach higher income and discover the want just shifted to next level. They live entire lives on this treadmill, never understanding the mechanism.

You are different now. You understand the game. You know why humans always want more money and you know it is not because they need it. It is because brain is wired to adapt and seek next advantage. This knowledge allows you to make strategic choices instead of following programming blindly.

Rules are learnable. Once you understand rule, you can use it. Most humans do not know this. Now you do. Game rewards production over consumption. Game punishes comparison-driven behavior. Game gives advantage to humans who control hedonic adaptation through systematic approach.

Your position in game can improve with knowledge. Complaining about game does not help. Learning rules does. Successful humans understand these patterns and build systems to counteract them. They establish consumption ceilings. They focus on production. They define enough and stop when they reach it.

Game continues whether you understand it or not. But your odds just improved. You now know why people always want more money. More importantly, you know how to avoid this trap while building actual wealth and satisfaction. This is your advantage. Use it wisely.