What else do you need to live comfortably? A better car? Slightly bigger house? Some more disposable income to travel?

We all hear the cliché that more stuff won’t make you happier, that there’s always something you will desire, that happiness is here and now and not at the end of another rainbow, blah blah blah.

But let’s tackle the issue completely differently and objectively here.

If you think that there’s more stuff you need, that the richest own too much wealth, that most luxury brands are out of your reach, let’s look at the numbers.

It’s ironic because I found myself thinking often that income inequality is a big issue. Globally it is. But on a personal level, well that’s another story.

We may find it unfair and absurd that the 26 richest men in the world own as much as the bottom 50% of the entire world population does.

But we all conveniently overlook the fact that you (if you’re reading the article you are) and I, are on the unfairly lucky side of income inequality just as much as the super-rich.

Disagree? Let’s look at the numbers.

According to the Global Rich List, a website that brings awareness to worldwide income disparities, an income of $32,400 a year will put you in the 1% globally.

That’s basically the salary of a normal profession in the western world.

In terms of net worth, according to the 2018 Global Wealth Report from Credit Suisse Research Institute, you need a net worth of $871,320 to make the cut.

Again, there’s no need to be Rockefeller: owning a two-bedroom apartment centrally located, in a city like Milan or London puts you in that category.

Even if you don’t have that, then what does it take to be at least among the top 10 percent worldwide? You don’t even need six figures: A net worth of $93,170 will do it.

$93k doesn’t even make for a decent apartment in most cities and it doesn’t guarantee a lifetime of security with modern healthcare system either. And yet makes you one of the richest people on the planet.

So what’s the issue here? Why do we always feel like we need more products, a better apartment, this or that?

Obviously it’s not a matter of greed here. A net worth of 93,170$ is definitely something everyone would aim at increasing and it would be unjustified to label him ‘greedy’ for doing so.

Even when we are in the 1% we’d probably could still use more money than 871k stored in the bank account. Not for luxurious or extravagant things, perhaps just to provide a safer future for our family. So where’s the discrepancy here?

How did we get to the point that we feel like we struggle even when 99 other people are much worse off than we are?

I believe there’s a few key reasons for that:

• Urbanization

In most of the developed world, anywhere from 67% to 82% of the population by now lives in cities. Globally the number is at 55% and projected to grow to 68% in 30 years.

Urbanization has been a key driver to human development as it has accelerated the pace of everything.

Clustering groups of humans in limited areas such as cities of course has brought a lot of benefits, from faster circulation of goods and communications, better surveillance and safety, and the rapid increase in social interactions that is at the root of the explosion of new ideas, technologies and businesses of the past half century. These would have been otherwise impossible to create had we remained scattered across villages, miles away from each other.

However, this stage of human development has brought along problematic consequences such as the shortage of space that has caused real estate prices to become nearly inaccessible in most global cities, such as New York, Singapore, Hong Kong, Tokyo, San Francisco etc.

Same thing for the cost of living. With most of the population flocking to a few giant metropolises, the need for extra income is not always a matter of greed, but rather a consequence of how many expenses this modern city life entails, because of how fast paced everything has become. We’re now all employers at some level (paying for cleaning ladies, fixers of all kinds, tech geeks for our personal page, gym memberships and the list goes on) as living in these cities and keeping up with the social game requires tens of new expenses that are not even existing when living in a rural setting.

• Social Comparison

The main reason why we constantly feel that we’re lacking and could always use more, has to do with social comparison.

Precisely because we’re clustered in expensive places, surrounded by people who are relatively well-off, the fact that we are in the 1% or 10% globally is almost never immediately visible and accessible to us.

On the contrary, what is constantly visible and accessible is perhaps the fact that we lie in the average, or even the bottom 50%, of our own country or city.

Social comparison theory states that individuals determine their own social and personal worth based on how they stack up against others they perceive as somehow faring better or worse.

Even though it may seem objective to you that your own circumstances are bad, that you have a crappy home or just enough money for the gym, the bus and not even some entertainment, the counterintuitive fact is that these judgements are also socially constructed.

You feel broke because you know that far better things than a gym subscription and a daily commute exist. Because you see nice cars, big villas, sports events, concerts, nice clothes and thousands of things around you all the time.

In fact, two hundred years ago, if a king, or the richest man on the planet, had all you have right now, even if it’s only the access to a subway system and an occasional Uber ride here and there, he’d feel like he’s on top the world! How amazing those things would look to an 18th century king!

Social comparison is a big reason why you completely lose sight of your relatively privileged condition. Because you’re constantly surrounded by other people in the 10% or 1% and the things they can have.

• Consumerism

In his book “The Paradox of Choice”, professor B.Schwartz notices that our options for shopping are more than we can handle. When it comes to groceries only, in the US there are 285 varieties of cookies, 275 of cereals, 175 of salad dressings, 75 ice teas, 230 soups.

And when it comes to technology, for example, with all possible customizations we can choose between 6.5 million stereo systems!

His main thesis and research finding is that too many choices make us more miserable. Life has become incredibly complex and full of options in modern wealthy societies, so much that eventually what we’re unable to distinguish what we truly need from what we believe we must have, to be happy.

Again, it’s not a matter of individual greed, but when we’re constantly bombarded with so many options, it almost becomes inevitable to fall for two or three gadgets: then we end up believing our life is objectively deficient because we don’t have that new model of something, that app or that technology. Hence, additional income is necessary to meet what look like basic life requirements.

But what today is basic requirement beats the standards of living of the richest men on the planet a hundred years ago.

A Spotify subscription may seem a basic requirement and yet 40 years ago at the time of jukeboxes it would have looked like the most luxurious thing on planet earth. Go back 100 years and the idea of being able to choose the soundtrack for each moment of your life among millions of tracks at your fingertips must have looked like the definition of “heaven on earth”. So, is it really such a basic thing?

Again, everything is relative and everything is determined by comparison. So it’s possible to shift that, by shifting our perspective. Therefore, let’s have a look at a few things you can do, to better enjoy your position in the 1%. Because, let’s face it: what good is it to be in the 1% and constantly feel lacking and frustrated?

What to do?

1. EMBRACE MINIMALISM

Reduce the number of your choices. Bring down your life to fewer decisions. Less clothes, less things in your home. Make your life simpler and you mind won’t cling onto new gadgets all the time. Make rules for yourself, such as never exciding a certain amount of clothes, or other objects. For a new one in, one must go out.

Reducing the number of choices in your life also has an added benefit: it improves your cognitive abilities when it really matters. We have a limited amount of cognitive stamina during the day and the more choices we make, the more our capacity to make good decisions is reduced. It’s like burning out of a fixed amount of energy. That’s why top CEOs such as Mark Zuckerberg (and Steve Jobs in the past) always wear the same style such as a plain white t-shirt (which later becomes part of their personal brand). One of the key reasons is that they don’t have to start the day with a decision in front of the wardrobe already, and they can save their mental energy for more important decisions later on.

2. OCCASIONALLY TRAVEL TO POORER AREAS OR COUNTRIES

Living in Asia, I’ve travelled to a lot of poor countries or areas. There was also a time when due to work I occasionally visited factories in China or Vietnam.

And I noticed that each time I came back from those visits in the evening, my mood was unexplainably elevated.

The fact is, television and media always trigger upward social comparison. Yes, the news also display images of wars, poverty and such. But it’s usually the rich and the famous that we look up and compare to. They’re the ones that on magazines, TV shows and interviews get so much air time and set the (generally unrealistic) standard for what a ‘good life’ is like.

Also, our brain is hardwired to scan our landscape for upward social comparison opportunities to make sure we’re not lagging behind in the social herd. And with infinite possibilities for upward comparison that internet era provides, it’s a never ending (and losing) war.

So, if you have a hard time keeping things in perspective and feel constantly frustrated from where you’re at in life, paying a visit to a poorer area will finally give you the perspective you need.

Ironically enough, an opportunity for downward social comparison is all you need sometimes to elevate your mood and feel a little more gratitude for what you have and where you’re at in life.

3. CONSCIOUSLY ENGINEER YOUR LIFESTYLE

With the world at your fingertips through the internet, things like remote working, outsourcing and making income more independent of time and geography are now everyday reality.

As much as you’re allowed, you can leverage these opportunities for creating a lifestyle of your choice. Living in a place where you want to live and resonate with, working at the hours that you prefer and feel more productive, generating income through different activities that don’t require your presence in this or that place and learning new skills through the internet.

If you’re capable of doing that, you can move to areas where cost of living is substantially cheaper. Your  purchasing power will skyrocket, and you can even choose to work less hours since you need lower revenues.

Overall, you can start prioritizing your freedom and understand your real wishes and then create the level of income that you need to meet those requirements. It may be a lot, it may be a little. You’ve never had as much freedom to design your lifestyle as in this time in history.

4.PRACTICE GRATITUDE

Countless studies by now have revealed how practicing gratitude is one of the most powerful tools we have to elevate our mood, foster our mental well-being and even extend the pleasure we gain from a new purchase for longer period of times.

We won’t get too much in details here. Suffice to say that keeping a daily journal with all the things you’re grateful for, as simple as they can be – such as having a roof over your head, a meal, a coffee you had with a colleague, your health, a compliment that somebody paid to you – can go a long way in boosting your happiness and finally making you feel the way a person in the top 1% should rightfully feel!

5. FINALLY…REMEMBER THE STATISTICS

If there’s one thing only you take away from this post, then let it be this. If you’re earning $32k per year or more, remember each time you wake up, that not only you’re alive, but you’re in the Super VIP, most exclusive, elite club of the world: the 1% club.

Also published on Medium.