There it was in a New York Times article about Bernie Madoff’s Ponzi Scheme victims five years later.

A man who sold his business and put the proceeds in the ill-fated Madoff scheme said, “When your life gets altered overnight, you realize you don’t have to keep doing everything you’ve been doing.  You don’t need to belong to a country club, or drive an expensive car or buy expensive jewelry”.

Previously I have written about studies that show any more than $80,000 a year is more than you need to be happy.

You may not agree, but the majority of those polled did not assess their own lives as being happier because they earned more money, had more things, went to more places.

Often when people simplify their lives, they increase their happiness and now we know that there is research evidence to back it up.

So, for those of us who have seen our world overturned, there is hope.

I used to tell my USC music industry students that Hollywood was filled with people who have more money than you could ever dream of but far less happiness.

In fact, even if our lives aren’t altered overnight, the remedy is the same.

Do more of the things you crave and not earn more money at the expense of happiness.

Money is a good thing.  It’s just not a happiness pill.