As you notice, there is a significant lull in my posting activity (I wrote the last one on October 29, 2007). This is only a temporary break, let me assure you, while I am sorting out other more immediate priorities in my life. I promise to get back here as soon as possible, so please keep checking back.

These estimates are based on the “adjusted gross income” from tax returns filed with IRS (thus excluding pre-tax contributions to retirement accounts, alimony payments etc). The data also show that the “median” income value – half earn below this income and half above – dropped 2% to $30,881 between 2000 and 2005, whereas the income level of the top 1% grew 3% to $364,657.

Such disparity is blamed on gaps in the skill level, which puts people with higher skills at an advantage because of the technological changes, and also increasing globalization and communication. Another related issue is that such technological advances trigger a stock market boom, which again favors a select group of people in high paying positions.

Read the report here.

I have another suggestion to make, from my own experience. That is to always have some money available in your local bank account. This can help you get hold of ready cash if needed on short notice, like in matter of hours, and there is no rich friend nearby to bail you out.

Until recently, I used to keep only a few hundred dollars in my local credit union account, just above the minimum required balance. With most online money market accounts offering over 5% APY, who needs the crappy 0.75% bank saving rate, right? I thought so too, and diligently sent the left-overs of my bi-weekly paychecks to my two MMAs (after expenses and automatic transfers to my IRAs).

Then came the day about three weeks ago, when I suddenly needed $1800 to pay for a major expense. The only payment option was either a cashier’s check or money order. I thought I could write myself a check of $1800 from my MMA, and use it in my bank to withdraw cash. Unfortunately, the bank policy is to hold the check for 48 hrs before releasing cash (should have seen it coming). Luckily I found a friend who did not make the mistake I did, and who could lend me the cash.

The take-home message is that it pays to mix prudence with greed (maybe I am being too harsh on myself, but this was a harsh lesson).

I will instead argue that money does not necessarily buy happiness. I will even suggest that money and happiness do not have a cause-and-effect relationship at all. Rather, they both are end products of intangible causes that relate to our character, such as mental attitude, physical health, and social relationships.

Let us first see what money can buy. There is no doubt that money can buy comfort (and more money can sure buy more of it). A new leather-cushioned Lexus can make the 2-hour commute to your lousy job more comfortable than the 10-year old clunker you drive everyday. But does it also make you happy at work?

What is “happiness”? Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines it as “a state of well-being and contentment”, and, “a pleasurable and satisfying experience”. Cambridge International Dictionary says happiness is “the feeling of pleasure or satisfaction”. While they say a lot about the nature of the experience, the duration of these experiences is not quite clear. If a temporary feeling of pleasure can give happiness, then maybe money helps (2 hours behind the wheel of your cushy Lexus probably makes you happy, even though you hate where you are going).

On the other hand, a lasting happiness, what Napoleon Hill calls “enduring riches”, can only come from the intrinsic qualities of human character. A positive mental attitude, sound physical health, pleasing personality, enthusiasm, self-discipline, good family relationships and friendships – they all are ingredients that can make us happy for life. And as any self-help book will tell us, these are also essential to develop a successful career and make money.

So, yes, rich people are generally happy (and vice versa), but it is not the money that makes them happy (note the “vice versa”). Instead, it is the positive qualities of their character that make them both rich and happy. To be sure, not all rich people are always happy, but it is rare to be rich and also perpetually grumpy.

To take this analogy (or the difference) a little further, we change jobs either to move up the career ladder, or because our old boss showed us the door. The second case is what the Bing post has talked about. In contrast, the first scenario is like being upgraded and priced higher before going back to aisle (I can’t think of a suitable example yet).

Or, maybe the time in between the “sell by” and “use by” dates is analogous to our entire work life. Before being sold in the job market, we develop our career and get priced accordingly. And after being used in the job market, we retire from public life.