Well, no, it IS a common experience. The median household earns 80k annually; a 30k windfall is the equivalent of boosting it to 90k annually for three years. That's a 12% raise for three years: nice, but not exactly unheard of.

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No one, least of all Matt or I, is questioning that this would improve someone's life in the short or even medium term. God knows $30k would help me get some stuff done that I feel pretty stuck on. But I have friends that make 4x what I do; it wouldn't make me into them.

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Matt's point is that there is significant research into this and it shows windfalls like that create short-term benefits but not long-term benefits. Again, refer to my example about 50k vs. 60k. One of those people is CLEARLY better off, but they're not on dramatically different life trajectories.

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If $30,000 transforms your life, a lot of people are missing the opportunity to transform their life by downgrading their new-model F-150 to a base-model Honda

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It's because one side refuses to be persuaded by reason or evidence and the other refuses to abandon it.

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