Michael Porter Jr.: Wealth Doesn't Raise Happiness

The Brooklyn Forward made the point on his own podcast, describing what he tells people who believe financial freedom is the ultimate goal.

"I try to explain this to people who look at me or at other very rich people and think their main goal and purpose in life is to achieve financial freedom. I tell them: you don't understand that once you reach it, a certain kind of stress does disappear, but only financial stress. It doesn't change your baseline level of happiness. At first it's great: you can buy things you couldn't buy before and do things you couldn't afford to do before. But over time you get used to even that, and your happiness level goes back to its usual state," Porter said.

Porter, 28, has earned more than $153 million over his NBA career.