Well, isn’t that just the cat’s pajamas. There’s a new study out that shows that happiness may be linked to absolute levels of income, after all. Of course, as the article states, it’s linked to other things as well, like time spent with friends. This may change part of my thesis for the book. …. pondering
In my life, money hasn’t bought happiness. In fact, regardless of how much I’ve had, made, or lost, I’ve pretty much always felt insecure and panicked, thanks to some early experiences involving not really being able to afford food. Only in the last year have I really sorted through the issues enough that they seem to have let go.
While lack of money is stressful for me, past a certain point, more doesn’t make me happier. Other things take over as the most important. Fun, community, challenge, meaning, and contribution all seem more important to me just now.
How ’bout for you? Is you life happier because of money? Is acquiring money sufficient for happiness? Is it necessary?
I don’t think money can buy happiness BUT… lack of money can cause a lot of unhappiness and stress (and I speak as someone who almost lost their house once during a period of no money).
So while I think fun, community, challenge, meaning and contribution are more important, if you don’t have your basic survival needs met (which in our world, requires a certain level of income) then you’re not going to be able to enjoy any of those.
Simple Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, no?
For me, no. Money does not buy happiness. But as others have pointed out, lack of money can easily bring unhappiness. I was motivated to comment, though, because of observations lately that those I know with a lot of money seem particularly unhappy. The stress and pressure of living to a standard seems to be one issue. Another appears to be the belief that some get after coming into money that they are now ‘better’ or need to appear ‘better’ causing them to be more judgmental and critical of themselves and others. Seems like a recipe for unhappiness to me.
I think it was Oliver James’ book ‘Affluenza’ that described a related study.
The study found that once you earn over a certain amount of money, your happiness doesn’t increase that much. I think the amount was about £25,000 per year ($50,000?).
That’s the point where you don’t have to worry about the basics like food, paying the bills, having a roof over your family’s head, etc. Instead you worry about the possesisons that come with that excess cash.
James points out that many people, once they reach that point, actually make life more complicated for themselves by buying more possessions in the hope of making themselves happier. Instead, James argues, we should be buying services that make our lives easier and simpler.
Capitalism, they say, is a necessary evil.
In my own life, I’ve just about reached that point. I’m not concentrating on not how many cool things I can buy, but how I can make my life simpler and enjoy more time with my friends.
Money doesn’t make you happy but it allows you to be miserable in comfort.
Money not buying happiness presupposes that the individual is not responsible, is not self aware, and generally is not in balance with their world. If one is balanced, has respect for themselves and their world and on top of that has financial means, they will likely be very happy. PART of that happiness will be in affording those things and services that are reasonable and in tune with the life that individual desires.
Guilt-free discretionary income in today’s world can make a lot of happiness occur in the form of charity, volunteering, sharing, recreation, contemplative study, new learning, travel, sustainable and organic lifestyles (always costs more than commercial choices) and so much more.
Fundamental to this topic is the development of fiscal and emotional discipline–a resistance to impulse and greed–ultimately leading to personal peace.
Namaste
Money doesn’t buy happiness, but it buys choices, and having more choices can definitely make people happy.
I don’t think wealth = happiness. If so, all the richest people in the world would be the happiest and the rest of us wouldn’t be. In fact, I think money is much more likely to screw someone up in life than lack of it.
Also, I think people need to be careful with their definition of happiness. To me, there’s a difference between happiness and, say, the security that comes from having wealth. Security is having enough money in the bank to meet my needs and then some. Happiness is watching my son learn to walk or going on a date with my wife.
The simpler our view/realization of happiness the more of it we’ll experience, regardless of our income level.
http://www.LivSimpl.com
When I read this post in my RSS reader I figured I’d be all clever, come here, and say, “Money can’t buy happiness, but lack of money correlates with unhappiness.”
Alas, other smart people made it before I did.
Like Richard above, I find myself late to the party. My wife and I have discussed this recently. It is difficult to be happy when you are stressing over the mortgage and weekly gas bills. I agree with LivSmpl, it is security that we seek so that we are not distracted from what does make us happy like family and friends and the great things in the world around us.
If you have a peaceful mindset, having lots of money can allow one to obtain great happiness and inner peace. Meanwhile, it is the mindset that brings the happiness… I think one can be happy for sure even if they are broke. It is all a mindset… rich or poor… I know poor people who are far happier then people I know that are financially independent. The poor people are so broke, they have learned to stop worrying about money as much. They focus on family, friendship, and helping others. That is the greatest source of happiness for many people I know. Peace comes from within, even if you lose everything…. you can still find ways to be happy. Money helps… it is a nice thing to have and it helps a lot… yet it is not totally neccessary.
Another important factor is not just how much money one has or earns, but rather, how one uses what is available.
Living in a $1M home won’t make me happy if I am earning $40k per year.
Living in a $100K home when I am earning $300K won’t either, but as has been said, a lot of the stress is relieved by this scenario.
Happiness is a state of mind. Many can have every need met and exceeded and will still manage to make themselves miserable. Others can have few or no needs met and still find a way to be happy. There is much more in the happiness equation than just money. What good would it do to be the richest person on Earth and have 2 years to live while degenerating into a painful state and eventually dying?
Hell yes money buys happiness. Have you ever seen anyone hit the lottery and cry about it? Sheese!