Does money bring happiness? This is a question that can be very controversial, and in reality, there may not really be a real answer. Moreover, it is a question of pure opinion. Sure, we can compile data by asking “x” number of rich/wealthy people whether they are happy or not. Nonetheless, the data will probably never be consistent. I will still try to elaborate on this matter, and put my own opinion out there.
Let me start off by saying this; I am obviously not rich myself. If I was, I would not be here blogging, attempting to make money. Yes, attempting to make money. I’m going to put it right out there. If you can find a solo blogger who is not using their blog to make some money, or have such goals for the future of their blog, I will be surprised. Fact is, the economy is bad – I don’t think many people can spare their time, updating their blog daily, putting all that hard work in, for no money. People blog for money.
Now, back to the point. I am not rich, so it is hard for me to say whether or not money brings happiness. I’m sure everyone has had those moments where they’ve said “I wish I was rich”, or something similar to that. The other day, I was at San Jose Mall, and what did I see? I saw a white 2009 Lamborghini Gallardo. The car is valued around $200,000 (base price). The first thing that came to mind when I saw this was what most kids my age would probably think:
“What if I could have that car?”
Typical question for a teenager to ask themselves, right? What if I could have that car? Would I be happy to have it? I guess it is easy to say I would be, but it is hard to say without actually having it. I’ve always stuck by a theory – one I have never heard before, so I’ll be the first to claim it. I will explain my theory below.
“If one is born into wealth/riches, overtime they will not appreciate it as much, and will grow unhappy. On the other hand, if one is born into a below average or normal lifestyle, and becomes wealthy/rich later in their life, they will be happy.”
It really is not a complicated theory, but for those of you who are a bit confused, I will elaborate. What I am saying is quite simple. I will use myself as an example.
I was born into an average, possibly a bit below average, life style. My family was not wealthy, but we survived. Thus, I have experienced it all as a child. I know what it is like to not be able to have everything I want. I know what frugality is. I am now 17, and I can truthfully say, if I became rich today, I would not change as a person. I would be very, very happy, for the rest of my life, but I would NOT become a bitter, selfish, self-centered person. Why? Because I have experienced the below average life style, and I know what it feels like. Thus, I would not take my wealth/riches for granted.
The theory in short is that if you go from being poor or normal to rich, you will be much happier than if you were born into wealth/riches. Sure, there could be exceptions to this theory, but for the most part, I feel this is extremely true. I do not mean to bash those that are born into wealth/riches – they may very well be happy and very kind people. I am just speaking for a majority – I feel that those people are less likely to be happy for their whole life time.
I will now use a female at my school as an example. We will call her Mary. Mary comes from a very wealthy family – she was born into wealth. They live in a gated community, in a house valued over 3 million dollars. Her father drives a Maserati. He also owns a couple Mercedes and BMW’s. The Maserati is valued somewhere around $125,000, more than many, many people’s income for a year. As for the BMWs and Mercedes, they are valued somewhere between $40,000 and $60,000 each. Given Mary has been born into all of this, she an extremely unhappy girl. She actually suffers from extreme depression. Why is it that she has so many belongings, and is so rich, but she is so unhappy? Would you not be happy if you were given such belongings today? Once again, I feel it is because she was born into it, and never experienced another type of lifestyle.
Here is a famous quote that relates to money and happiness. I really liked this one.
Franklin D. Roosevelt “Happiness is not in the mere possession of money; it lies in the joy of achievement, in the thrill of creative effort”
Take a few minutes and think about this. Does money bring happiness?
First off I would like to say that not every blogger does it for the money, although that may be the original intent in starting the blog in the first place. If I was to find another job, and I could easily do that, and put the amount of hours I spend in blogging working for someone else I could easily be making an extra $20-30,000 a year. But would I get as much enjoyment from it. The answer would be no.
Money does not necessarily bring happiness. It merely relieves the stress one has in their everyday fight for survival. You may actually find that many people who have acquired money suddenly usually don’t know how to manage it and lose it just as quickly. I reckon you can also find a lot of stories where money only brought heartache into peoples lives.
Still, you provided a very thought provoking post and I will be monitoring the comments with interest.
I’m the one who in the past believe that money can bring happiness. But it’s all wrong, i’m not rich but not too poor and i’m always satisfied with what i get. But it can’t bring me happiness when i’m fall down because i’m sick. And then i’m realize, money is nothing if you not healthy. Health is no.1, and a things called “LOVE” is no.1 also. Rich without love and health is nothing
Money does bring happiness, of course. What makes one happy? Having a nice car, a huge house, a swimming pool, lots of clothes, latest gadgets, a vacation every few weeks. How dos one get all of that? With money. Am I right, or am I right?
Good point. Like I said in my main post, in such an economy, not many people have enough time to blog for free. As Sire mentioned, he does it because he enjoys it — and I am sure there are others. But the majority are doing it in some sense for the money.
The truth is that if you’re ready to be happy, it doesn’t matter if you have money or not. However, having money alleviates many of the things that we worry about, and the elimination of worry leaves more opportunities to be happy.
There is also something about working for it, then attaining it, if you’re lucky (yeah, I know the hard work theory, but the truth is that there’s a lot of hard working people who will never be rich) and being able to say you did it kind of on your own. Blogging is something that, for the most part, is an individual thing, just like traditional internet marketing is. The difference is that, if you can figure out how to work with others, you’ll probably make more money faster.
My friend Sire and I have our own businesses. He shares his, so his production is probably way higher than mine because he also has employees. I’m on my own, so it’s a little more difficult. Still, both of us continue to blog also, because, well, just just never know.
Okay, here you go: http://www.ttmitchellconsulting.com/bio.html
Money makes things a bit easier, but in the end, money is just that. For example: You can be a billionaire with absolutely no family or kids and you will feel very lonely. You could be the average joe and feel happier than the billionaire. It depends on the individual them self.
Some people want more valuables and assets, while others want people and experiences. Money can change people into something thats good, but also make them evil and horrible. People have different reactions to money.
Everyone is so different, money can bring happiness at times and bring pain at other times, I like to just think it’s all relative.
Great article all i would say is money makes you more of what you are if you are a drunk already and you get more money you only become more of a drunk.So the moral of the story is if you are happy and you get a lot of money it will make you more happy.
Not having money can lead to not being happy… I know that for a fact
I’ve been there and I was not happy at all!
I would always choose health over money… of course!
This is such an interesting topic and in fact just wrote about it today at http://askcolleenbean.blogspot.com/. The bottom line is that any happiness brought about from buying something is temporary. We adapt, then crave something new.
Hmmmm. A big nice post, your’e being a philosopher too. That’s great.
The question is …does money bring happiness?
Yes it brings happiness…but that happiness is temporal (just like what Colleen said). It’s temporal just like the temporary existence of money in our realm world.
Now, if you feel that you don’t need money anymore (because your already fulfilled and contented), then that’s true happiness.
Money brings some kind of happiness and for the process of earning that money we will loose some happiness
Haha! So I guess it all balances out in the end. The only scenario I see that would make your statement not true is getting rich by luck. But hey, that doesn’t happen for too many people
Good question! Much has been written about the connection between money and happiness. The psychologist Daniel Gilbert has an interesting take on the topic in his provocative book, Stumbling on Happiness. With all the knowledge that exists in the world, he wonders why people still make so many bad decisions or have inaccurate ideas. He suggests two possibilities: a) a lot of the advice that we get from others is bad advice that we foolishly accept, or b) a lot of advice that we receive is good advice that we foolishly reject.
He proposes the notion of “super-replicators,” beliefs that get transmitted from one generation to another independent of whether they are accurate or inaccurate. My colleague Dr. Fred Horowitz calls these “memes” and refers to them as a virus. Gilbert contends that the belief that wealth increases human happiness is a super-replicating false belief. There is much research that supports this assertion. However, there are complicated reasons for propagating this belief. He argues that the production of wealth serves the need of a capitalist economy, which serves the need of a stable society, which “serves as a network for the propagation of delusional beliefs about happiness and wealth.” For more reflections on money and happiness from a 3rd age point of view, check http://www.happiness-after-midlife.com. Dr. Frank
Interesting post but I wouldn’t go as far as saying it depends on if you are born into wealth. A friend of mine (30 years old now) were born into, not wealth, but he have never had any problems with getting what he wants. Last two years he have had three different Ferraris. Anyway, he is happy simply because he can do what he love with the money. You don’t get automatically happy because you have money, you get happy by doing what you love with the money.
Another great example is a reporter for a Swedish newspaper. He spent tens of thousands of dollar on one day, eating the best food, sleeping at the best hotel, etc. In the end of the day he wasn’t more happy and therefore finished his article with “and this proves money doesn’t bring happiness”. What he forgot was that he eat food other valued high but himself hated. If he instead would do what he lover, travel the world for an example, he would be happy thanks to the opportunity given by the money.
Damn! 3 Ferraris — that’s amazing. Thanks for pointing that out also. That is the direction I was heading in, but I didn’t say it clearly.
That is a neat example to show that money doesn’t always bring happiness. I guess the matter is a controversial one. I spoke to a lady today while waiting in the doctors office, and she was telling me the story of her friend, and her friends husband. Their marriage was going great, but then they became very rich. As soon as they were rich, the marriage went completely downhill. Kind of makes you not want to be rich.
Money unfortunately seems to have ability to ruin everything.
Yeah, what you said really got me thinking. Maybe it’s best to be somewhere in the middle.
Hi,
interesting thoughts!
I believe that it’s not possible to make a general statement on whether money makes people more or less happy. Money comes with a whole set of new elements that may have good or bad impact on our happiness, and depending on how susceptible we are to every one of them, the conclusion will go one way or the other (i.e. different from person to person).
I recently made an effort to provide a more comprehensive picture of what these ad- and disadvantages are. I invite you to have a look at spreadinghappiness.org/2009/08/money-how-much-should-we-strive-for-it-to-become-happy/ and tell me what you think!
Thank you,
Nick
I completely agree with you Nick. I’ve come to realize that this is one of those matters that has no definite answer. Some rich are happy, while some rich are unhappy.
I’ll definitely have a look at your post!
This is a question that can be very controversial, and in reality, there may not really be a real answer.
Sire,
Seems like you proved me wrong. I did not mean that their whole intention is money — I simply meant money is a factor. Whether is a large factor, or a small factor, that depends on the blogger as an individual.
As for your 2nd paragraph, you are also right. I was only speaking generally. I just feel that those who acquire it throughout their life end up being generally happy. I have seen a few of my friends families fall into the same category, and they are very happy. Then again, I am sure there are some who became rich and it caused nothing but heartache.
Thank you Sire, glad you enjoyed the post.
You know, I am yet to find someone who blogs to refuse money. I know people do it for different reasons but most people do it because it pays. I highly doubt that blogging would be what it currently is if it didn’t pay well.
Akira,
It is interesting you say that. My grandparents, aunts, uncles, parents, and so on have told me the exact same thing throughout my life. Being healthy and having love is always above money. I wrote this post assuming love and healthiness were already intact — but thank you for pointing that out.
Jason,
I think you just read my mind, and said everything exactly as I was thinking.
I just feel that too many people that don’t have a lot of money say “money doesn’t bring happiness”. I also feel that they do this to make themselves feel more secure about the fact that they are not rich. Now, I am not bashing anyone. Like I said, I am not rich at all. It’s just that I always hear people say “money doesn’t bring happiness”, yet a few minutes later they see a nice car and say “I wish I had that”. I don’t think anyone would reject a million dollars if it was placed in front of them.
Exactly. There are a lot of people out there who do not have money, or at least not a lot of money, and they assume that money does not bring happiness.
Exactly, simply because they have never experienced being wealthy. I think the best way to see whether or not money really brings happiness is by asking those who became wealthy later in life. Why? Because these people know what it was like to have no money, or little money, and also how it feels to be rich. Thus, they can easily say when they were happier.
Interesting way to look at things Mitch. I do agree that having money results in many of the worrisome aspects of every day life to be eliminated — meaning the likelihood of being happy increases.
I have also always felt (and been told) that you will be a lot happier if you worked hard to become wealthy. That is definitely true. Nonetheless, even if you got lucky, you still can be happy.
Just a question for you Mitch — why do you decide to work on your own, especially since you know production could be higher if you hired people? Just curious.
It’s not necessarily that I totally wanted to work for myself; it’s just that my main fields of expertise are, well, solo professions. I could think of ways to turn it into partnerships if, at least in two of the industries, more people understood what it is I do. In the third one, I could easily partner on that one, but I need to take the time to get more business in it.
Sounds odd, I know, but I’d have to send you a link to the bio page on my main site so you could learn a lot more about me to understand it.
Sounds interesting Mitch. I’d be glad to have a look at your bio page on your main site. Send over the link and I’ll take a look
Thanks Mitch. I’ll have a look and get back to you.
Good point George. I should have touched on that — sometimes it comes down to the individual them self. Like they say, love, health, and friends are something that money cannot buy. One without those three can never be happy, even with millions. Sure, they may be a bit happier than someone would be if they weren’t loved, weren’t healthy, didn’t have friends, and had very little money. Nonetheless, the money they have would still not completely compensate for their lack of love, health, and friends.
Haha, even when we sick, we’re OK to spend many money to make ourself healthy again. That’s a proof that health is above than money, right
Great way to look at it
Yeah, you’re right John. Having money does not mean you will always be happy. I just feel that with money, you will be happy more often. But hey, that’s just my opinion.
haha good answer
FUNNY… BUT TRUE!
But please choose between having a money but sick, or health but have only bit money
Hmm after i think, happiness is = money + health + love , with 1 thing lose from it, we will not happy
Hey, you were the #1000 comment… did you win something
Nelson,
That is a great way to look at things. I never considered that, but now that you say it, you’re completely right. It kind of makes sense when you think of it — many rich people become addicted to drugs, right?
I agree with Doug completely. You can have all the money in the world, but you aren’t healthy, what good is the money? My first priority is to be healthy, have family and friends, have a loved one — then comes the money. Money does make people happy, but that does not mean it is the highest priority.
Colleen,
Glad you enjoyed the post. I do agree with you now that I think of it. People will continue having different cravings, wanting more.
I’m glad I inspired you to make a similar post. I’ll check it out
Vic, I guess I’m one of the youngest philosophers
That is a neat way to look at things. Temporary happiness, true happiness — two different things. You’re right. I think anyone can be happy, but I just feel that having money makes it easier sometimes.
Dr. Frank Bonkowksi,
Thank you for being very thorough. You have an interesting point of view, nonetheless, a good one. I’m definitely going to have a look at that site to see another perspective!
May I ask if it is your site?