Money = Happiness?
 

Interesting article I dug up when looking for blogworthy materials...

http://www.cis.org.au/Policy/spring05/polspr05-2.htm

Excerpt: "It is a simplification to say that growth does not contribute to happiness. In fact, one of the few things there is a consensus about in this very young field of science is that money does buy happiness. There is an extremely strong correlation between wealth and happiness. Low-income countries report low levels of happiness, middle-income countries report middle levels and high-income countries report high levels."

My commentary: I'm not sure this is necessarily true. It may be true of middle class or upper class people in those affected countries. This may be due to the fact that they have the means to travel internationally and hence compare their relative status to those of similarly situated people in different countries. However, many of the (ostensibly at least) happiest people I've met have been people with little to no possessions.

Your thoughts?

Agree and always have.

There's a reason why the top 2% of Americans in terms of wealth live 10 years longer than the average middle-class Joe, and 20 years longer than those at or below the poverty line. It's because dying and going to heaven would be a step DOWN for them. LOL.

Better healthcare is the actual reason, but it sounded good. :)

Well I can say when I was broke I wasnt very happy, now that I have some money to spend I am happy.

I agree, poor people should die!

whoever said money doesnt buy happiniess was never poor

having money does make one happy.

I Think I was much happier when I was a broke student.

money != happiness

no money = unhappiness

:2 cents:

Well, as what I've heard once, there is a difference between pleasure and happiness. Reach people always have several means to have pleasure yet, sometimes it's hard for them to find true happiness.

Happiness for me is a feeling which is synonymous satisfaction and contentment.

Money is not a direct cause of happiness. However, it certainly provides more opportunity and freedom in attaining whatever form of happiness you are trying to find. Having all your bills paid, not worrying about a place to live, not having to deal with a normal day job 9-5 that you hate for your entire life to only live out the remainder of your existance in retirement depending on Social Security that you paid to your whole life does not afford much leisure time or elbow room to try to attain that elusive happiness.

Of course happiness can never buy you love or true happiness directly but it sure as fuck is a key tool in having the time, capital and ability to pursue true love and happiness.

My friend's father who was a major player at a financial firm in Manhattan was laid off(or fired because of some allegations) and went from prince to pauper almost overnight from a multi million dollar home to a rental barely bigger than a trailer within the space of a year. He was always fond of saying "We'll I've been rich, and I've been poor, and I have to say I like being rich better."

sums it up perfectly.... now if I could only find happiness.

Lack of funds can cause illnesses to remain uncured, hunger, insecurity, lack of shelter, and a lack of options to correct the problem.

Once you move above sustenance levels, are able to educate your children, and have a satisfying, steady job, the amount of happiness that money buys diminishes inversely to quantity.

Eventually, you are filthy fucking rich. The lawyers, relatives, charities, and IRS are all beating the hell out of you. The children are fighting over who gets what and the grandchildren are spoiled little shits........you are back to unhappy again.

same here :thumbsup

money = freedom
then it depends what you make with that time

having lots of money and not having to stress over finances, going bankrupt or whateever else people have to deal with I can see why you could say in a sense money does give happiness. I can tell you one thing though, those frikkin 6 years trying to snatch my wife was well worth it. And shes worth to me more than money.

Money equals comfort and freedom, not happiness as anyone who has met miserable, embittered rich people will tell you.

I've thought about this before and i think the problem is this:

The (lower)Middle class has to spend a lot of time worrying about paying the bills, the mortgage ,and generally just managing the little money they have, on a daily basis . Because they are preoccupied with making ends meet, stressing about their car breaking down, about being late, about burglars breaking into their houses,etc. they have less time and energy to concentrate on things that are TRULY important in life:
Like Family(and/or Love), Friends, Leisure, success,etc.
---->
Having money to pay ALL the bills BEFORE they are due, having a safe/comfortable/fast car, having money to install state of the art security/surveillance systems in their homes, having a comfortable house with lots of entertainment(be that a pool,jacuzzi,home gym,pool table,plasma tvs,whatever) eliminates MOST of the above mentioned problems/stress factors....
So, the guy that's better off doesn't have to worry about all this petty bullshit and is able to concentrate on the things that TRULY matter, which equals a higher level of happiness.

I'd say if you're a down to earth person, who was happy to start out with, and manage to stay that way after hitting the point after which you don't have to worry about petty bullshit anymore, yes, money will make you happier.

But if you were unhappy to begin with and expect to just *BUY* happiness....make sure you stay on top of your game and STAY rich...cuz once you go broke, you'll lose

1. the hot 'girlfriend'(or wife) who was only with you because you had money
2. the toys you bought to make up for your unhappiness
3. the 'friends' that only hung with you because you had money to blow...
:2 cents:

I agree to that but for me love and respect=happiness :)

Everyone got own understanding for happines.. but seems today to be happy by default is look great or got full pocket :)

well, looking good, i believe, does affect a person's happiness...what do you think?

Very interesting field of social science. "Happiness" means different things to different people. Also, it is situational.

Well.. having no money wont contribute to your happiness so Ive never understood this reasoning. I could see how family / friends / doing something is what brings true happiness but that has nothing to do with money. Just because you get rich doesn't mean you cant have great friends or family.

Maybe a better analysis to counteract the study (link in first post) would be to compare the rates of depression and correlate that with countries' relative wealth?

COUNTERARGUMENT: "Richer" countries have higher levels of depression because they have the resources for better diagnosis.

It could go back and forth... Regardless, one of the key areas that the article didn't explore is the role of community and traditional notions of identity and its impact on 'happiness'. The richer a country becomes the more it tends to move away from such 'traditionalist' relations and formulate new ones. Example: comparing multi-generational vs nuclear family structures.

Happiness is a broad term, it's different to each person.

Those poorer countries also have a lack of education. The more knowledgable someone is about the true meaning of life, the more they realize money does not buy happiness. When you are starving like many people in poor countries, it's hard to be 'happy.'

Again, one person's dream is another person's nightmare.

billionaires are not happier then others.. they have the same problems as we have.

just have fun and do want you wanna do.. let the luck work for you. et voila

:D

This makes no sense.

Are you suggesting you need a formal education to know 'the true meaning of life'?

By the way, what is 'the true meaning of life'?

it's very simple...

once you reach the financial status at which you're able to comfortably cover the necessities of life and "then some" - (this amount is usually around 50 to 60k a year), the amount of happiness any more money than that amount can bring you, is very very small.

this is because the material possessions attained from that leftover money after your necessities are covered, never bring you true happiness. material possessions can only bring a person short term happiness. this is why there are so many shop-a-holics, people are in search for happiness and it's the only way they know how to find it. it's definitely a flawed, shallow mentality.

This reminds me of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. http://chiron.valdosta.edu/whuitt/co...ys/maslow.html

Basically,what you are saying is that as you go up the pyramid, there's a diminishing return.

You nailed it right on the head :thumbsup

No, of course formal education isn't needed to know what is important in life. However, some countries oppress their people to the point that they aren't even easily able to self educate themselves. They are brainwashed to believe life and their opportunity in life is limited to what is all around them.

I was insinuating that the "true meaning" of life does not lie in material possessions or in money itself. If it did, we'd all be born with wallets attached to us. Everyone's life has its own individual meaning, but its safe to say in general, money is not the reason we inhabit this planet. At least, in my opinion.

money is not happiness.
money is freedom.

:2 cents:

thats not what maslow said. the pyramid represents basic needs and once one is met, the next becomes more important and so on.

Yeah thats about right.

Being poor sucks

Being rich though does not necessarily mean happiness.

imo the role of humans is to consume... I personally believe that we are a hugely destructive species to the earth. Any other "meaning" to life is one we attatch to it ourselves.

Money makes ppl happy in some way, definitely. I spend my money on travelling around the world and it really MAKES me HAPPY.

money does NOT make people happy. You make yourself happy.

heheh I should have put a question mark at the end of the sentence. I was asking a question re what another posted posted earlier re basic needs and diminishing returns. Actually, Maslow seems to suggest that you need the base of the pyramid to get to the next level so on and so forth. Kinda sounds like a Western psychocentric version of the ancient Indian belief system of the Kundalini and Chakra system.

no but you need to live at least 3/4 above your means to remove anxiety and worry. if you can do 3/4 above your means you have the tools to attain happiness.

duke

i mean below... doh

money can buy a lot of things, but not all!
can you always buy health?! :(

For me it doesn't. :(

Here's an interesting thought:

It can buy a House
But not a Home

It can buy a Bed
But not Sleep

It can buy a Clock
But not Time

It can buy you Food
But not an Appetite

It can buy you a Book
But not Knowledge

It can buy you a Position
But not Respect

It can buy you Medicine
But not Health

It can buy you Blood
But not Life

Good points metric metro :thumbsup

Awesome quote! :thumbsup

read my sig! my friends makes me happy! :thumbsup

Money = Happiness
period

Money is everything, and everything is about money..

Good stuff Sebastian. :)

Money may not buy happiness, but you can rent it by the hour. :winkwink:

i don't think it completely buys happiness, but it's a damn good start.

agreed....

why is this always a question? are you guys having issues with yourself?


Pretty retarded to keep yelling out money != happiness,

then what the fuck are you going to do with your life? work at mcdonalds?

Goals= happinesses
Accomplishments = happinesss

fucking slackers who keep giving them execuses why its OK they aren't making jack shit