Money vs. Happiness
I gathered from this article, concerning money bringing happiness, that there is a comparative advantage to being rich than not being rich. People seem to be happier being relatively wealthy. People who aren't as relatively rich seem to be more worried yet somewhat happy. Money does not give absolute happiness though. The opportunity cost of becoming relatively wealthy is the strain on professional and personal relationships. So does money really bring happiness?
6 comments:
Personally money would not bring me happiness, and I truly don't believe it would for anyone. People with money may be able to go more places and buy more in their lifetime, but it doesn't necessarily make you happy.
In my opinion money is a tool. It can be used to buy things that you want, or services that you need, etc. But what makes you happy isn't necessarily money but what that money allows you to do. If you are struggling to get by on two minimum wage jobs and have no time to do other things for fun then you will probably not be very happy. However, if you have one job that you like to do and it supplies you enough money to live on without having to worry too much from pay-check to pay-check then you are probably fairly happy because you have resources such as time and energy left over to spend on tasks or hobbies or people that make you happy. I don't think money alone is the key to happiness but without it life can be rather difficult.
I agree with Glenn that money is a tool. When you have more money there isn't as great of a stress to make sure there is food on the table at night and that the bills are paid, but these don't necessarily make you more happy. It just makes you less stressed. The items to me that would make me the most happy is spending a sunday with my family and doing things that I enjoy. Money helps you be happy but to me it is not the ultimate way to make yourself be happy, which is why I see it as a tool.
I believe money would bring happiness. I mean think about all the people we envy like professional athletes, rock stars, and all the others. We envy them because they have rich lifestyles and are seen on television. So I think in the end money will bring you a lot of happiness that is needed but I dont think you can get through the rest of your life with just money because it can only buy so much.
Just as a few of the others have said, I agree that money is simply a tool. There will always be those of us who worry about money for certain reasons such as health care, medical supplies, food, shelter, and so on. There are many more things out there than money to make us happy. However, I do think there is a certain level of income we must reach. Nobody likes to live paycheck to paycheck or go without food. There should be some wiggle room though, this is where the unhappiness without money may come into factor.
Money doesnt buy happiness but it does give you more options, which can mean a less stressful life which can make you feel more happy... but theres probably people out there that work really hard and are stressed out all the time and make a lot of money too. There are people who are happy doing nothing at all.. I think its more of a personality question than a financial one.
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