Can money buy happiness?
What is happiness? The most ambiguous question posed in the universe apart from “What is love?” is often associated with this question about money and if the more you have, the happier you will be. Well, can you? Is happiness for sale? Is there a store in the local mall that will trade happiness for some of your hard-earned money?
Wikipedia defines happiness as;
Happiness, pleasure or joy is the emotional state of being happy. The definition of happiness is one of the greatest philosophical dilemmas. Proposed definitions include freedom from want and distress, awareness of the good order of things, security of one’s place in the universe or society, inner peace, etc.
The first proposition in the Wikipedia definition addresses this very question, “…freedom from want and distress…” So if money can free you from want, surely it must be able to buy you happiness! Right?
Financial freedom is the state that most people pursue. The ability to pay your way with everything without having to check your credit card statement in fear and trepidation.
That’s why we create pension funds, we play the lottery, we spend more time working than playing with our children. We hope one day to be independent of a boss, of a budget, of any restriction that may limit our desire to be happy. To spend whenever we had the inclination.
Good. This is just frivolous spontaneity. It breaks into the screens of our lives for a short time and as quickly as it came it is gone. That is a superficial expectation of happiness. I want happiness that survives time. Can money buy that?
If money can buy happiness, how much would I need and how much would make me happy? I made a couple more bucks this month in my AdSense account, but it wasn’t even a blip on the happiness radar. So how much would you need?
John Silveira’s article “Money can buy happiness” Said this…
How much do the experts say is enough? In a study by Andrew Oswald and Jonathan Gardner at the University of Warwick in Coventry, England, they found that around US$1.5 million tax-free moved most people into the top 2% on the income scale. happiness. Their study also revealed that, at the lower end of the scale, every $75,000 moves one between 1/10 and 3/10 standard deviations (which is a measure of how statistical data is distributed) up the “happiness” scale. “.
I know John has a lot of statistical evidence showing that maybe money CAN buy you happiness, but to me the jury is still out. I know many people who earn less than AU$20,000 a year who are happier than some double earners earning AU$100,000 a year.
I think it has more to do with satisfaction and self-identity than with the amount of money you have or earn. If you strive to have more money and know that you are not, this will lead to all kinds of anxiety problems that will rob you of happiness.
Perhaps learning to be content and setting achievable goals for our money is the key to happiness?
