'Money can't buy happiness' is a saying as old as poverty itself, but is it just something we less fortunate people utter to make ourselves feel better like 'size doesn't matter'? Or is there some truth to it outside of the self fulling sense that is me saying it while I'm keying my ex's new boyfriend's Lamborghini? (If you're reading this Claire, I'm just kidding, Mark's a top notch guy and I'm truly happy for you both and the slashed tires could have been anyone!)
Yep, I can think of at least two reasons why money can buy happiness
In a day and age where we're being incessantly bombarded by celebrity endorsed advertisements, it is difficult for any of us to imagine how it could possibly be true that money can't buy happiness. Just thinking about it conjures up mental images of 70 year old men with their 20 year old girlfriends on a fancy yacht; her large diamond earrings, almost as expensive as her boobs, glistening in the noon sunlight. Now of course, why a young millionaire spinster would seek these gold digging grandpas is a mystery to me (if you assumed anything else you should be ashamed of yourself you sexist pig!), but they do look happy together. However, some studies have shown that after a certain point money no longer adds much joy to one's life.
The Price of Happiness
If you lack money for basic food, shelter and bubble wrap then you're unlikely to be very happy. So at least to some extent money is necessary for happiness. But conversely we recognize that, all else being equal, a person with $50 billion is unlikely to be much happier than a person with $10 billion, especially if the all else part includes happiness. Well if that's the case, then is there some magical number we can all aim for after which diminishing returns in general contentment really start to kick in?
Knowing the crypto crowd, this picture is probably more clickbaity than the one above
In 2010 a Princeton University team was happy to be funded $75,000 to undertake a year long study to find the precise price of happiness which they conveniently discovered to be around $75,000 a year. This is approximately 60 bitcoins at the time of writing for those of you who've been here a while and no longer recall what the $ sign denotes. Their paper suggests that after this point more money makes very little difference. Accordingly, if you make more than this amount then at least some of your work hours could be better spent going on family vacations or loitering besides a glory hole in a public bathroom.
How to Best Spend Money to Maximize Happiness?
Others suggest that it's got less to do with how much money you make and more to do with how you spend it. By others, I don't mean some random guy off the street, unless he happens to be Harvard Business School professor Michael Norton who claims 'it's got less to do with how much money you make and more to do with how you spend it'. 'So how do you spend this money, of which the amount you make has less to do with the happiness you seek than the way you spend it, in a way that provides the greatest happiness?' I hear you ask. Well the secret is simple: don't spend it on yourself.
Aww you shouldn't have. Really, you shouldn't have robbed that bank
Many studies have shown that those who buy a gift for others register higher levels of happiness than those who spend the same amount of money on themselves. This is why I believe the 'giving a goat' idea really took off - you give the gift of a card to a friend which tells them that you've given a goat to a someone in the developing world. The aggregate warm and fuzzy feelings of happiness accrued from both tiers of gifting would surely surpass the relatively low level of happiness that buying the goat for yourself would have brought.
So instead of buying yourself a new pair of shoes, you're far better off, happiness wise, donating to a worthy charity or giving all your Steem to that really funny, handsome and modest Asian comedy writer you've seen from time to time on Steemit.
Ok, you don't have to send me your Steem, but do Upvote, Resteem and follow me @trafalgar if you liked this article
Technically he was off the jetski before getting sad !!
yea, that was sad for sure.
When you try and jump up last second. lol
Hahaha! WTF with that guy?
Good reply!
Good answer!
Hahaha! Man jetski are so freaking fun!
Where's the Tosh reference??!?!!??
Hi, how do you post the 'Image Sources 1,2,3' like that?
[1](website
if you close the bracket
[1] (www.google.co.uk) sorry can you explain further lol?
In French, we say:
L'argent ne fait pas le bonheur, mais il y contribue.
Money does not make happiness, but it contributes to it.
Your post illustrates this exactly.
I agree, money is just a tool that enables and enhances other things if used properly. Nice philosophy.
haha thanks for reading :)
agree
Sometimes people ask me what I think is more important, to be rich or to be happy. Most of the time obviously the expected answer is "to be happy", and I agree with that, but I think the more interesting question would be: "What makes us happy?"
The answer to this question may strongly vary from person to person. In my case being happy means also to be free and independent, to decide myself when to sleep, when to wake up, when, where, how long and if at all to work, also where I want to live ... to be able to decide all these things myself, as well as living independently from exterior constraints, it is necessary to have enough financial resources ...
I am not one of the persons who like to be wealthy in order to live a life of luxury, I don't want to be rich just because of being rich, but nevertheless I would like to be rich because I want to be free ...
If at all such a "magical number" exists, one has to consider the different costs of livings in the different parts of the world as well ...
This assumed amount of money (let's say the mentioned $75,000 a year in a country like the USA) would fulfill all material needs. So maybe for most people it wouldn't increase happiness significantly to get even more money. However even if this percentile is statistically correct, it need not to be accurate for every single individual. For example it would not be enough to live as free as I described above, which for me personally is a key factor of being happy.
Yes this is definitely true, everyone is on a different utility curve.
Where do I find this really funny, handsome, Asian guy to donate some Steem to?! :)
hahaha didn't take long for some smartass to come along :)
@trafalgar you definitely manipulated your audience into sending all steemit to you, i send 1 steem to you ;D
hahaha thanks a lot lynx, here I voted you up for 25c, i'll owe you 1c
Congratulations @trafalgar!
Your post was mentioned in my hit parade in the following categories:
Great thanks :)
You are so funny. I love the misdirection humor! Good to have your skills here @trafalgar!
thank you very much for appreciating some of my jokes :)
I don't have a single lesbien tendency, yet I would still prefer to look at that woman's boobs then that graph ;)
My husband and I used to play a game in college called "What will we do with it?" We were dirt poor at the time, so fancy dates were out of the question causing us to be creative. One of our regular dates consisted of buying a lottery ticket, grabbing a twelve pack of beer, hanging out in the car (to add that rebel "open container" element) and talking about all of the many things we were going to do when we won the twenty million (or whatever it happened to be at the time).
On one of these occasions, when we got to the part of who we were going to do what for, I was talking about paying off my cousin John's house and giving them a half a million on top, and something occurred to me. What if the struggles of life were a big part of what held him and his wife together? What if instead of this huge help I imagined I was being, I would actually cause the downfall of one of the cutest relationships I knew of?
It was actually the last time we had that particular date, because for me more than half the fun of it was imagining what we'd do to help others. The possibility that we could cause more grief than happiness shifted my perspective to the degree that I realized we were already playing a better game called "What can we get out of life without money?"
Incidentally, we've never stopped playing that game, lol! And I'm thinking I might make an entire post about this...if I do, I'll give you credit for the inspiration.
haha graphs not a turn on eh?
I think you instinctively reached the same conclusion as A LOT of research on the issue:
1 - pass a certain point money has diminishing returns in happiness
2 - spending it on others makes us a lot happier than spending it on ourselves
3 - the anticipation of a reward (eg, money) gives us far more pleasure than receiving the reward itself
I didn't get to the 3, or any of the criticisms of these views. It's sort of difficult writing a joke or punchline every sentence or two and still trying to stay informative. Every comedy piece I write I get a little worn out and just end up posting it prematurely lol
That's strange, I don't think this showed up in my responses. Yes, I agree with three, lol. And I can see how it would be tough to balance comedy writing with informational pieces. I think it's tough to write comedy pieces period. I can be funny...usually in comments, but that's brief. Having to be "on" for an article would be a whole different thing. Which is why I'm always impressed with those who do it such as you ;)
Edit: Nevermind, it's there, I just missed it somehow ;)
haha I like your writing
probably wait until it's near done and binge read it =)
I'll keep voting on each chapter as they're out though
What's the use of a lot of money when you're not healthy? Because that's the most important thing in life..
Yea, good point. However, sometimes people need a lot of money to be able to stay healthy, In many cases money can buy better treatment and better care.
Amen to that, lady. You can't enjoy money or make money if you have illness or not physically well.
Agreed, most of what I wrote were just jokes :)
no sense being the richest person in the ER or the biggest bank account in the graveyard.
VryGd Food 4 Thought .. Up'd & Resteemed!
haha, hard to say which is safer :)
Money is something but peace of mind is everything.
money can't buy you a permanent state of mind
well put
we're evolved to constantly seek satisfaction, and one of the pre requisites for constantly seeking sanctification is to be never satisfied
I'm very old and have learned much in my life... Two things stand out about the current subject- ONE, You can't buy happiness but you can lease it! Two- it's much more comfortable to be miserable in a Mercedes than in a Pinto!
haha very wise words :)
$0.00
haha :)
Interesting post. Money may not not buy you happiness but what it will buy you is peace of mind that you don,t have to worry about bills and payments and you can go anywhere you like when you like. Without money you cant do that
Yes, I suppose its one less thing to stress about if you're lucky enough to have enough of it
Great post with a really interesting message!
To be honest, I believe that a life that doesn't depend on money or status sybols is the healthiest one.
I by myself gave up my city life (nice job, nice car, nice restaurants, parties etc.) for a surfer's life (less money, smaller car, homemade food, etc.). Now I earn half of the money I was given before but doubled my happiness.
Wealth to me means being healthy and outdoors. Yes, I need cash to buy some food and my internet bill (ah and a new surfboard from time to time, haha). But that's it.
In my opinion possession can't ever be the final goal in life.
yes definitely true, beyond a certain point it's pretty useless
I would be glad to take the money of the people who say, "Money can't buy happiness." ;) :P
Having said that, I agree that after a point, more money definitely doesn't mean more happiness. I mean how much happier could Bill Gates be than Mark Zuckerberg?
yes, it has diminishing returns definitely
maybe Gates is a lot happier, but it will have very little to do with the fact that he has more money than Zucker
Anyone can be happy if he /she is content with what he/ she has
I agree :)
Happiness can not be bought. Can trite, but for me, happiness is the laughter of my children, dinner with my husband, family walks. And for this money is not needed.
You need money to buy nice food, to live in an area nice enough to enjoy walking outdoors. It's not the be all and end all, but it sure helps.
Cg
Money can create happiness when paying it forward and help poor people
Yup, that's exactly what a lot of studies concluded :)
Now up to us to make it happen :-)
It can't buy you happiness, but it can hire an entire team to work on the problem.
Cg
haha and sometimes they can give you an incorrect answer
:-) At which point you fire them and hire another team. Money buys you freedom, and with that freedom you can pursue whatever makes you happy.
I'll tell you something for nothing, poverty sure doesn't buy you happiness.
Cg
In capitalism both happiness and security require money. It's very difficult to have either without enough money.
In my opinion relationships are more valuable than money but to maintain and protect them often will require money.
Ive seen man indegenous people live much wealither lives than some of the richest on bank terms. Picture grandma with no shoes, in tradtional clothes, wakling up the hill with her grandchild on her front and 40lbs on firewood hanging from her head. Shes happier and of a more stable mind than most. Part of this comes down to tha fact that money is nothing but a form of communication. We need to be communiting with each other more. Being greatful for what we already have.
In money oriented societies money is required. In traditional societies you don't need money because you have the land to live off, or a farm, with a big family. Having a big family, land, and a farm, are wealth in their society.
What I see is difficult is that if you were born in that society, you see it as required. Your ability to find peace in that area becomes increasingly difficult. Homes, food, cars, jobs, computers, phones. Things require more things which need more things and things. Being happy with what you have instills wealth. Its saying, I am wealthy, look at what I have. How lucky I was to be born here, with opportunity only bound by my will to create. We have nothing stopping us, other than ourselves. It is not required, its that the route away from that is impossible. We have no choice but to move forward, not backwards now. If you could just run off into the woods and grow farms and build a house. The skills nessecary to do so are extremely valuable. What if tomorrow the world that money you knows stops. What will you have thats of value. Imagine money as you know it is gone, as I am assuming you are talking about currency. Which is NOT a money. Your inner peace, the centre of mind is where you operate from. Than you physically express your physical wealth which reaches out to family and friends. What is of value when people loose the "security and comfort" that they have become used to.
At the same time if you are happy with what you have why would you seek to self improve? I see benefit to always trying to grow and improve on whatever you have.
Let the "energy" flow....more and less ....Health can't be bought, not even in capitalism.
Healthcare can be bought. If you are in pain due to a tooth ache but cannot afford to have it removed then yes happiness can be bought by relieving the pain. Health can also be bought but only to a certain point, case being Magic Johnson who would certainly be dead if he wasn't wealthy enough for HIV medicine.
I understand your point.
I agree
It's good to see that good old dana sense of humor :)
I much enjoyed this clever funny article! I have UP voted and shared so others can come get some free happiness!
I'll drop in a video about money from current YouTubeStar Poppy, who sings, "If money can't buy happiness then why is it so fabulous!" I think its a little slow so I make it even more poppy by changing the speed to 1.25 or 1.5. :-)
The new generation are doomed. :P
haha thanks kenny
oh that video is sad on so many levels
I do not have to swim in the money, bathing is enough
Well you're never going to be scrooge mcduck :)
Hahahaha :-)
Money makes me broke! lol
I really think this all about happiness simply boils down to the following old sayings:
1.- "Richer & Happier is not who have more but who need less"
2.- "Once exceeded a minimum threshold is richest who needs the least"
Cheers!! :)
Money makes things a lot easier, but super cliché, you can not buy happiness. And it is soooo true!
haha yup definitely agree
We have a proverb..... "Money is not everything, but without money everything is nothing." More important than all money is health, which can not be bought for money......🤡😎🤑
Yup I agree
How about this much...
Kidding. Dang it I had my comment completely written then I did the stupid thing and went ahead and actually read the post. My real answer was going to be "I just want to have enough money that I can give some away and still take care of my family". Now I just seem like a copycat douche (but I normally feel like one of those two anyway).
Honestly I think the problem is not that people aren't satisfied with what they have... they look at what others have and then say "I deserve more then them". I think this is why people with $10 billion keep scratching and clawing to get to $50 billion. So they can look at the guy with $49 billion and say "yep I am better... shit that guy has $75 billion!"
haha yeah it's definitely a pointless way of keeping score passed a certain mark
like a really expensive game of whose line is it anyway
Is that the sponge bob money machine?
Is it really those pieces of paper with ink that people want? Or is it access? What if all people had access to everything...without the need of ink paper transfer..
I think we're heading there
Haha! Such a nice post! I really enjoyed reading. Btw imagine if that guy would have invested this $75,000 in Bitcoin how happy he could have been. Well I guess that's relative. Right?
haha ya
but according to those Princeton guys, not much happier, ah well
Haha!
Plus who paid for this study? Certainly not an homeless person and we all know funding study influence the overall outcome of science. :P
Money won't buy me happiness, but it will make being miserable a lot more fun :-)
haha nice!
Money is abundance, money will only make you happy if you express gratitude. Take it for granted and the money has no meaning. Gratitude = Happiness
I think you're right, as a species we're not very good at contemplating just how lucky we are
And after you donate all the gift cards to others, you realize that no one donated any to you. Life is a biatch.
That said, altruism is still the greatest virtue.
Also, having 0 money makes your life easier than having like 50k or so. That's because you don't even have an option to lose all the money or make a wrong choice. Ironically, it can make you focus on greater things... I am only saying this because I am broke, tho :D
haha I think just being alive in the 21st century is a blessing
I don't think a lot of us would have made it to the ripe old age of 25 running around as hunter gatherers
0$ is needed to buy happiness!
hmm, still sounds a little expensive
well said,there is no figure to buying happiness if you must ask me again then😊
do you agree that money make the women wet ?
well if that's the case then I don't have enough lol
Gradually I get used to your posts and I understand your humor. But seriously. Money can not buy happiness in any way. It can give comfort but not happiness. And I rely on two cases.
A person (I will not say who) in my personal life, has a lot of money. Really, a lot of money. But he only lives to make money and suffer every day because of the problems that arise. He is 60 now and he has spent all his live on this.
Another person (I will not say who) is a high school teacher, he has a renault car model 2002. And it shows that he loves what he does, he always sees it as a smile, he is always happy. And enjoy life all the time.
I think the key is in each one and in the personal priorities that we put. If you learn to enjoy simple things, they are the ones that matter to me. It is much easier to live. I always repeat this and I will not get tired of doing it.
Have a nice day my friend!
yeah that's defintiely true
if you have a roof over your head, there are probably more worthy pursuits in life
thanks tincho
Buying the happiness ? nice topic to discuss @trafalgar. Everyone can buy the happiness. it depends on how they feel inside of his heart. the beggar can get full of happiness when they can eat till his full.
folowing lust will make us never feel happiness or we can feel it just for awhile.
Yes this is true
You can't buy a permanent emotional state
I'm happy without m0ney. M0ney is just an idea but helps comfort level. I can do without as long as I know I have a plan to get it. I just need bills paid and i'm a happy camper! Not saying I don't want money, just saying I'm happy even without it ;)
I think that's a very healthy mindset :)
Abundance comes in many forms:)
@trafalgar Money can't buy happiness, but it surely can help people to be happy, and it decreases a big part of stress of life. Also one more of your idea is true, Giving is better for happiness than spending on ourselves, that is why I am giving 5 SBD on my contest to the winner, if you want to try, click https://steemit.com/life/@looftee/earn-5-sbd-tuesday-motivation
haha I'll have a look
Thanks a lot. @trafalgar now am truly a fan of yours, followed you.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=mQPjKSVe1tQ
I'd take a boat over a jet ski
I wrote this a few weeks ago, realizing we are all wealthy. I have noticed lots of people stirve for dollars. Ive lived in 10 million dollar homes and driven hundred thousand dollar sports cars. Now Im a minimalist, house, garden, solar, water food. They all help me mental and physical health, yes this is true. But doing the physical and mental work doesnt require money. you can achieve your first four pillars of wealth without any "job" or degree. Be kind, compassionate, helpful, this will make you feel rich. Love your family and community, also rich. https://steemit.com/money/@thearcanebear/how-to-become-rich-in-self-and-wealth-more-than-just-money
sounds like good advice :)
We try to follow our own advice, enjoying the richness of the small things. The sound of the water falling and the birds singing. Wealth we all can absorb, the abundance of life and life.
Earn it on your terms!
haha :)
I enjoy your humor. Keep up the good work!
thank you olmech :)
If anyone doesn't agree to this post, send your money(steem) to my account and see how happy I am. 😂😂
Haha, I gave you 8c through a vote, gotta start somewhere :)
Lol..thanks :p
LoL I love the humor in your posts! :D
I've lately followed some advice that goes along the lines of "rewarding yourself once a week for the work you do by buying yourself something new and useful"
Its like a little present each time and keeps your motivation up top. (this week I'm buying myself some long-awaited colored markers to aid me with my Steem painting ^^)
haha sounds like a good idea
If you think about it, we humans don't need much to survive; food, clothes, shelter. Anyone in good health should be able to find work that can satisfy those basic needs. Now the question is why aren't we all doing the things we love then?
Fear, we are mostly trapped by fear, fear of ridicule, fear what others will think of us, etc.. If only we can live a life without fear...
Its true, I think above the necessities most people are fairly even in terms of happiness, you can be happy or miserable whether you're a laborer or a billionaire
Bubble Wrap.. lol
Bill Gates once said "After a certain point, its the same Hamburger." By the way money cannot buy happiness at all. All that it can do, is buy you some comfort. BK Shivani says that "Till the time you tag happiness to an object, its bound to fade away quickly, as it comes from a non-living entity."
ya definitely
I think it's mostly in the mind
After a fairly modest point, everyone's on a pretty level playing field in terms of happiness