POLL: Can money buy happiness?

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That is a known and common phenomenon among very rich people. They want more, and since they will always find someone who has more money, this will wear them out, and they will never be satisfied.

 

I think "wanting more" is a basic human trait. Most, if not all, people strive to better themselves, and usually that is done through earning more money. Now, I do not think that having "silly money" as in the case of winning tens of millions of dollars is necessary to be happy, but almost everyone I know wishes they had more money than what they currently do. I include myself in that grouping, and I believe I would be happier and more confident if I did.

It all gets down to what one wants out of life. For myself, I would like to be able to buy a decent sized house, buy a new car every 5 years or so, have a couple of kids, and have my wife not have to work if she did not wish to. How much money would I have to earn in today's dollars to do that? Probably a minimum of $100,000 per year. Possibly as high as $150,000 per year. Granted, unless I live a really long time I will never earn the tens of millions of dollars that people win in lotteries, and I don't think I need that kind of money.

With the salary I listed above, I would still be considered middle class in the U.S. Yes, people earn more money in the U.S. as compared to many other countries, but what many fail to recognize is that things cost a lot more here too. An average family home in Maryland goes for about $250,000. So I don't think my wants are excessive.

One thing that I don't know is this: Say 10 years from now, I have a nice home, can afford to buy a new car every 5 years, have two kids, and my wife isn't working because she doesn't have to. Will I be satisfied then, now that I have acheived what I set out to do? Or, to the contrary, will I set even higher goals for myself? Sadly, I think the latter is the more probable outcome. I would hate to think that I will have accomplished all I set out to do prior to reaching the age of 40. I will have to strive for something more, given that I still have somewhere around half of life left to live at that point.

EDIT: Master, your wish is granted.

[ February 11, 2004, 15:37: Message edited by: Aldeth the Foppish Idiot ]

 

Whoa, Aldeth, I would be happy if you divided your text in some alineas.

Nice one, DMC. I agree with you that earning money is the factor for being content/happy. Doing what you like to do and see the (positive) results.

 

Yes, but even if you keep 'striving' for more - you need to try and be happy along the way. Otherwise, at best, you'll only be happy when you get there (and spend a lot of your life being not happy) and, at worst, you'll never be happy.

Be happy!

 

Yes, you have to be happy, but there is a difference between being happy, and being satisfied. I think it is human nature for people to always want more. Right now, I own a decent car and live in a pretty small house. While I am "happy" with my current situation, I am not satisfied if this is all I have for the rest of my life. I agree that you can't let your aspirations poison your ability to enjoy what you already have, but I believe there is a danger of becoming too complacent if you don't strive for more.

 

Social psychology research shows that happiness correlates with income only until you obtain an average middle-class salary (about 25,000 GBP here in the UK). After that, money has nothing to do with happiness. Personally, I think everyone should adopt the following policy: you're only allowed to spend money on

a) things you really need (food, clothes, ...)
b) other people

Ahh, we all have a self-serving bias built in, but now you have a chance to cultivate an other-serving bias as well - and bear in mind that large sums of money (e.g., a lottery jackpot) would be more useful (in terms of improving happiness, for example) for many people than for a single person. For example, if I had won the lottery, I'd give the money to my research group - scholarships, postdocs, PhD students and lots more research done being the expected results.

 

Money can buy material possessions, and while that does bring happiness, it's only temporary. You eventually will take them for granted and the happiness will wane.

 

You can't buy happiness... but you can rent it for awhile. The amount of money you have depends on how long you can rent it for.

Name one action that brings happiness that did NOT require money directly or indirectly. It's impossible because the time you spend not earning money is avaliable becuase you don't currently need to earn money because you've already earnt it. Time = money. Time is required for action, therefore money is required for actions. Nice actions make people happy. Therefore money is required to make people happy.

If you can show me one person who does not have any material value (no commercial items) that is happy then you only prove that money isn't the only thing that provides happiness.

 

Lokken sums it up, I think. Money is a foundation (not the fruit) of happiness.
Those who mistake this often end up unhappy.

 

Obviously money can buy happiness. But it's just as it says, buy it. Money doesn't equal happiness by itself, you have to use it to get it.

It's like an exceptionally philosophical commercial around here says: "Money doesn't make you happy, stuff does". Everything in this world basically needs money. Hobbies, traveling, work, everything. As for those two things you can't buy, friendship and love, the former is about your own personality anyway, whereas the latter one is a luck-based lie. So they really don't have anything to do with the matter.