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happinessandmoney · 7 years ago

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A Never-ending Debate

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Money. Everyone wants it, but why? Is it because of the materialistic things we can buy? Or the intangible benefits, such as status, we receive when we have more money and wealth than others? Is it because obtaining materialistic things and intangible benefits make people happy? Many have studied the relationship between money and happiness but the question “Can money buy happiness” is still debated in every sense. Those who are wealthy testify that money has not contributed to their happiness, however, it has made them live a comfortable life. Those who are in need of more money insist that if they had the latest phone or a larger house, not only would they live a better life, but they would also be happier. It is hard to narrow down a solid answer to the question “Can money buy happiness” because not everyone has the same financial situation and therefore money has a different significance for each person. Since money does not have the same significance to everyone, we argue that money’s impact on your happiness is relative to your income and to your lifestyle.

Preconceived Notions

Source: Camtrading

Many people think that winning the lottery will make us happy

When it comes to the relationship between money and happiness, there are two extreme beliefs: Money cannot buy happiness, or it can. Take lottery winners as an example of why money alone cannot buy happiness. According to Ed Diener and Robert Biswas-Diener, British lottery winner Viv Nicholson won the largest lottery pool in 1961. One would think all this money would make her happy but it in fact didn’t. After winning, Nicholson became estranged from many of her close friends and eventually filed for bankruptcy. We can see that more money causes more problems. Now you may be thinking, what about all the lottery winners that don’t go bankrupt and end up on the news? Although one may be happy immediately after winning the lottery, in the long term our happiness will return to how it was before because we become accustomed to a new standard of living. For instance, say a lottery winner buys a new luxury car. Initially, he will be very happy because the car is new and exciting. However, after he drives it around for a few weeks, the new car will seem mundane because he has become used to it. The lottery winner eventually begins to take that car for granted, so he does not appreciate it as much anymore. As seen with lottery winners, money alone cannot buy happiness.

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Student debt makes us feel unhappy

There are people who claim that money can solve your problems and bring you happiness. For instance, having no way to pay off student loans can make us unhappy. According to a survey from Harris Poll, 68 percent of Americans with student loans are unhappy with how they paid for college. Some Americans may spend decades paying off their student loans. People who are in debt are more likely to be depressed and dissatisfied with life. In fact, debt is an emotional burden that weighs down on us, making us feel stressed and hopeless. Money can make that debt go away, and therefore get rid of that unhappiness. Without the debt, people would be less stressed out and less depressed, thereby feel happier. In addition, money and health go hand in hand. For example, say you injured your ankle while playing basketball. If you don’t have enough money to get the injury treated, the pain from walking can make you miserable. Every step you take will cause discomfort and suffering. Money can make that unhappiness go away by allowing you to visit the doctor. The doctor will prescribe medications that make the pain go away, thus making you happier.

The comfort of having money makes people happy.

Another example is Evan Velarde, a college student at California State University - Northridge, who believes that money is a form of happiness and when asked if money brings him happiness said, “I get happiness from being able to do things for others with money and in general not having to worry about monetary related issues”. Having money may or may not bring you happiness but the truth is that not having money brings you problems that you otherwise wouldn’t have if you had money. If you don’t have money, you’re in constant fear of not having enough money to eat, to pay rent, or to pay bills. Eventually, these growing concerns can cause other issues such as insomnia and depression because you can’t think about anything other than the fact that you don’t have money. Therefore, being worry-free about financial problems in a sense equivalates happiness.

Money’s Impact on Your Happiness is Relative to Your Income

Money is a factor in everyone’s happiness, but the extent to which money affects your happiness is related to your income and your lifestyle. As we have mentioned before, everyone has a distinct socioeconomic background. If we compare a college student’s way of living to a person with a steady job, for example an engineer, we can see a clear difference. First of all, college students in particular tend to be in debt already and have no real source of income. In consequence, college students have very minimalistic lifestyles and every single dollar matters. The engineer, on the other hand, has a steady income, and can afford to buy much more expensive things, such as a car and a house. Let’s say both the college student and the engineer find five dollars. The college student can actually do a lot with that dollar: buy a meal, pay a Netflix subscription, or just save it. Those five dollars have a great impact on their happiness because they can do something significant with the money. Those five dollars goes a long way for the college student in comparison to the engineer. The engineer has higher and more expenses, therefore money has little to no impact on his happiness due to the fact that money has lost significance because it has become abundant and easily obtainable. To the college student, money is scarce and used to buy necessities, thus making money much more influential on their happiness. The relationship between money and happiness ultimately varies from person to person because not everyone has the same income.

COLLEGE STUDENT VS. PERSON WITH A GOOD INCOME

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Another way of thinking about this is say the college student and engineer both find 50 dollars. The college student now has 100 dollars in his bank account while the engineer now has one million dollars. 50 dollars is half of what the college student owns, while 50 dollars is a fraction of a percent of what the engineer owns. When you don’t have much, any money adds up to a lot. If you already have enough, more money doesn’t help much.

The extent of money’s influence on our happiness is also dependent on our lifestyle. There are two main lifestyles: a materialistic and a nonmaterialistic lifestyle. Ed Diener and Robert Biswas-Diener describe materialistic people’s relationship with money as “wanting money and material goods more than you want other things, such as love or leisure time”. Overall, materialistic people have an unhealthy relationship with money. We argue that to materialistic people, money once had significance and brought them happiness because they didn’t have as much money before. Now that money is more accessible and buying things is easier, money no longer brings them the happiness that it once brought them back when the money they had was insufficient. Meanwhile, people that aren’t materialistic, rarely spend their money on objects and services they don’t need but when they do, it brings them joy and happiness. Nonmaterialistic people are not accustomed to spending money; therefore, money has an influence on their happiness. Although money does impact people’s happiness, money alone is not the only factor to people’s overarching happiness.

Source: Diener and Biswas-Diener

People who think money is extremely important are generally less happy than people who think money is not important

True Happiness Actually Comes from Your Relationships

To understand how to achieve happiness, first we need to understand the limits of money’s effects on happiness. Admittedly, money can remove the financial problems in our lives that make us unhappy. As mentioned earlier, money allows us to buy food, pay the bills, pay rent, and more. However, that doesn’t mean more money can buy happiness. According to a Gallup poll, once people make more than $75,000 per year, they don’t see any increases in overall happiness. At this point, money is no longer an issue for most people, so their daily mood doesn’t improve. People would have enough money to live comfortably and enjoy themselves. Clearly, money can make us happier, but only up to a certain point.

Source: Servingjoy

Relationships make people happy

If wealth doesn't buy us happiness, then what is the secret to happiness? According to Ed Diener and Robert Biswas-Diener, extremely wealthy people attributed their happiness to “pleasing family relationships, helping the world, and fulfillment and pride from their work and accomplishments.” Even the wealthy say that money cannot buy happiness. Anyone can create and maintain healthy relationships. This point brings us to award-winning journalist Adam Piore, who argues that relationships bring happiness. Piore claims that “Close relationships and social connections keep you happy and healthy. Basically, humans are wired for personal connections.” Piore is saying that relationships are the most important factor for achieving happiness, not wealth. Piore cites the Harvard Study of Adult Development as evidence that relationships are the most important factor in happiness. The former director of the study found out that the only thing that matters in life are your relationships with other people. These close relationships are formed through trust, kindness, and generosity, none of which can be bought. Money cannot buy close relationships and therefore cannot buy happiness. Instead, happiness comes from your relationships.

Don’t Let Money Dictate Your Life

All in all, we should focus less of our time and energy on trying to earn more money. Instead, we should devote that time and energy to spending quality time with our friends and family. It is important to attain a work-life balance, which means having a proper mix of career and leisure. All this focus on money has thrown this work-life balance out of the window. Many people would think that more money would improve the quality of their lives by making them happier. Let’s remember that happiness relies on intimate relationships. By prioritizing money, we are actually making ourselves less happy because we have less time to spend with our family and friends. Ultimately, if we want to be happy, we need to reconsider our priorities.