Does money = happiness?

castortroy31

Ah... such a difficult one this question.

Like some of the other posters, I have been poor... and I mean poor. Not been able to eat properly, credit card maxed, overdraft maxed and couldnt borrow money from anyone also these were the days before pdls (which I think was a good thing as if they were available for me at the time, it would have been very bad...)

Then I had money lots of money... I won some money just shy about 50k in cash, and I paid off some debts but had too much money for sense.

that money has now gone and I am in a better position mentally now then I was before I value money better.

I think when you have a lot of money it can make you happy in the short term but the things I really appreciate in my life, my family and friends, I dont need money for them to be there for me.

Moomum

TheFactory wrote: »

Security = less stress = increased enjoyment of life.

Money therefore, in a capitalist world, does bring happiness

What they said. Having money in the bank means both myself and OH are a lot less stressed then when we were brassic, which in turn means we are happier.

Ilona

No. Good health is more important. I don't have much money but I am in good health. :T
Ilona

girlatplay

Good thread.

I would rather be rich and sad than poor and sad. After years of being poor (and sad) things are starting to look up for me and now that my wealth is increasing (very slowly) my happiness is increasing too (admittedly, faster than my wealth).

John1993 I have printed off your post (#29) and will be explaining it to my DD (age 12) as I think it is a brilliant explanation of choices and how they can affect a person, thank you.

bargainbetty

Money gives me some freedom. What I do with that freedom is up to me, and I try to do things that make me happy. It allows me to share resources with friends and family, and give them some freedom too.

It doesn't necessarily 'make' me happier, but I agree that it frees me from specific types of hardship and stress.

John1993_2

girlatplay wrote: »

Good thread.

I would rather be rich and sad than poor and sad. After years of being poor (and sad) things are starting to look up for me and now that my wealth is increasing (very slowly) my happiness is increasing too (admittedly, faster than my wealth).

John1993 I have printed off your post (#29) and will be explaining it to my DD (age 12) as I think it is a brilliant explanation of choices and how they can affect a person, thank you.

That's very kind of you to say, thankyou.

I know that we can find unfortunate stories, and examples of people whom life has dumped on, despite them doing everything right, but each bad choice made early on just gives that little extra nudge in the wrong direction.

Importantly, the choices that we make today still matter for the future. We can't change what we did before, as this is now our new starting ppoint, but what we choose now gives the future the same soort of nudges that the decisions of the past gave to our present.

This means that it is never hopeless, and that it always makes sense to concentrate on the things that we can change, rather than the things that we cannot.

martinsurrey

John1993 wrote: »

Well, they don't choose it intentionally, but personal choices play a massive factor in deciding how well you'll do in life.

Mess around at school, bunk off, don't ppay attention in class, and you are starting off down the wrong road. At that ppoint you've already chosen to handicap yourself hugely compared to those who put the effort in.

Take a rubbish job because you want beer money now, and you are setting yourself back again relative to those who put the time and effort into working out how to get into a career, not a sequence of dead-end lowly paid roles.

Commit petty crime and get caught, wait for life to hand you success, fail to put in effort early and go without in order to try to gain success later, and you are steering yourself more and m ore down the road to poverty. Borrow money for a TV that you can't afford, because you "deserve" it, and yo are, again, making a choice with consequences.

To imply that homelsness or ppoverty are independent of personal choices is simply wrong. Yes, there are cases of people doing everything right and still ending up poor, or on the streets, but to pretend that the probabilities aren't altered by a person's choices makes no sense.

Fraknly, the day someone went out for a cigarette instead of going to that maths lesson they made the decision that they were happy to end up poor. Decisions later can mitigate it, but that was their choice, whether they knew it or not.

One of the best posts I've read on this forum.


I'mall for people taking personal responsibility

A number of people I know in dead end job say I’m lucky to be earning what I earn, they forget to comment on the years of mind bending study/training I did while holding down a full time job, while they were off drinking and messing around.

Money can’t buy you happiness, but the lack of it certainly can make you miserable.

Moneymash

Ilona wrote: »

No. Good health is more important. I don't have much money but I am in good health. :T
Ilona

I agree health is more important. Earlier in the year I had a health issue that is easily treated with antibiotics. I was told to have a follow-up appointment with my doctor, which luckily I did. My doctor discovered an acute condition I had that if not detected and treated quickly ends up being fatal.

I have to say I didn't take my condition that seriously, I just kept asking when I could go back to work (debt-busting does that to you) Fortunately my condition could be treated daily at the hospital as an out-patient. So a few days after my treatment started I turned up for an appointment, the nurse that had been treating me for the last few days, grabbed my arm and started walking me down the corridor arm-in-arm. Then she said 'we all thought something had happened to you'. She then started chastising me for being late for my appointment, which she said was at 10:30. I said no my appointment was for 11:30 and I'm on time. It then occurred to me what she meant as my condition can often be fatal, when I didn't turn up at the time they were expecting they thought I had died. I then realised how serious my condition was and I thought about phoning my family (I hadn't because I didn't quite believe what I was being told).

I know some people will say I'd rather by ill and rich, than ill and poor, but if there is something wrong with your body, your wealth or lack of it makes no difference. My point is no amount of money is going to change a serious medical condition, as a starting point for happiness you need good health.

snowqueen555

nothing would make me happier than guaranteeing the financial security of my family

girlatplay

Moneymash wrote: »

I know some people will say I'd rather by ill and rich, than ill and poor, but if there is something wrong with your body, your wealth or lack of it makes no difference. My point is no amount of money is going to change a serious medical condition, as a starting point for happiness you need good health.

I agree to an extent. I have a chronic illness which was first diagnosed in 2002. I will have it for the rest of my life. It is not life threatening now (after numerous operations) but will likely affect my quality of life in the future. At times it makes me miserable but I just get on with it because I have no other choice (apart from ending it all and that is not going to happen).

The thing is though, the harder I work and the more money I earn, the happier I am. The more I see my savings balance go up, the more I smile. I want to have financial security for the future as I don't know which road my life will take. I would rather be "rich" with my ill health than poor with it (I realise that is what you were getting at, Moneymash) but perhaps that is because I already suffer from ill health.