Does money give you happiness?

a reply to: SgtHamsandwich

We are being devolved by the need to survive with money. At times I've lived with very little and been the happiest I ever was in my life.

I didn't have to worry about where I was going to get it to sustain my "living". I had no expense except the food in my belly and a place to lay my head.

Things ultimately won't satisfy. If you are lucky and live a long life, one day you will realize that one more white sand beach and one more new car just doesn't do it anymore.

If you are really lucky you will grow old and be unable to drive or visit any more beaches and then you will have to look within instead of without for "happiness".

If you are really, really lucky some misfortune will strip it all away before then and you will learn to depend on less of what you used to think was important.

I forget the source (some surfer guru in Hawaii).

He said when he was young the Americans told him he was gong to have to leave his family and go to American school. He asks why and they told him,

You are going to school to learn english, so you can learn, so you can get an education, to get a degree, to get a job, to have a career, so you can earn money, to buy a house, with a two car garage… and two cars.

He went surfing instead.

a reply to: danielsil18

It might not buy happiness (at least happiness is not a product I've seen on sale in any shop yet) but the quality of misery is improved vastly.

Money can't buy you happiness, but you can park your yacht next to it - David Lee Roth

originally posted by: FlyersFan
Money can help make the misery less miserable.
Good health for me and my family would make me happy.

Assuming that Flyers means the Philadelphia Flyers how about good health for our captain.
If not, nothing to see here, move along..

a reply to: danielsil18

I have no parents, partner of siblings-so it's only natural for me to find comfort in money or possessions.

I have a friend who has a wife and kids-and when he comes around to play Xbox and Playstation with me, he'll say how lucky I must be. But he doesn't realize that surrounding yourself with inanimate objects is not as great at it sounds, and it's no substitution for family.

Money was fed to us. Its a trap to keep us in slavery forever. Ask all the tribes in the jungle.

Sure it can make you happy... temporarily. That's why its such an effective trap.

It depends what makes you happy; for me, just enough money to live in a safe neighborhood with shops nearby, pay the bills, and to buy the latest hardware to keep my tech skills up to date.

Unfortunately, in some cities, many of those are mutually exclusive, and that "just enough" requires a mega-dollar salary, never mind trying to raise a family.

The only people who say that money can't buy happiness is those miserable elites.

Yes, money creates a lot of happiness. If anyone has a bunch of extra money that they don't want(no less than a million dollars), then just give it to me and I'll show you how happy I can get. I can buy things that will create happiness. Being broke sucks and makes me

Money buys happiness for those who think moments last forever.
It's not happiness, if it's insatiable.

originally posted by: Fylgje
The only people who say that money can't buy happiness is those miserable elites.

Yes, money creates a lot of happiness. If anyone has a bunch of extra money that they don't want(no less than a million dollars), then just give it to me and I'll show you how happy I can get. I can buy things that will create happiness. Being broke sucks and makes me

LOL! and...A Hardy HELL YES - money certainly can buy you happiness!

I have had it and not had it, and it is way better to have it. Happiness to me is security and choices, and I had neither when I was broke.

But, I also live by the motto that "...what you give out, comes back to you TEN Fold." I give a lot, because helping others makes me happy.

Without money, I couldn't do that.

Happiness can simply be knowing you can pay your rent, feed your kids. I've had times of this happiness and times without. Mostly as a single parent when my kids were so young that daycare cost almost all I earned and life seemed futile. Once they got to school things got easier. This should be a basic right in life as the stress of not knowing if you can provide the next day/ month Is hell.

You know, I found out that my last living grandparent has an inoperable brain tumor this weekend. He has maybe six months to live. No amount of money will fix that or replace the happiness any of my grandparents gave me.

Someday, I'll face the same issue when I love my parents, my aunt, even my husband ... money will never replace them in my life either.

I once had a dog and a cat, then three other cats, and after we married, my husband and I got two kittens and later adopted a third ... all of them are now gone from us. Money can't bring any of them back.

The really important ones in my life, ones who leave and will never come back? They're the ones who make life worth living and bring me the most happiness, and they're the ones who can't be replaced no matter how much money I have or I don't.

I can always replace other things. Sure, I may have to save money for a long time, but eventually, I'll replace them ... but the people and pets will NEVER come back and they're the ones who make life happy and worthwhile.

a reply to: danielsil18
If it would Free me from the Fugging system I'm suppose to embrace, sure.

a reply to: danielsil18

Sooner or later it all comes down to lament. Sometimes we can float for longer than usual; people we love who love us back or perplex us until we figure them out can buoy our spirits. But through the doldrums, and the doldrums will come, and in the excruciating space between memorable intermissions, call them mundane wastelands, we spend life regretting the passage of time. Rather than living the past our happiness or morale to live often dies with it in hindsight.

With higher net worth become purchasable more convincing distractions from inevitable lament. Even hated and alone the rich man affords diversions from the inevitable and can afford satiation of a key desire the poor man cannot: hiring company to share his misery.

Nevertheless, poorer can be a happier state of existence. Myself, I have found sharing much easier during leaner times. The weight of much cash in the pocket seems to reduce somehow the strength of one's empathy and can take us to heights of justification of selfishness we had never imagined.

Like many others, I sometimes wonder through imaginings of all lack of want for money and thus material need. However, to be a living human being is to want something and surely the more one has the more one will want still.

"Money doesn't buy you happiness... "

"Well I wouldn't know, I've never had either. "

Alan, two and a half men.

Lil' joke there.

Money cannot buy happiness. We have been conditioned to think that 'things' bring us happiness, so that we will buy them and get into a never ending cycle of 'the next great thing'. Consumerism is not happiness. There have been studies that show people can get a sort of high from shopping, being an addict will not make one happy. Simple, free things can bring happiness. Happiness tends to be a transient condition. Lasting happiness comes from inside. What makes you happy can also bring you great sadness. Grasshopper. lol

a reply to: danielsil18

Money can't buy true happiness, only temporary pleasure. This is why some people are never satisfied. For example, they think buying some type of technology will make them happy (like an android tablet), but then they get bored with it after a while and when a new version comes out they want the updated version thinking it will make them happy and they will finally be satisfied.

Here's an experiment....

Go to a homeless shelter.

Go to an upscale country club.


Make a comparison as to who in general terms are the happiest group. That should give us a fair indication of the question....

Does money give you happiness?

I was a lot happier with money, and when I didn't have to worry about having money to pay my bills.
Trying to get there again someday.