Money can't buy happiness

[JEDI]

Well, I heard that up to about $80,000 salary, more money does make you happier but over that, not so much.

so everyone on ATOT should be happy?

 

[dave_the_nerd]

It doesn't buy happiness, but it buys all the opportunities, experiences, freedom, and material goods that do make you happy.

 

[JulesMaximus]

If you're miserable then money won't make you happy but if you are already happy then money will just make it easier to do/have the things you want.

 

[CountZero]

If you're miserable then money won't make you happy but if you are already happy then money will just make it easier to do/have the things you want.

If you are miserable and make $20k money might very well make you happy. If you are miserable and make $100k more isn't likely to make a huge difference.

Having been totally broke and now doing better one of the best feelings I get is paying bills without checking my bank account. It is such a small thing and people that have never been broke probably don't get it. Being able to take vacations and buy fun toys is great but that baseline of paying all bills every month, not dreading the phone since it will be someone looking for money is hard to beat.

 

[Jeeebus]

Day 5 of roughing it. Maybe another mai tai will help ease the pain.

 

[renz20003]

Fuck yeah it can

 

[brianmanahan]

i can never do one of the "sit by the water and drink" vacations. if i'm not driving during vacation, i'm walking or hiking 5-10 miles per day.

 

[Jeeebus]

i can never do one of the "sit by the water and drink" vacations. if i'm not driving during vacation, i'm walking or hiking 5-10 miles per day.

we drove a solid 300 - 400 miles the past few days at Hilo. Lots of walking and volcano viewing. Time for rest.

 

[brianmanahan]

we drove a solid 300 - 400 miles the past few days at Hilo. Lots of walking and volcano viewing. Time for rest.

nice! i'm thinking of doing the big island this february/march.

 

[ponyo]

i can never do one of the "sit by the water and drink" vacations. if i'm not driving during vacation, i'm walking or hiking 5-10 miles per day.

Depends on my mood. Sometimes I'm so tired and worn out from the stress of my job that all I want to do is get away and not have to do anything. It's nice to be able to lounge, take a dip and swim in the water, lay down, eat, drink, sleep, get massages, be pampered and waited on, and not do anything. Sure it gets kind of boring after couple of days but that's why you mix in couple of excursion here and there to break up the monotony. Before you know it, it's the end of the vacation and time to get back into the real world. My wife and my daughter both enjoy the "sit by the water and drink" vacations. I always try to do one in the summer before the kids go back to school.

 

[child of wonder]

Having gone from dreaming of earning $100k/year 7 years ago to now paying over $100k/year in income and payroll taxes, I can say the money has definitely improved our happiness. However, I could see how the additional money could make one's life less happy if you always attempted to look like you're better off than you are and drown yourself in debt.

Were we despondent and miserable before? Absolutely not, but we worried about having enough money for retirement, saving money to help our kids through college, and how we were going to escape credit card and student loan debt. Now we're on track to meet our retirement goals, will have enough money saved up to pay for at least half of a 4 year degree for each kid (they're 13 and 15 today), and have eliminated all debt outside of our mortgage.

Those worries have all vanished for us and I think the degree of happiness we've experienced as our income has increased has come from enhancing our financial freedom through debt reduction and savings rather than exorbitant spending. Don't get me wrong, we still spend too much money on stupid shit, but I think we managed to find a good balance between extra spending and responsible saving. Knowing that if I was let go from work tomorrow and couldn't find work, I'd have enough savings to keep us comfortably going for a year+ is a great feeling.

Being able to take kick ass vacations a few times a year helps, too.

Use extra money to build more freedom and enhance your life and it'll make you happier. Use it to chase vanity and ego and you're always pursuing an unattainable goal and of course you'll never be satisfied.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Recently went down south to Wasaga Beach so I was in a similar setting.







As far as money buying happiness I'm a fan of more permanent expenses that I can enjoy for years to come vs temporary stuff, but the odd trip is fun too.

If I had lot of money I would not really vacation more, but I would probably look at buying a property that is closer to paradise, such as a nice lake front cottage on a large parcel of land that I fully own. Why go to paradise when you can make your own paradise.

 

[Jeeebus]

the misery continues as we watch the sunset from shore....

 

[Red Squirrel]

Watch the sunset while in the water, it's pretty neat. We did that the other day.

My mom kept mistaking Georgian Bay and calling it James Bay, I joked that we should watch the northern lights from the beach. lol.

 

[Jeeebus]

spending some money on Kauai.

gonna try jumping off this cliff tomorrow. maybe money can buy good hospital care.

 

[Trudyblammer]

Let me put it this way. Nothing can buy happiness. However, money is the closest tool to pursue happiness.

 

[Mai72]

This is the truth. Studies have shown that increasing levels of income (it used to be $75K) bring less than proportional increase in happiness levels. At a certain income level there is absolutely no increase in happiness other than to say that a person has that much more money. In the end, we pass on and leave it all to somewhat else.

Ironic ...

There is a book by Felix Dennis called "The Narrow Road." Felix who passed away a few years ago in his mid 60s was the creator of Maxim magazine. He made hundreds of millions in print.

Anyway, I like his theory on money. He has stated that money along with life is just a game. That's it. A silly little game. People take it all so seriously, but in the end you'll die and leave everything for someone else. But, along with it being a game he also understood that there are strict rules when it comes to creating wealth, and if you don't abide by those rules you'll never obtain it. That's the narrow road. Too many people (me included) are too easily distracted in life. It's why most will never have the success and wealth that we desire. We've gone off the narrow road, and have ignored the rules. Awesome book.

Anyway, does money matter? I think it does and most people lie to themselves when they say it doesn't matter. To me, money is freedom. It's the freedom to have control over one's life. If you think about what we currently do it's kinda crazy. Yes, it's good for society but it's still crazy. To work 30 plus years at a job you really don't like. To reach retirement one day. To realize you've wasted the best years. To only pass away 10 years later. For many, it's even earlier. If you love what you do, and work is pleasurable than that's great. What I find is most people are going to a job that they don't like. Havibg money affords you to do what you want to do for the day. IMO, that's freedom.

 

[dud]

Anyway, does money matter? I think it does and most people lie to themselves when they say it doesn't matter. To me, money is freedom. It's the freedom to have control over one's life. If you think about what we currently do it's kinda crazy. Yes, it's good for society but it's still crazy. To work 30 plus years at a job you really don't like. To reach retirement one day. To realize you've wasted the best years. To only pass away 10 years later. For many, it's even earlier. If you love what you do, and work is pleasurable than that's great. What I find is most people are going to a job that they don't like. Havibg money affords you to do what you want to do for the day. IMO, that's freedom.

I agree, money does matter but is it not that the LACK of money matters more than having the money itself? I also agree that money can also translate into freedom. One would think that the more money a person has would mean that they were freer to do more, to be more. Unfortunately, this is not always the case. We are fed a steady stream of news reports where persons are not happy nor satisfied EVEN WITH a significant amount of wealth.

While I do very much agree with you I believe it comes down to a person's expectations from life. If your expectations are low you could be happy with less but if your expectations are high then it could take a LOT of resources (like money) to bring you up to the "happy" level.


Here is a link that puts our own expectations of wealth in perspective:

http://www.bbc.com/capital/story/20170505-how-rich-are-you-really

 

[ponyo]

spending some money on Kauai.

gonna try jumping off this cliff tomorrow. maybe money can buy good hospital care.

dibs on Jeeebus stuff. That cliff looks scary tall. No way I would voluntary jump off that. They would have to kill me first and then throw me off.

 

[highland145]

dibs on Jeeebus stuff. That cliff looks scary tall. No way I would voluntary jump off that. They would have to kill me first and then throw me off.

Heh, all that's is left is 2 Great Danes and their poop piles. He sold the rest to go on vacation.

 

[Geekbabe]

As a cancer patient I can tell you money does provide a little peace of mind. Being able to pay rent, buy groceries is always pleasant

 

[Mai72]

I agree, money does matter but is it not that the LACK of money matters more than having the money itself? I also agree that money can also translate into freedom. One would think that the more money a person has would mean that they were freer to do more, to be more. Unfortunately, this is not always the case. We are fed a steady stream of news reports where persons are not happy nor satisfied EVEN WITH a significant amount of wealth.

While I do very much agree with you I believe it comes down to a person's expectations from life. If your expectations are low you could be happy with less but if your expectations are high then it could take a LOT of resources (like money) to bring you up to the "happy" level.


Here is a link that puts our own expectations of wealth in perspective:

http://www.bbc.com/capital/story/20170505-how-rich-are-you-really

All I can give you is from personal experience.

To me, not having "enough money" is doable. At least, until your car breaks down, or you can't afford to eat dinner for the night, or a bill is due and you can't afford to pay it. Been there. Done that. Very stressful times.

I had an uncle who came across a lot of money. I'm talking millions. It was a class action lawsuit that involved his wife's sister who passed away. I'm not going to get into logistics. The point is he and his wife were given millions. We don't know how much since it was a closed case. Anyway, the money was more of a curse. The family started to fight. They expected this. My uncle in the beginning was giving out money like candy. $10k here. $20k there. He bought me a new car. He gave my mom $30k to put down on a new house. Gave my brother $10k. It was never enough though. Instead of being grateful they wanted more. My uncle at the time was 75. His wife, 73. He had Parkinson's disease. She had severe depression. They started to demand attention in return of money. It got real ugly. I was taking care of my uncle at this point. I was accused of taking his money. Sadly, my mom died. My uncle died 2 years later, and my aunt is still alive. When alive, my uncle would tell that he was taking everyone out of the will.

IMO, with money comes great responsibility. Why do most lottery winners go broke? Because they don't know shit about money. They become irresponsible. And, it leads to conflicts. I also think it depends on where one is in their life. A 25 year old given a ton of cash is more likely to blow it on parties, a fast car, exotic vacation, etc. A 50 year old will probably let safeguard the money. I'm making generalizations here. But, you get my point.

 

[Kaido]

I read through a bunch of lengthy AskReddit threads one time on various wealth questions...what's it like being rich, how has going from poor to rich affected your life, etc. The TL;DR takeaway was "money doesn't make you happy, but it sure makes living in misery a lot more comfortable." One of the more interesting stories I've read in recent times was about Notch, who sold Minecraft to Microsoft for billions:

http://www.wired.co.uk/article/notch-net-worth-isolation-twitter-outburst

Some choice quotes:

Notch says that neither the money or the fame has made him happy.

The problem with getting everything is you run out of reasons to keep trying, and human interaction becomes impossible due to imbalance.

"Hanging out in ibiza with a bunch of friends and partying with famous people, able to do whatever I want, and I've never felt more isolated," he said on Twitter. "In Sweden, I will sit around and wait for my friends with jobs and families to have time to do sh*t, watching my reflection in the monitor," he added. "When we sold the company, the biggest effort went into making sure the employees got taken care of, and they all hate me now."

 

[Ajay]

Heh, all that's is left is 2 Great Danes and their poop piles. He sold the rest to go on vacation.

Damn, don't know where you're from, but they must have HUGE Great Danes there

 

[highland145]

Damn, don't know where you're from, but they must have HUGE Great Danes there

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