Can Money Buy Happiness?

Lovelight

I think it can 'buy'/'pay' for a certain level of happiness which I suppose makes the short answer "yes".

It can 'buy':

• Food
• Clothes
• House
• Car(s)
• 'Things'
• Education and Healthcare

• Some 'dreams' - travel(s) - etc.

• And so on...

Can Money Buy All Happiness?

• No, only perhaps half the 'happiness'.
• The rest is from within and the experiences we have and give that cost little to nothing.

cuddlebugTM

Money is a tool . It can help you make your life closer to what you want . It can help you have more time and experiences with family and friends . It depends on if you have the money or if it has you .

pmvines

Not having money or the means to support yourself and pay for necessities creates a large amount of stress and anxiety and depression, so in a sense, yes, as unfortunate as it may be, money can buy happiness, or at least prevent one from falling too far into the opposite of

cuddlebugTM

Exactly . I’ve had times in my life I was hungry , homeless , ill and couldn’t go to dr . Being miserable with money is better than miserable with none lol . I don’t think it fixes everything but it’s very helpful for luxuries like food , housing , education , healthcare , pain medication . Let alone things you actually want to do along the way .

I concur with you both, @cuddlebugTM & @pmvines. I also agree with Lovelight's statement: "I think it can 'buy'/'pay' for a certain level of happiness which I suppose makes the short answer yes."

I think I would be happier if I won the lottery, so yes.

Whoami

Money is necessary for life, whether it can buy happiness???, It depends on what is your definition of Happiness.

Happiness is an inner state, not controlled by others. You can be poor and happy. You might not feel safe, healthy, well-fed, etc. most of us wouldn’t be happy about that. But I’ve met some homeless people who were happy. It is a state of mind, but we’ve been conditioned to pair our state of mind to all those good things money can buy. The question, then, has no simple or correct answer.

Lovelight

I agree with you all too!

It sure is a tool and whether it 'buys' misery or happiness depends on the way one gets, manages and uses too.

pmvines

@Greybeard I agree, you can be poor and extremely happy. However, even with poverty one can still have their needs met, but if you are at a point where your basic needs are not being met, it will be very mentally taxing and emotionally exhausting, which also takes a physical toll.

I_am_Polylover

@cuddlebugTM like button

I think all happiness comes from within. Money as a tool can make your life better, or easier, but not happier, that has to come from you.

I used to be chronically depressed, then one day I decided that I was going to be happy. I started forcing smiles, and recognizing the good things in my life. Pretty soon the smiles were no longer forced, and I was indeed happy. That came from within me, and I haven't been chronically depressed since then.

Jim

cuddlebugTM

It’s easier to find the happiness within if you are not full of anxiety about how you will feed your children or pay your basic bills . Also happiness is harder to feel if you are dealing with clinical depression , grief , chronic pain etc . Money can help with these things . $ can help you get better mental health care , pain Meds or treatments , help to take care of things you can’t do physically or don’t want to do because it’s so taxing . It’s actool to help you find your way to happy it isn’t directly bought with money . I’ve met miserably people with tons of money !

Lovelight

Greybeard (and anyone with similar view now, I'll present my response) I see where you're coming from. I get that such questions are a grey area more or less and can be tricky too.

However, I don't suppose one can be happy while they're starving or feeling unsafe, cold from lack of suitable shelter, not being able to take care of their health and well-being, etc. Or even constantly worrying about if they'll have enough or any to take care of theirs or the needs of loved ones. And if they're 'happy' it's only a matter of time before reality and negative emotions hit. Though given that happiness is not just one thing, these times are the most important to 'count our blessings' *while we work towards gaining more 'blissings' and reaching our goals.

Also, I think happiness has subdivisions and some happiness comes from our inner world, money/tools/things/, the external world and the experiences we have/give. That's why if someone gifts us something we like most likely we feel 'happy' and or grateful too for a time.

I think the key to "reaching" the 'full' potential of happiness is to have balance more or less between the internal and external worlds.

cuddlebugTM

Agree @Lovelight

Yes.

sweetangelpm

Money is there to pay for the necessities in life. Happiness comes from within. :-)

Lovelight

No ability to pay for necessities = less to no happiness.

Happiness comes from both within and the outter world.

Balance is key.

Balance is overrated.

Gimmeh my monies!!!

JasonCuddles

Yes, but once you can do what you want it has diminishing returns. Or so I've heard.

Like perfection balance is an illusion. Something to strive for.

I've seen too many people chasing both and miss out on life.

I'll take my swiss cake rolls and jell-o bath, thank you.

cuddlebugTM

Lol chococuddles . Jello bath sounds fun lol

Gotta have the whipped cream on top!

Boop!

Yes, it's the "sweet stuff" in life that keeps us happy.

Lovelight

Very funny SweetStuff. Just don't have too much sweets.

Extra whipped cream please!!!!

Morpheus

@choco you wouldn’t need money in a barter system

sweetangelpm

:-) lol!

I_am_Polylover

I don't have anxiety or worry about anything until I actually need to deal with it. There is no point to worry in advance about something that may or may not happen, because there is nothing you can do about it anyway. Happiness can handle clinical depression, as it did for me. Grief is generally an appropriate feeling, but it should be only temporary, or come in waves. My chronic pain can sometimes, but rarely does affect my disposition, but not my happiness. I agree that money is a tool to help make things better or easier.

If I am starving, I am happy that I have the ability to find something to eat. If unsafe, there generally isnt much time to think about happiness one way or another. if cold, I am happy that I have the ability to find or build shelter. A large part of health and well being is attitude. Again, I don't worry about anything until I have to do something about it. Yes, negative feelings do come, but they also go away, especially if you have a basically happy and positive nature. Counting my blessings, and recognizing the good things in my life are major factors in creating my happiness.

I must restate what @Greybeard, @sweetangelpm, and have already said, "Happiness comes from within."

Jim

sweetangelpm

:-)

@Morpheus are you in the right thread? hahaha

The barter thread is thattaway --->

Matchball93

I think that is a very interesting and important question. For a long time I have also thought can money can make you happy, that you'd have 'won' in life when you're earning a huge amountof money.

However, for the past couple of years, my mind has been changing on this matter. Of course, money can help to make life easier in the way that it allows you to buy things without having to worry too much about whether or not you can afford them. That indeed is a nice feeling.
But the issue is that you fall for seeing everything in life in the context related to money.

We, in our family, have relatives who are very wealthy and know other people who are as well.
I can honestly tell you they're not happier than anybody else. The problems, fears and worries they had did'nt disappear, they simply changed and are still present in another form.
Many of them are obsessed with money and sadly it has become their only purpose in life. Oftentimes they're anxious they might lose it all. It is not a nice way to live in my eyes.

For me it was an incredible experience to travel the Middle East and some party of Asia. Many people there do not have a living standard that is comparible to a european/american one - but they were happy. They found their personal luck, happiness and fulfilment in their families, friends, relationships and religion.
I was very impressed by this as I initially was very confused, asking myself 'how in the world are these people so full of joy and happiness when they have so little...?'.

To try to sum this up I have to say that money can make your life easier, but true happiness only can come from within and is not related to how much money you make.

In fact I quite often get to hear that I'm after money as I'm a medical student. In my home country many people have the assumption that being a doctor will make you rich (which is NOT true) and therefore oftentimes look at you in a weird way. But I'm not doing it for the money I might earn in certain branches of the profession, I enjoy doing it as it gives me the feeling of making this world a slightly better place.

Please forgive me any grammatical errors, I'm from Germany.

Have a nice day!