Common Cents # 40 - Can Money Buy Happiness?

 

Can money buy happiness?

 

When I recently heard that a person won one billion dollars in a lottery, I wondered “How long will that person be happy?”   Does the overwhelming reality of how to manage their new life cause happiness or a weight of responsibility and profound change?  Generally, people with few financial resources think that money can bring happiness and people with plenty of money might have some easier parts in their lives, but know that more happiness does not always follow an increasing bank balance.  If we have a low income or not much money in the bank, a little more money might make us a little happier for a while. Up to a point.

Surveys show that once the basic necessities of life are covered, the magic number where happiness peaks for an individual is $75,000 a year income. Below that income level, a little bit more will relieve stress and give a little more contentment. Income levels above $75,000 don’t always increase happiness and in fact, may have an opposite effect.

Buying more stuff, more clothes, bigger houses, or a string of luxury automobiles do not bring happiness and in fact may add to the stress with unwanted responsibility and maintenance costs. In most cases less is indeed more.

What money can buy is choices. We can identify what really brings happiness with the hope of actually obtaining it. Many people find that two of best uses of  money is travel and shared experiences. Taking a vacation, planning a trip, and getting away from the everyday routine can have tremendous effect on our state of mind. Being able to provide opportunities to spend time with the people we love most doing things that make memories that last a lifetime indeed grows happiness.

The single biggest factor to a long and fulfilling life is found in the authentic personal relationships with family and friends. Using our money to get together by going out to eat, shared events such as sporting events or concerts, or shared vacations are some of the ways that money can buy happiness.

Money can also buy time. Using money to buy time by hiring people to do time consuming tasks that we don’t enjoy or don’t do well can bring happiness. For example, having somebody mow the lawn or hiring a lawn service can buy time and therefore increase happiness by allowing people to do things they enjoy more.

So, can money buy happiness? It can, but we must be careful to spend it on the right things. That is why working longer hours, skipping vacation days, or striving to make more money is counter-productive if our resources are not used wisely.

We should spend our money to buy time: time with friends, time to enjoy hobbies, and time to do all the things we really want to do. That is the way that money can buy happiness.