Can Money Buy Happiness?

If there is a universal subject which has the ability to grab any persons undivided attention it’s definitely the topic of Money.

We first discover it as babies through subliminal messages. We slowly start to understand its importance through the movies we watch and music we hear all around us. Then we finally graduate to using it and feel its transcendental power through consumption.

So the question is, can something so all-encompassing in our daily life make us happy?

Photo by Mathieu Stern on Unsplash 

Money isn't everything or the most important thing but it sure does help. If you've ever seen someone suffering with a severe illness and unable to afford decent health care, you'll reconsider ideals such as “All you need is love.” 

The problem with sweeping statements like these is that they turn a blind eye to the harsh facts of reality, such as quality education, good healthcare and a healthy diet. 

My childhood memories are filled with statements implying that money is the root of all evil, while at the same time contradicting that very notion by emphasising the importance of going to school to earn money.

Photo by Mieke Campbell on Unsplash

There's no better way to put it than Bill Murray "The best way to teach your kids about taxes is by eating 30% of their ice cream." 

Economists and Psychologists have spent decades studying the relation between wealth and happiness. They have generally concluded that wealth increases human happiness when it lifts people out of abject poverty and into the middle class, but that it does little to increase happiness thereafter. 

We are all guilty of thinking that an abundance of something will give us pleasure. These are the same traps we fell into as kids thinking a particular toy or sweet will give us eternal happiness. But after a few hours that same toy will be lying in the corner abandoned, while the mind is searching for something newer, bigger and better. 

The only difference between kids and adults is that the toys become more expensive and they cost us a great deal of time and worry trying to acquire them.

Photo by Melanie Pongratz on Unsplash

So if you're a boring, dull and unimaginative individual and think money is going to change those qualities. You will be surprised to find out that money only magnifies those traits.

It takes years to build up healthy habits such as saving, eating well and emotional intelligence. Our delusions of grandeur that money will fix all of our problems is completely false.

How many times have we seen people who win the lottery and become multi-millionaires overnight, but lose that fortune in a few years or succumb to the forces of depression.

Photo by Jakob Owens on Unsplash 

Money in its own capacity isn't worth anything, that paper is simply a currency of value to exchange for things we truly value. So if our core values are negative, the experiences we purchase with that currency will ultimately be destructive.

That's where the notion "Money is the root of all evil” comes from. But we need to be careful of these statements because the people who say that money is the root of all evil, probably have their fingers in your pockets, trying to lift out a few pennies for themselves.

It's not the physical property of money being labelled evil, but it's what lies deep within every individual which is evil. Money gives you a licence to obtain those desires.

Photo by Alexander Schimmeck on Unsplash 

Money is a psychological dilemma. I can make the statement now that, "I know I'll be responsible if I obtained a million dollars overnight." However, our future self is totally different to our present self.

The biggest problem with the future is that we are all rational, intelligent, disciplined creatures." But when forces in the present moment play their part, we are weak, irrational and undisciplined creatures.

Photo by Towfiqu barbhuiya on Unsplash 

Life is difficult, we don't need additional worries such as where our next meal is going to come from. Our energies should be invested in becoming the best versions of ourselves. This is where money plays an important role.

Money has the power to buy you time, to do the things you care about in your life. If used wisely those important things will be a by-product of happiness.

However, our desires if untamed are like wild horses running freely and if those desires happen to be vulgar, then they will be reflected in our choices.

We need to be mindful that the most important things can't be measured, for that reason money can never be everything but it certainly can be many things. So, as long as the things you purchase are aligned with who you are, money can buy happiness.