How to respond - "Money doesn't buy happiness."

[Rickson9]

How exactly do you respond to someone who says money doesn't buy happiness?

"According to scientific research re: hedonic treadmilll that is conditionally true. What's your point?"

 

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[Kak]

"According to scientific research re: hedonic treadmilll that is conditionally true. What's your point?"

You might as well be speaking Russian.

 

[The-J]

"Tell me about that vacation you had last summer. ...mhm, that sounds awesome. Wouldn't you wanna live there?"

To me, the relationship between money and happiness is more complicated than a simple linear or logarithmic function.

Maslow's hierarchy seems to be highly relevant. But if money buys happiness, why are there unhappy rich people? Do they simply not know where to shop?

 

[nzerinto]

I actually completely agree - money doesn't buy happiness.

It can buy a ton of freedom, however.

The people who argue why some rich people are miserable and why some dirt poor people are so happy don't look at the full picture. Money isn't the only factor in determining how happy you'll be - try adding all the other emotions and human experiences.

You simply cannot divorce the human from the emotion, therefore the argument is flawed to begin with.

 

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[Texan]

Money may not make you happy but it sure does put a smile on your face when you're sad!

My father-in-law used to say that.

 

[Kak]

Money just bought me a ticket to a caribbean island for the rest of the week

 

[MooreMillions]

How exactly do you respond to someone who says money doesn't buy happiness?
You are absolutely right, it makes life a whole lot easier.

I mean, I understand rich people when they say, "I'd rather cry in the back seat of a Rolls Royce, then smile in the front seat of a Honda".

Money does not affect or mean the same thing to everybody and that's a good thing.

I know that after making a certain amount, money can't make you any more happy...but are you really saying that someone making $30k per year is just as happy as someone making $3 million per year?

Yes and no. Depends on who is making the 30 and who is making the 3 mil.

 

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[MJ DeMarco]

Since I've neglected to comment on these "happiness" threads, here is my official response to this thread, as well as the other.

Can Money Buy Happiness? I Dunno; Can it Buy Brocolli and Cookies?

 

[BrucetonGuy]

MJ explained it all with his response.

Here is how I look at it:

As many of you agree, there are two important factors to look at...money and time. In my situation, my wife and I bought an old farm house (built in 1900) five years ago. It is a beautiful Victorian style house that sits on about half an acre. The house needs a lot of updates and renovations which I have been working on for the past five years. Whenever someone asks me what's taking so long to finish the house, I say "There are two factors, time and money. Often they don't coincide." Meaning that when I have TIME to work on the projects, (TIME away from the 9-5) I don't have the money to do the projects. When I have the MONEY to do the projects, I can't seem to find the TIME due to work schedule, kids after-school activities, etc.

For me, having money would buy my happiness because it brings together the two factors of TIME AND MONEY. Money buys my time because I no longer have to trade-in the time at my job for money. I will have TIME and MONEY to be able to complete the projects that I have to finish on the house or whatever else I elect to do with my time.

As MJ, mentioned, with MONEY you give yourself TIME which provides the HAPPINESS. If you want to travel, you can. If you want to play softball 3 times a week, you can. If you want to lay around the house in your pajama's playing Playstation or XBOX, you can. As Vigilante once stated..."Because I Can"

 

[Rickson9]

It all started in the mid-2000s, when his (John McAfee) tech fortune topped $100 million.

"Stuff by itself has little value," he told me in 2010, in an interview recounted in "The High-Beta Rich."

He said he rarely visited the houses he owned, or enjoyed the things he bought. The more he bought, in fact, the less he enjoyed his bounty. Each successive purchase needed to be larger than the last to excite him - and soon it all became just "stuff."

He said the "pursuit of things" distracted him from his real joy in life, which was creating companies. He told me that too many entrepreneurs in America are just in it for the wealth, not for creating something of lasting value.

"We have over time equated entrepreneurialism with the drive to accumulate wealth," he said. "It's a perversion of values."

McAfee's Unusual Gospel Of Wealth Led Him To Belize

Aside from the story about murder and political vengeance, most people who read the article won't be aware that it is also describing the common phenomenon of the hedonic treadmill.

Don't put the burden of happiness on money. Money buys you the freedom to do whatever you want. Which is a double edged sword depending on your personality.

I've never met anybody who was at a lower level of wealth, and happy with an inexpensive item, who increased their wealth 10,000-fold and was still happy with that same item.

If you want money, focus on the best way to get that. If you want to be happy, then focus on the best way to get that. If you want both, then do the things that are necessary to have both.

Don't assume that being happy is a substitute for money. Vice versa.

 

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[The-J]

Now that I think about it more and more (the past few days I've been thinking about my own happiness, my mental stability, my financial situation, my goals in life, etc been a really reflective past few days for me), I have come to the conclusion that this is a really stupid thing to argue about.

If money and the things it can buy makes you happy, then they make you happy. If they don't, then they don't.

Happiness is a complicated concept to understand yet an easy one to feel, and every single person on this earth that understands the very concept of happiness has a different interpretation of it. Some people correlate it to happy memories, some people correlate it to happy feelings, and some people correlate it to things and actions that inspire them, among many other things.

Just be happy and don't let anyone tell you how you should be happy (unless you are happy by hurting people, then it's a problem).

 

[Kak]

Money bought me this. Im pretty damn happy right now. Just saying.

 

[The-J]

Money bought me this. Im pretty damn happy right now. Just saying.

Cigars? Golf? Networking? My god, you're the most boring 22/23 year old ever.

 

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[dnice]

I agree Jordan was a scammer but the video from Boiler Room is exactly how Jordan spoke to his employees based on his book. To keep on topic, it was obvious that money did not buy him happiness and he had a lot of it. He spent it on hookers, drugs and material things and nothing made him happy. So in his case money did not make him happy.

Jordan is a tool. He was a scammer thats all. He stole money from people.. and trust me i will still give a scammer the credit if they deserve it but he doesent. He got out of jail and tried to open two businesses which failed miserably....hmm what happened to the "principles" this guru is selling everyone now? Its easy to be good at sales when you lie to people in order to get people sending checks in then steal their money. Joke, dont even listen to that guy or anything he says, he had a bunch of drug addicts calling people 300x each per day lying to get their money then they stole it and put it into one of their fake stocks, not hard to do... you've got to be a real scumbag with some big ba***, or just rat everyone out when you get caught like he did.

 

[stranger]

Money is a freedom in our not free world.

 

[AndrewS]

money allows you freedom, it is your choice how you use that freedom.

 

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[Kak]

Cigars? Golf? Networking? My god, you're the most boring 22/23 year old ever.

You know you are jealous. Business is my life. I love making money and enjoying myself while doing it. That picture is more about what is behind the cigar.

 

[theBiz]

this thread needs to die haha,

Money buys freedom to do what you want, when you want it.

If you value freedom, money is important.
If you do not value freedom, money is not important.

Done.

 

[howandwhy]

" Money does not buy happiness. Money is root of all sufferings"

Send me all your money and I will suffer for you. How does that sound?

 

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[Jonleehacker]

If your happiness depends on anything, then you'll never be really happy. Real happiness is a fruit of your soul or your way of being or your personal development.

Why I think that money is associated with happiness is that SUCCESSFUL people have money, and becoming successful requires the kind of inner development that DOES LEAD TO HAPPINESS.

So it would be more accurate to say that Becoming successful buys you happiness (and brings money).

 

[The-J]

You know you are jealous. Business is my life. I love making money and enjoying myself while doing it. That picture is more about what is behind the cigar.

I'll be jealous of you in the islands, but cigars and golf are not my thing.

 

[Alchemy]

In a way, they are right....
Money doesn't buy happiness. It just gets rid of everything that pisses you off.

 

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[AlasdairM]

It can buy a ton of freedom, however.

You can be free without money. A hermit living in the mountains might feel he is completely free.

Also, you might want to read about Derek Sivers who sold CDbaby for $20M, put all the money in a trust for musicians, and sold every possession he had. He considers himself to be free, and after all, it is only a state of mind, so if he feels that way, then he is.

 

[Vigilante]

You can be free without money. A hermit living in the mountains might feel he is completely free.

Also, you might want to read about Derek Sivers who sold CDbaby for $20M, put all the money in a trust for musicians, and sold every possession he had. He considers himself to be free, and after all, it is only a state of mind, so if he feels that way, then he is.

You might want to look into that a bit more.

He put the money into essentially what is a bank account. That bank account is throwing him over a million a year. When he DIES the balance goes to a charitable organization, if there is anything left. He takes a disbursement of 5% of the balance per year, every year in perpetuity until he dies. It's the equivalent of taking a lifetime disbursement from a lottery winning (with the added benefit of letting the balance grow with interest tax free) vs. taking a 1x lump sum and paying tax up front on that. He will make $1.1m per year, every year, until he dies or until the cash runs out. He's currently 43 years old. He's hoping the balance can yield at least 5% interest per year so that the money machine can continue to throw off $1.1m per year, otherwise he will be dipping into the principal, creating a death spiral that would not sustain the estimated 40 years of $1.1m in annual payments he receives.

It is true that after he dies, what ever is left (if anything) goes to charity. That's noble for sure, but will occur post death. In addition, I bet he gives significantly from the $1.1m he receives annually in perpetuity.

Rather than get $22m up front, and lose half to taxes to a bankable net of $11m... he's taking $1.1m per year over 40+ years. Smart, really. And at the end, a charity ends up with what ever principle remains. It's a cool strategy.

 

[OzGrinder]

lol this is classic. Why are you guys still bothering to argue about this? This was the trolliest thread of all time.

The OP posts the trolliest question you can ever ask on a money related forum and hasn't responded since.
He's sitting back with popcorn right now having a laugh op:
Money may have bought the popcorn but you guys provided the entertainment for free

Thread should have ended with MJ's response IMO.

 

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[Vigilante]

The whole site is for entertainment and education. Hang around for a while and you will notice that the party doesn't end just because MJ chimes in. You might be surprised to find out that some people (gasp) even think that MJ has been wrong once or twice! The only way a thread stops when MJ posts is if MJ closes it, and usually that is over some degree of jackassery. Sit back, eat your popcorn, and enjoy the show.

 

[OzGrinder]

You might be surprised to find out that some people (gasp) even think that MJ has been wrong once or twice!

Never! Blasphemy!

 

[andviv]

Why are you guys still bothering to argue about this?

Because of this:

Rather than get $22m up front, and lose half to taxes to a bankable net of $11m... he's taking $1.1m per year over 40+ years. Smart, really. And at the end, a charity ends up with what ever principle remains. It's a cool strategy.

And thanks to the troll, I now know something that people pay thousands of dollars to learn.

Thank you troll, I owe you $1,000 in Forum money.

P.S. I doubt he was trolling, but thanks again

 

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[Ãœbertreffen]

Guy 1: "Money doesn't buy happiness..."
Guy 2: "...Oh yeah, I'll show you happiness!"


Topics alike are just politics. In the end it's just a dick swinging contest.

I'm not sure why everyone is so worried about everyone else when most don't even have their own two feet planted.

Your best bet is to just hand these people MJ's book and refer them to the section where it clearly defines the title of this thread. Let them decide what it means or sit back and listen as you never know what golden nuggets might come out of it.

Happy trails.



- Devin

 

[DeletedUser2]

to become financially free, it only takes about 10 min, just lend me your check book....

Ill make you "financially free" pretty quick :smilielol: