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Money Doesn't Buy HappYness?

sparechange

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I went for a walk feeling quite hungry craving some nasty 7/11 chicken at night, the hunger pains get better.. I'm on a 2 meal a day diet and it's great to see results in regards to physical appearance. As I'm waiting in line a couple of drunk people come into the store acting obnoxious, geez why is it only drunk people have the most fun around sober people? :rofl:

The man offered to buy me a pack of smokes, to which I declined (I don't smoke and absolutely hate the smell of it) but he kept insisting to buy me something. He came up with the idea of gifting me a lottery ticket. Trying to figure out why a random stranger is so set on being kind, perhaps he won big at the casino? All of them are closed due to the Chinese Flu, maybe an affluent business man? Or someone that finds me attractive? Heck who knows, let's just go on with it... blame the booze. Ok... I guess, after scratching the first one you could guess what happened, of course a losing ticket, dreams of yachts, models, bottles and red Ferrari's out the window! Although again this intoxicated person wanted to buy another so Mr Drunk Man left me a ticket for the lotto 649, grand prize.......

$17,000,000

It was a funny feeling holding up a potential winner, but I'll need to wait until tomorrow to find out. As a thought experiment I visualized and dreamed of what I'd do with the cash... And then calculated how many sales in my own business needs to get that amount :rofl: there is a thread posted on here about what would you do with XXXX amount of money after you've bought all the cars, jets, mansions and other nonsense. So actually I came up with this idea in my head, I'd honestly probably just buy a house up in a secluded area, isolate myself from the world and spend my days surfing, snowboarding and lounge around in my pool.

But then what? After a few years wouldn't it all just get boring? People tend to get used to the luxuries that they have, even a shiny red Ferrari and private jet would eventually become ''the new normal.'' I'm probably one of the rare few people on this earth that has experienced money and poverty. I've been homeless and have literally starved on the streets, and now am in a big million dollar house in Vancouver (just renting a room) with a full belly all the time, really you should see my belly!

It seems to be a common theme with the rich, but if you really think long and hard about it... maybe those silly rich people are right. While money is a great tool, money itself can't really buy happiness, call me a douche, personally it's quite entertaining for me to read about celebrity's with depression (which most of the time imo is self inflicted from drugs and alcohol) I use to read those headlines all the time while sleeping outside on a cold sidewalk in the middle of winter and was always happy to know even in a crappy situation like mine they feel worse than me.

So back to the 17 million, what is there to do that you couldn't do now? While there are alot of expensive hobbies, you don't exactly need millions of dollars to enjoy certain ones, snowboarding a season i.e would be roughly a few thousand dollars, boating, jetsking, paragliding, traveling to various countries all could be under the $10k mark. Which is chump change right? Isn't it kind of funny how some of the most important things can't be bought? True love, friends, health and youth? Would you rather be a 70 year old billionaire, or a 20 year old broke bum?

Hope you enjoyed the rant, enjoy your time on earth, some of the happiest moments of mine were usually involving fun times with friends.... and that's something that can't really be bought.
 
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TheGreek

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I understand your point. Money isn't everything and I agree with that. However, happiness is just a state of mind. It has nothing to do with money, hobbies, health, and friends.

On the other hand, I believe that money can buy freedom. I don't care about expensive cars, houses, and stuff. They don't motivate me. I care about being 100% free to do anything I want whenever I want.
 

SchenkFinancial

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“Does money make you happy?“ A question that is asked very often.

There are also various sayings on this subject. For example the saying "Money alone does not make happy". I have heard this saying many times. The point is that nobody says that money alone makes you happy. The question is: is it better to have more money than less money?

I think if I were to hand out 200 € bills here in downtown Munich, most people would take it because they think it's better to have more than less. There are scientific researches that have dealt with the question whether money makes you happy. There were different theories, for example that it only makes you happy up to a certain point.

In any case, I believe that for a person who values freedom and who thinks that freedom is something that contributes to happiness, it is better to have more money, provided that he or she does not spend the money with full hands. Then again he would be unfree.

This has also been investigated. There has been research in America between different types within millionaires, those who have spent a lot and those who have rather not spent so much. Basically, those who didn't spend so much were happier. This is because when you get used to a certain standard and you always have to be afraid that you won't be able to maintain it, it’s of course a challenging situation.

The feeling of freedom alone, however, is beautiful. Let's say you sell your company and spontaneously decide to live in your apartment in New York for two months and just do what you want to do. Or let's say you book a trip and don't worry about the price. The feeling alone of being able to do this is wonderful.
 
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WabiSabi

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"Not all treasure is silver and gold mate" - Captain Jack Sparrow

However, life is EXPENSIVE and money is tool to get what you want, the less you have the worse off you are. On a practical level you NEED money. If your spending it on crap like drugs of course you'll be unhappy. They're searching for lasting pleasure and you can't find that in drugs or possessions. Money gives you that freedom to find whats valuable to you.

The hermit lifestyle is a hollow one, at least for me, I don't think it's particularly healthy. Interacting, giving back and sharing seems to be the more fulfilling. In terms of enjoyment creation is the ultimate luxury.
 
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ljean

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Money + freedom = happiness

My wife was sitting around this morning feeling bored. She asked a few friends if they wanted to come over for dinner tonight but no one was available. Out of the blue her brother sent a text and said we should come visit sometime in Colorado. It took a few minutes of thought but we were pretty much like well I guess we dont have anything better to do, lets go. So we are driving 10 hrs to Colorado tomorrow to stay for a week or so. We airbnb'd a house on the side of a mountain about 10 minutes from her brother. We could not have taken a last minute trip like this without the $$ to pay for it or the freedom from work or other obligations.
 

farmer79

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It may not make you happy. But no money at all for anything definitely makes you unhappy.
 

Carnegie

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Happiness is an internal state, nothing external will change that in my opinion. I suppose if most of your lack of happiness is rooted in ones financial problems, then I suppose it gives you happiness should money be acquired - but isn't that merely relief and contrast against the previous misery? I don't suppose it would suddenly make you a happy person.

I think of it like my sister...

She's a very unhappy person. She takes anti-depressants, sees a therapist, has attempted ending it all on numerous occasions. Nothing in her life is her fault. Everything is something external. Life acts on her and she's a passenger in her own life. She's never once looked inwards and assessed herself.

She loved horses so she bought her dream house with a stables and field. Made her unhappier.

She thought she needed something in her life, so she got a dog. Still unhappy. Then another dog, still unhappy.

She felt it was because she was single. So she found a boyfriend that she loved - still unhappy.

She then felt it was because she wasn't married. So she got married and was still miserable.

Then she decided it was because she needed a child, as of course, everyone knows children are the answer to all woes. I'd say she's more unhappy than ever. Child number 2 is en route as well.

Anyway, the point I'm trying to make is this. I think that people see money as their reason for being miserable. They think when they get rich, or get a abetter job, they'll be less unhappy. What then happens (find the job or become rich) they discover that actually all it's done is given them more money. They're still unhappy. Perhaps more so as they've got what they wanted and it wasn't the magic happiness salve they'd always thought it was.

Happiness is an internal game. Get happy from the inside out. Not the outside in.

I think one reason I'm not rich is because I'm genuinely happy. I sometimes think that somewhere deep in my psyche I believe money would break me and I'm simply protecting myself.
 

sparechange

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Happiness is an internal state, nothing external will change that in my opinion. I suppose if most of your lack of happiness is rooted in ones financial problems, then I suppose it gives you happiness should money be acquired - but isn't that merely relief and contrast against the previous misery? I don't suppose it would suddenly make you a happy person.

I think of it like my sister...

She's a very unhappy person. She takes anti-depressants, sees a therapist, has attempted ending it all on numerous occasions. Nothing in her life is her fault. Everything is something external. Life acts on her and she's a passenger in her own life. She's never once looked inwards and assessed herself.

She loved horses so she bought her dream house with a stables and field. Made her unhappier.

She thought she needed something in her life, so she got a dog. Still unhappy. Then another dog, still unhappy.

She felt it was because she was single. So she found a boyfriend that she loved - still unhappy.

She then felt it was because she wasn't married. So she got married and was still miserable.

Then she decided it was because she needed a child, as of course, everyone knows children are the answer to all woes. I'd say she's more unhappy than ever. Child number 2 is en route as well.

Anyway, the point I'm trying to make is this. I think that people see money as their reason for being miserable. They think when they get rich, or get a abetter job, they'll be less unhappy. What then happens (find the job or become rich) they discover that actually all it's done is given them more money. They're still unhappy. Perhaps more so as they've got what they wanted and it wasn't the magic happiness salve they'd always thought it was.

Happiness is an internal game. Get happy from the inside out. Not the outside in.

I think one reason I'm not rich is because I'm genuinely happy. I sometimes think that somewhere deep in my psyche I believe money would break me and I'm simply protecting myself.

Agree about it being more internal, always find it interesting high profile people struggling with depression and when I compare myself to them they are much better off than me.
 

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