Motto: "Rich people aren't happy. From the day they're born to the day they die, they think they're happy, but trust me...they ain't." -- from The Simpsons

Comments, opinions?

I don't know that I'd necessarily be any happier, but I'd be more secure. And I'd probably have more free time. And I wouldn't be worried about balancing my budget, and where am I gonna get the money to fix/replace things when they break down...I could go on and on, but you get the picture.

Well.. I have been on all ends of the scale (save for filthy rich), so I think I can state a nice valid opinion

When I was poor as a rat, I had nothing. I ate rye bread with p-nut butter for a week once, since that was all we had. Was I unhappy? No. Sure I worried about money, but no, I was not unhappy.

When I was rich (ex hubs had a really nice job), I was happy as well. I don't think we lived any differently than we did when we had not even a nickle to bite on, but what we DID do with the money was get some things that made fun even more fun. Things we used, like an open sailing boat. We didn't go out to eat each night, we didn't do extravaganza stuff.. heck.. we didn't even buy more clothes. We were happy that way.

Now I am on the little above poor stage, and I am still happy. I have everything I could ever want, I have a cat who loves me (and the food I give her), I have my basic needs (internet, food, drinks, not in that order, a job, one friend, my dad), and I don't have to turn every nickle over 15 times.


I think it is not the money that makes you happier or less happy (see above, I went through all stages and was happy all along them), it is the estranging part that makes you less happy, and when you have money, I have seen many do this, you buy things you don't need and that don't make a difference. You stay unhappy.

It doesn't buy you friends, it doesn't buy you someone who loves you, and it doesn't buy you happiness at all. Happiness is something that, so I have found, does not have anything to do with money. So, conclusion: money does not make you happier. All it does is make you worry a little less, but happier? No.

So for example if I had money enough to leave my job and travel around the world, see my friends and family (that I can't see otherwise) wouldn't that make me happy(er)? If I had less money and I could not eat when I'm hungry, would have to live in a small and cold house wouldn't that make me unhappy(er)?

Yes, if I had more money I would worry about other problems and there will be enough things to be unhappy about. By the way, to respond to Lisa, having more time on their hands can make some people depressed. On the contrary, if I had less money I would become happier for things that I now take for granted -- so there would be a tendency of leveling my overall happiness. (e.g. a poor guy who gets a Ford is probably just as happy as a rich guy who gets a Rolls-Royce).

Also, there's no way somebody could be happy in any conditions and all the time (which makes sense from evolutionary point of view because otherwise people would not move their lazy asses and they would just die of hunger without producing kids)

In conclusion, money makes you happy. But, does money keep you happy? Not necessarily. So in a way one could say that the happiness that one gets when they get a raise or they win the lottery is a false one because there's no guarantee is going to hold and most likely it won't, but the fact remains: most of the people would be happy to hear they won a big lottery.

Additional clarifications: is any rich guy happy: of course not. Is any poor guy unhappy: of course not. Is any rich guy happier than a poor guy: of course not. Are majority of rich people happier that poor people: that's a little bit trickier because happiness is a perception and can't be quantified, but anyway I think I saw some polls that suggested that rich people are happier in general.

Finally, I think it's only a culturally influenced rejection of the evidence that makes people pick a negative answer out of a larger range of issues that have potential different answers (that's probably because money in general is deemed as unholy or because it demands too much trouble for too little benefit). It's also because happiness depends on many things, so much so that it might seems that it doesn't depends on money at all (one could say: when I was a kid I didn't have money at all and I was happier than now), the question is pretty misleading because of that, it's almost like asking: "does peace make you happier?" some people who lived both in times of peace and in times of war might tell you that they were happy in both situations, people are still being born, people fall in love, people get sick and die disregarding of political situations, at most you get answers like "war makes me unhappy", but it doesn't mean that if it were peace in the world there would be only happy people.

But let me guess "does peace make you happier?" would get more positive answers than this question about money and I think this is mainly because peace has a better cultural "image" then money.

Not only that, in my eyes it depends also on the personal outlook on life of the person who is asked this question has. Also the way in which a person was brought up matters a great deal.

And of course pretty much no-one would say that a war (the contrary of peace, in my eyes, to turn the question in the 180 way) would make them happier, so it is logical that a lot will say yes to the peace making them happier question.

However.. I say peace is the opposite of war (roughly speaking that is), but even THAT term is subjective, since peace can mean many things to different people as well.

I guess it just keeps boiling down to personal factors on what people will answer when asked that.

I also don't know about many people who complain they have too much money, because the solution is rather simple, if you find somebody tell them to write me a check -- problem solved.

People with loads of money don't think they have enough money. I read about that somewhere, but I can't recall where.

I'm happy when I don't have to worry about the basic needs of mine and my family being met. I'm happy when I don't have to worry about anything. Money can make me happy in the sense that I wouldn't have to worry about basic needs, I wouldn't have to worry about medical bills or dental bills or any bills for that matter.

Money can't bring me the knowledge that my kids will turn out ok or that my husband will love me forever. It can't give me peace with myself.

So, money can give me a certain degree of happiness, not the money itself, but the burden it can remove. It can't fix all of my problems, but neither can love...or brownies...or peace.

I have to agree, happiness is a perspective.

Until recently I never lived above the poverty line myself, and even then not really. True there where periods in my young life where money there was money within the family, but for the most of it I dealt with hand me down everything, never seeming to have food just on hand and all the other things I’ve viewed as luxury.

Now it is a bit different with more money coming into this household, for the last few years I’ve even managed to save, hard at that, to visit my friends. And yet I do have to admit it hasn’t given me any real happiness over what I normally feel, though I am broken. I’ve never ‘been apart’ from my friends, they are always close to me in my heart and I see them all the time online where I made most of them.

Was it fun? Yeah, getting to meet these people face to face is one of the highlights of my life and will always be. Seeing them and hopefully again and again in the coming years before I ‘settle down,’ sometime after 2012, got plans to be in S. America for that one, is one of the few things I have planned.

Money doesn't make me happy.

Knowing that my partner and I can pay the bills, can feed ourselves, can buy a few shinies, can go out occasionally, that makes me happy.

Knowing that we can deal with emergencies, that if we lose our jobs, or the car breaks down, that we can still go on without too much trouble, that makes me happy.

Money doesn't - security does. Money's just the means to an end.

Who said "Heaven and Hell are a state of mind"...? I think he nailed it.

As Eadwine Rose said, money isn´t like a magic wand that can make you happy if you don´t have the capacity to be happy no matter what. Seeing the best side of things, being hopeful and optimistic despite low times... if you can´t do that, then money can buy you the trappings of happiness at best, a hollow fragile external illusion without the genuine core of happiness.

Also, there was an opinion poll in Germany awhile ago where people where asked to define what happiness was. The entry which won said: "Happiness lies in comparison" - and it´s so true, however much or little you have/are/become, there´s always someone whom you envy or pity (or both!). And in that sense, happiness is a very democratic pursuit indeed because EVERYONE who feels rotten can make themselves feel happier just by realising how much worse off other people are, often within their own circle of family and friends.

IMHO, money won´t make me happy, because I always have been a happy person, but inasfar as it would solve the existential problems of a huge lot of people I care for (who cannot buy medicines, wood for heating, or send their kids to school), then money would definitely make them happy, and that in turn would make me happier. Or something.

Posted a poll: http://flourisse.9.forumer.com/index.php?act=ST&f=8&t=74

Ah but this IS a different question you ask there. This thread is going from the fact that the money is there already. The poll is for just finding out you won it. Quite different.

I don't think there are many who would say: screw the money.

Where did you get that idea. The question was in general about money, if more money makes you happy, if less money make you less happy, that's what I meant, it wasn't specific like "when you look at your money account (or in your wallet) does that makes you happy"

It wasn't: hey Eadwine I will show you 1 dollar to see if money makes you happy

Oh.. that is how the poll came across to me!

yes, in the terms of the poll.
i would be happier to get the money vs. not getting the money.

i've had money in the past and i know what that's like, but it's transitory.
and truthfully, when the money served its purpose and accomplished what i wanted to do with it, it was a relief when it was gone.

i think the key is to have just enough.