Does money buy happiness?

Sticking point wrote:

agreed............... wrote:

totally agree. i love to see it grow. and boy has it been growing recently.

This was the original question it seemed to me. Is watching wealth grow the fun part, or enjoying the fruits of the labor. I’m inclined to say the growing. Once you have enough, eh so what. Then it’s onto something else. ...

+1

Exactly. "..eh, so what." That says it all.

It’s better to be crying in your Tesla in the rain than on your bicycle.

Not sure if it has already been said, but yes, up to $75,000 a year does buy happiness. Sorry, do not have exact source.

runrincerepeat wrote:

One of my favorite quotes.

Dalai Lama -

When asked what surprised him about humanity the most, the Dalai Lama replied:

“Man. Because he sacrifices his health in order to make money. Then he sacrifices money to recuperate his health. And then he is so anxious about the future that he does not enjoy the present; the result being that he does not live in the present or the future; he lives as if he is never going to die, and then dies having never really lived.”

Sorry to burst your bubble, but Fake News. That quote was said by a boring, non-famous white guy, but of course never became popular when yoga lovers spread it around Facebook as a Dali Lama quote.

Don't know the answer but I can tell you where I stand. I would be considered fairly successful by most. 48yo, high paying job, large savings, will retire about 55 comfortably. I have anything I want, which isn't much. I also hate my f'ing job. Every day. I'll be really happy I stuck it out when I'm retired, and I'll be very happy in general. Until that day I'm miserable.

I guess the answer is yes and no.

TAA wrote:

It does in the short term. Eventually that will fade away. The human brain normalizes every situation.

This is the correct answer.

Trump dump wrote:

“Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards says nearly a third of lottery winners declare bankruptcy—meaning they were worse off than before they became rich. Other studies show that lottery winners frequently become estranged from family and friends, and incur a greater incidence of depression, drug and alcohol abuse, divorce, and ...”

http://fortune.com/2016/01/15/powerball-lottery-winners/

If you think money can't buy happiness, you're not spending it right.

vivalarepublica wrote:

It's very simple. Money can give you comfort, piece of mind, and the freedom to do more. And you can use the those opportunities to create a happier a life. But money in itself will make you no happier than you were before you had the money.

Well said and I concur...

Have money.. wrote:

Don't know the answer but I can tell you where I stand. I would be considered fairly successful by most. 48yo, high paying job, large savings, will retire about 55 comfortably. I have anything I want, which isn't much. I also hate my f'ing job. Every day. I'll be really happy I stuck it out when I'm retired, and I'll be very happy in general. Until that day I'm miserable.

I guess the answer is yes and no.

First off, you sound really miserable right now. What makes you so sure you will be happy by the time you retire? You give off a lot of mixed signals. For an example..I bold quoted the above which doesn’t make sense, please explain.

No.

Some people with money are happy, but some aren't. The question is, do you know yourself? Are you living the life you came here to live? Few are.

I flirt with happiness and feel a lot of joy. There's plenty of pain too. But I'm fairly fulfilled, and that is close to happy. Why? Because I've paid myself in TIME to live life on my terms. For me, that means self-employment, running, drawing comics, and making out pretty darn well over time in real estate.

Honestly though, the grind is the fun part and the wealth is the reward. It's like a condensed parallel form of training, but we can instantly see the results of our grind as opposed to the results of our running.

You think? wrote:

Have money.. wrote:

Don't know the answer but I can tell you where I stand. I would be considered fairly successful by most. 48yo, high paying job, large savings, will retire about 55 comfortably. I have anything I want, which isn't much. I also hate my f'ing job. Every day. I'll be really happy I stuck it out when I'm retired, and I'll be very happy in general. Until that day I'm miserable.

I guess the answer is yes and no.

First off, you sound really miserable right now. What makes you so sure you will be happy by the time you retire? You give off a lot of mixed signals. For an example..I bold quoted the above which doesn’t make sense, please explain.

Not sure what explanation you’re looking for that I haven’t given. I am f’ing miserable. No secret there. What you bolded is inconsequential. I have more money than I have wants. Nothing to report there. What I know is the day I don’t have to worry about my job is the day that I’m perfectly content and happy with my life. That will be about eight years from now. I’m not sure how to be more clear about this.

Have money.. wrote:

Don't know the answer but I can tell you where I stand. I would be considered fairly successful by most. 48yo, high paying job, large savings, will retire about 55 comfortably. I have anything I want, which isn't much. I also hate my f'ing job. Every day. I'll be really happy I stuck it out when I'm retired, and I'll be very happy in general. Until that day I'm miserable.

I guess the answer is yes and no.

I would say a resounding YES!!!

Look no further President Trump. All the money in the world: golf courses, yachts, jet plane & a very hot wife. And now he's reached his ultimate happiness by becoming President of the United States. Now for everywhere here: you tell me that Trump would have accomplished this if he was an average Joe with an average paying job?

I remember a few years ago listening to a multi-millionaire give a talk who said the following: "Looks, charm, intelligence, personality, and so on, will get you only so far in life...but money will eventually get you everywhere."

I have my own couple of sayings: If you have the dough you're in the show & I'd rather be rich than lucky. ???

Wheel + Deal wrote:

I'll be glad to sell you some happiness.

Just give me all your money, and then we can talk.

Are you sure you aren't disgraced TV evangelist Robert Tilton? ;)

"I'm happiest when I can buy what I want

Get high when I want"

Last summer, my family went on vacation out west and visited a number of cities and parks. We pretty much just walked around all of these places and saw the free stuff. Except for when we were in Cody, Wy. In Cody, we (1) went white water rafting, (2) horseback riding, (3) attended a "cowboy cookout" (dinner and a show), (4) went to a rodeo, (5) visited trail town (old buildings gathered from throughout the west), and (6) visited the Cody museum (kind of like a Smithsonian for life in the west and guns).

Looking back on it, everyone in my family said they had the best time in Cody. I think that everyone was happiest in Cody, because of the money we spent on experiences. So, spending money on experiences probably does make you happier.

Have money.. wrote:

Don't know the answer but I can tell you where I stand. I would be considered fairly successful by most. 48yo, high paying job, large savings, will retire about 55 comfortably. I have anything I want, which isn't much. I also hate my f'ing job. Every day. I'll be really happy I stuck it out when I'm retired, and I'll be very happy in general. Until that day I'm miserable.

I guess the answer is yes and no.

I can relate. I'm 43 and on track to retire at 49. My life is great, except the part where I have to go to work. When the day comes that I don't have to go to work, I expect to be happy every day.

Early retiree wrote:

Have money.. wrote:

Don't know the answer but I can tell you where I stand. I would be considered fairly successful by most. 48yo, high paying job, large savings, will retire about 55 comfortably. I have anything I want, which isn't much. I also hate my f'ing job. Every day. I'll be really happy I stuck it out when I'm retired, and I'll be very happy in general. Until that day I'm miserable.

I guess the answer is yes and no.

I can relate. I'm 43 and on track to retire at 49. My life is great, except the part where I have to go to work. When the day comes that I don't have to go to work, I expect to be happy every day.

That's what i thought, too, at your age. But then i made enough to retire early, easily. And i noticed that on my days off, i felt like i was wasting my time and i lacked purpose. Then i noticed that work really wasn't all that unbearable, atleast not all the time.

So here i am.

If i could, i would reduce my hours at work, but due to the demands of my position, that isn't an option.

I might recommend to you that you consider changing your job or career sufficiently so that you don't hate it so much. There was a discussion like this on this site a few weeks back, and more than a few posters mentioned being unsatisfied in retirement of those that retired early.

How is this possible? When you're out with friends who have to get to bed early because of work yet the retirees can sit back and ask, "what do I want to do with my day tomorrow?" THAT has to be the best feeling