Can money buy happiness?

Blue160 said:
If lack of money is the one thing making you miserable then yes more money will make you happy. In all other circumstances it won't miraculously make you cheerful.

I'd love a Lamborghini and a massive house, but I don't think it would change my actual level of happiness. My wife and kids, good friends, and a job I enjoy are what provide me with that.
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I suppose it depends on the person. I know that a Lamborghini will make me happy. Plus having more money might make it easier to have more time for family and friends and it will make it easier to pursue hobbies as well.

For all the rich people who are not happy because they have a lot of money. I have a simple solution. Give your money to me.


EDIT: I think for a lot of people who are not happy even when they have a lot of money is because they probably don't know how to spend it in a way that will aid their happiness
 
Drizmod said:
I think for a lot of people who are not happy even when they have a lot of money is because they probably don't know how to spend it in a way that will aid their happiness
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I think a lot of people who are unhappy for all sorts of reasons assume that more money would automatically make them happier. I think they are wrong.
 
Depends how much money you have i guess.

Winning/Owning 10 million on the lottery to set you up for life which would change your lifestyle & you could have whatever you wanted.

Or

Winning/Owning 5k which would just get you a car or some girls for a week.


id love to do secret millionaire thing :D
 
Blue160 said:
I think a lot of people who are unhappy for all sorts of reasons assume that more money would automatically make them happier. I think they are wrong.
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True to an extent. How much of that 'all sorts of reasons' stem from the fact that they have a lack of money?
 
I don't think that money implicitly buys you happiness but on average it will certainly help. At the very least it takes away some of the hassles you have in life (how to pay bills, having to work, not being able to help friends and family financially) and means if you want something material you can nearly always get it if you offer enough cash.

There are some problems that money can't fix but I view happiness as a float not a boolean; it is not a case of being "happy" or "unhappy" there is a scale and money can help you move along that scale. To simplify if you have 99 problems it could be that say 50 of them could be solved or alleviated either directly or indirectly by having more money.

I suppose you could look at it from the other direction - even if money doesn't bring much happiness, a lack of money is likely to bring unhappiness (essentially saying the same thing, but along the lines of being below the 'super poverty line' having more of a negative impact than the positive impact from being above the 'super rich line'). This ties in with something I studied a few years ago, I can't remember the model but it was alongside Maslow's hierarchy of needs, effectively along the lines of in the workplace salary does not lead to satisfaction, but lack of wages can lead to dissatisfaction.
edit: Herzberg's Motivation-Hygiene Theory :)
 
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People are so simple minded.

"uh I have a lack of money that make me unhappy, so if I had loads of money I would be happy/not unhappy".

2+2=!4 here.

If you had loads of money you would still have money issues. You would also be miserable over aspects that are related to having loads of money. Being human you would also find alternative things to be miserable about.

The point - stop being a miserable moany git and do something with yourself.
 
It will certainly make anybody happy, but for how long it will last is the question?

How long before you're bored of being able to have what you want, 'friends' milking you, trying to look normal and not become a snob :D

I'd say a limited amount of money would make me very happy. Say 100k :)
 
Money brings it's own stresses.

I've been skint...I've been fairly well off....I've been skint again..I'm now getting back on my feet....I know what I prefer

Money can't buy happiness
But being skint can't buy you anything
 
Money can make life easier for sure, it cannot buy happiness though. Life is full of random events which can change your perspective of things in a heartbeat.
 
If the answer is yes then why are there many rich people that are unhappy?

You can't buy a long-lasting emotional feeling. Short-term perhaps.
 
For most people it won't buy happiness, but lets face it, it removes most of the things that cause unhappiness in day to day life, thus making it potentially easier to be happy.

Me, wealth would certainly make me content, which is about all I strive for in life anyway.
 
To me it'd just solve one cause of any potential unhappiness.

Saying that if I won the lottery jackpot I'd spread my wealth, that's the good old socalist in me ;), so I could gain happiness vicariously.

Also I'd rather be rich and miserable than "poor" and miserable.
 
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