Can Money Buy Happiness?
Money. Isn’t it a curious thing? Money gets you that lavish and luxurious lifestyle that you've always dreamed of yet it can start wars and completely ruin you as a person forever. That is why it’s so fascinating.
“Can money buy happiness?” This simple question seems to be the most controversial conversation starter that millions of people argue about at the dinner table. Some say that money can buy happiness because it lets you buy all the material goods you can ever wish for. Others usually say that there are some cases where people have an enormous amount of money but suffer from severe depression and loneliness. There is a long list of factors supporting the claim on both sides which is why it is a very debatable topic but is there a right or wrong answer? Can money affect happiness? And is money as bad as we think or is it just a myth that we’re told as children?
Case Studies & Surveys
In 2003, two Nobel laureates (Daniel Kahneman and Angus Deaton) carried out a complex survey to analyze the relationship between money and happiness. They came to the conclusion that emotional well-being rises with income but it starts to rise at a much slower rate until it reaches $75,000 where well-being stops rising at all. Kahneman and Deaton’s professional opinion states that money can buy life satisfaction (not happiness) but only up to a point. However, eleven years later a psychologist named Mathew Killingsworth challenged past opinions and carried out a case study where he explained that well-being does rise with income beyond $75,000. He believes that money buys more than just life satisfaction. Both studies had their discrepancies but they both commonly agreed that the more you value money, the more it influences your well-being and whether or not you think money can buy happiness.
Similarly to Kahneman's study, I sent out a short survey to every middle school student asking them how much money means to them on a scale of 1 to 10 and if they think money buys happiness. With 192 responses, 66 students clicked on a scale of 5 and under and 126 students clicked on a scale of 6 and over. Which explains the following statistics; 47.9% of students said that money cannot buy happiness but 52.1% of students thought otherwise and said that money can in fact buy happiness. This proves my point even further because it shows how much these students really value money and how it impacts their happiness and their opinion on whether or not money can buy happiness.
Interview with Karin Shipley
During an interview with Karin Shipley, the Zurich International School Middle School Counselor with a Masters degree in psychology, she stated that “I think money can buy security and a sense of fulfillment but definitely not happiness.” She also explained that she doesn't think there is a relationship between money and happiness because happiness is a mood that changes all the time and it is unachievable to be happy all of the time regardless of how much money you have. However, she did agree that having enough money can reduce a great amount of anxiety: “ It is a fact that if you don’t have to worry about whether or not you'll be able to put food on the table or have a safe shelter to go to at night, you will be less stressed and have more space to be happy.”
“It is important to have enough [money] because not having enough can cause a lot of overwhelming stress.”
-Karin Shipley
Maslow’s Pyramid
Abraham Maslow is a famous psychologist who came up with the concept of the hierarchy of needs in 1943. He created the pyramid to explain the five levels every human being must progress through to self-actualization. The pyramid is in the order of psychological needs, safety and security, love and belonging, esteem, and self-actualization at the very top. According to Maslow if you achieve and have all of these factors you are considered “happy’ so to speak.
So can money get you all those five key steps to happiness? The answers vary depending on the person but in my opinion, I think that money can buy three out of the five categories. The bottom category (psychological needs) like food, water, shelter, clothing, etc. can definitely be bought with money since they all have a physical price. The second category (safety and security) is also a very obvious one that can also be bought with money. However, the third category (love and belonging) is a bit less agreeable because friendships, family, and love have no price. Furthermore, the fourth category (esteem-confidence, respect of others) really depends on a person’s point of view on money because some people might feel confident only if they have a large amount of money and that is how they get respect from others: wealth. I personally believe that this category can be bought with money just because I value money a lot as a unique individual. Lastly, the fifth and final category (self-actualization, acceptance, inner potential) also varies from person to person but I think that in order for me to feel self-actualization and acceptance, I have to accomplish way more than just being wealthy. Therefore I do not think that money can buy the vital fifth category at the top of the pyramid that Maslow invented.
https://www.simplypsychology.org/maslow.html
Do I think money can buy happiness?
After stating other professionals' opinions about whether or not money can buy happiness, what is my own opinion on the topic? Do I agree or disagree?
It took me a lot of time and reflection to come to the conclusion of my opinion as it is a topic with very valid arguments on both sides. But I think that Money can in fact buy happiness to a certain extent for multiple reasons.
Firstly, I have always valued money greatly ever since I was a child. I understood early on the significance of money and how much it shapes your identity and your life. I am not ashamed to say that I’m money-driven and even though money isn't everything it seems to have a big influence on how I think and feel.
Furthermore, poverty remains and always has been one of the biggest problems we face in the world to this day. Followed with homelessness,hunger, lack of education, healthcare, water scarcity and so on. Despite the very different negative effects these problems have, they all lead back to one thing: money. Now I'm definitely not saying that all of these issues would magically be fixed if everyone had enough money,(however it is a fact that these problems would be less present and wouldn't occur as much) but it would improve billions of people’s lives and make them evidently “happier”.
Lastly, I believe that there are better ways to spend money than others and that if you spend your money on the right things, it can improve your wellbeing. For example imagine that you suddenly became an extremely wealthy person, what would your first purchase be? For me I would probably first buy a great house and treat myself to a nice shopping day. You might think that this sounds like a great idea and would definitely increase my happiness. But what if I were to tell you that spending money on materialistic things like clothes, a house etc is the worst possible way to increase your well-being? Purchasing materialistic things might satisfy you in the present moment but sooner or later you will probably forget about those nice pants you bought and will no longer bring joy to you. Research claims that the best way to spend your money is on experiences,(vacations,hobbies,adventures) and on other people (charity donations, birthday presents, etc.) Buying experiences is a great way to spend your money because they will stay in your long term memory which means that everytime you think back to the time you went on a trip with your friends to Hawaii, a happy feeling will occur. It is also a great privilege to be able to go on trips like these because not everyone is able to do such things. Which brings me to the second factor: Spending money on others. Spending money on others not only makes the other person happy, it makes you feel pleasant as well because you feel like a kind hearted person who did a good deed. Donating to charities is similar to what I was saying but instead of making someone happy for just receiving something, it could improve someone's way of life and make them so much happier. So if money doesn't bring you happiness, you probably aren't spending it right.
“If money doesn’t bring you happiness then you are probably not spending it right.”
All in all money plays such an important and big role in our lives that it’s hard to not think about it. Money holds so much power over us that it can either make you extremely happy or terribly miserable. I think that money can get you a lot of things, even happiness, though being happy and fulfilled with your life is priceless. Whether or not you think that money buys happiness is up to you but always remember that you define what happiness is to you and what makes you truly happy.
Additional Resources:
Ledsom, Alex. “New Study Shows That More Money Buys More Happiness, Even for the Rich.” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 9 Nov. 2022, https://www.forbes.com/sites/alexledsom/2021/02/07/new-study-shows-that-more-money-buys-more-happiness/.
“Can Money Buy Happiness? A Review of New Data.” · Giving What We Can, https://www.givingwhatwecan.org/blog/can-money-buy-happiness-a-review-of-new-data.
