Does money really buy happiness?

[Countdown]

Muzzer79 said:

Seventyseven7 said:

A lot of people with not a lot of money will try and convince you money does not buy happiness in my experience. To justify their own position.

They all ‘have friends who are loaded but are the most unhappy’

The simple and unavoidable fact is that, if money bought happiness, all rich people would be happy.

They are not, so it doesn’t.

That's because

1. Not ALL "happiness" is money related. As the advert says "there are some things money can't buy. For everything else there's MAstercard"
2. Happiness is a temporary dopamine kick. if the dopamine high is caused by spending money then the law odf diminishing marginal returns applies.

So to answer the original question - Yes, money can buy some happiness. but it can't buy all happiness - some of it is down to luck, some down to personality.

[Norton850]

I am not rich at all but i have no debt anymore and the financial pressures i used to have are all gone.

Decent salary means i don't worry about what i spend and i could retire now in my early 50s but as i built my business from nothing i still enjoy it.

I am far happier than i have ever been...

[Louis Balfour]

Everyone carries a worry bucket. It contains all the worries an individual has. If money ceases to be in it, something else replaces it.

[Jaguar steve]

Louis Balfour said:

Everyone carries a worry bucket. It contains all the worries an individual has. If money ceases to be in it, something else replaces it.

Do they?

I can't think of a single thing that's worried me over the last few weeks. There's been things that have kept me busy and things I've had to make decisions about or organise and get on with for sure, but things to worry about? Nope, not me.

Maybe my bucket has a big hole in the bottom of it and all my worries have fallen out or perhaps I've put my worries into perspective so they aren't worries anymore or hopefully and best of all it might even be that I've put the worry bucket down somewhere in the distant past and can't remember where I left it.

[Hugo Stiglitz]

bhstewie said:

I used to be a little bit like that. I've shifted to being much less materialistic but I do believe in buy cheap buy twice.

I'll borrow this from the cost of living thread.

Even when I was poor I spent alittle more on better quality.

I've got jeans that have last over 2 decades and are still not M&Sish. Classic stuff.

Boots are boots sadly. Albergs offer supreme comfort when broken in. That's the difference between those security guard type boots and boots..

[Mr Whippy]

bhstewie said:

Mr Whippy said:

I don’t get how some people justify all the stuff they buy.

In most cases you could spend half as much, get something almost as good, and over 10 years probably save enough to pay off your mortgage early.


Some people are just fully signed up materialism addicts.

I used to be a little bit like that. I've shifted to being much less materialistic but I do believe in buy cheap buy twice.

I'll borrow this from the cost of living thread.

Ah well I’ll always buy good quality first if I can.
That’s become the challenge these days more than justifying the higher initial cost.

It feels like it used to be that a good brand was always made well because why wouldn’t they… but today you can find expensive brands made like utter trash.


The old logic of a more expensive product being worth it is long gone in the mainstream consumer segment.

Ie, buy an Aston Martin today and afaik you get an AMG engine.
Buy a Bentley and you get VW Golf switches.
Buy some Boss trousers and you get a misaligned fly and clasp.


Which arguably makes the idea of spending loads of money these days just giving more money away for rubbish, and literally only the label provides you with your ‘hit’ of endorphins or whatever it is.
All very sad when you think about it.

[Jaguar steve]

Mr Whippy said:

The old logic of a more expensive product being worth it is long gone in the mainstream consumer segment.

All very sad when you think about it.

It has and it is.

When you buy cheap stuff you get cheap crap, which is fair enough. But when you eschew that and buy more expensive stuff instead you still get the same crap except it comes in a far nicer box and with much better PR.

Sad indeed.

[Muzzer79]

Countdown said:

Muzzer79 said:

Seventyseven7 said:

A lot of people with not a lot of money will try and convince you money does not buy happiness in my experience. To justify their own position.

They all ‘have friends who are loaded but are the most unhappy’

The simple and unavoidable fact is that, if money bought happiness, all rich people would be happy.

They are not, so it doesn’t.

That's because

1. Not ALL "happiness" is money related. As the advert says "there are some things money can't buy. For everything else there's MAstercard"
2. Happiness is a temporary dopamine kick. if the dopamine high is caused by spending money then the law odf diminishing marginal returns applies.

So to answer the original question - Yes, money can buy some happiness. but it can't buy all happiness - some of it is down to luck, some down to personality.

Money undoubtedly CAN buy happiness. My point is that it’s not a guarantee.

[NMNeil]

Norton850 said:

I am not rich at all but i have no debt anymore and the financial pressures i used to have are all gone.

Decent salary means i don't worry about what i spend and i could retire now in my early 50s but as i built my business from nothing i still enjoy it.

I am far happier than i have ever been...

Same here. It's the things I don't have that make me rich, no mortgage, credit cards, car payments, electricity bills etc. I have to try and find thing to spend my social security and police pension on. The wife helps, but there's only so many pairs of Crocs she can buy

[gamefreaks]

Does money buy happiness? I don't know. I've never had enough money to find out.

One thing I can say from experience though is that being broke will make you miserable. Not having enough money to meet your basic needs will keep you awake at night.

[lizardbrain]

I kind of fell into money with some lucky business decisions and it ruined my happiness for about 10 years.


Money gives you power to make choices that might otherwise by unavailable. These extra choices include many options that may make you unhappy.

Like most things you get better at making the better choices with experience.

Life is good now and money helps.

[okgo]

I remember being skint and it was quite stressful. The stress I have now of worrying about losing money on investments/house/pensions etc is far smaller than the worry that not knowing how I’d pay the rent was at the time.

But then what me and probably most people on here are forgetting - most of us aren’t rich - having money and not needing to worry per se is one thing, being actually rich is entirely different and obviously only a few people on these forums will match that description.

Always enjoyed Felix Dennis thoughts https://www.wallstreetoasis.com/forum/off-topic/wh...

[mattyprice4004]

Louis Balfour said:

Everyone carries a worry bucket. It contains all the worries an individual has. If money ceases to be in it, something else replaces it.

Not even slightly true. Can’t say I worry about anything even close to the amount I used to worry about money.
At one point my biggest worry was how will I afford the fuel to get to work this week, now it’s that I have 4 pints of milk expiring tomorrow and I’m lactose intolerant.

[Louis Balfour]

mattyprice4004 said:

Louis Balfour said:

Everyone carries a worry bucket. It contains all the worries an individual has. If money ceases to be in it, something else replaces it.

Not even slightly true. Can’t say I worry about anything even close to the amount I used to worry about money.
At one point my biggest worry was how will I afford the fuel to get to work this week, now it’s that I have 4 pints of milk expiring tomorrow and I’m lactose intolerant.

Quite. I bet you didn't worry about those things when you were broke!

[AC43]

NMNeil said:

DanL said:

NMNeil said:

AC43 said:

From the Rich bds Frenzy in Bike magazine in the 80's;

"Money can't buy you happiness but it can buy you a better class of misery".

Close to what my gran used to say.
"Money can't buy you happiness, but at least you can be fking miserable in comfort"

The better class of misery line is a Spike Milligan line.

I had no idea, but as my gran was good friends with Harry Secombe's wife, so she may have heard it when she was visiting.
I'll hold a seance and ask her

Hang on - shouldn't that have gone in the "Tenuous Links to Famous People" thread?

[Iamnotkloot]

Some people are so poor, all they have is their money.
Blake Griffin

[anonymous-user]

I don't buy this worry bucket, in the grand scheme of things I am lucky enough to have few things to worry about at the moment. I have good health and although not wealthy by any means I have lived well within my means, bought a BTL and saved enough cash to easily tide me over for a year or so if I lost my job.

I will say, the more my BTL has gone up in value and the more money I have put aside the happier and more relaxed I feel. For me I don't want money to buy possessions, I just want enough so I don't really have to think about it or worry about it too much.

Which brings me onto the only real form of stress I have in my life, work. I know if I had enough money so I didn't ever need to work again I would be very happy indeed. I am not talking about being rich, I am talking about having the same income I have now, but passively so I don't even need to get out of bed to earn it.

I know if I didn't have to answer to anyone, could do whatever I wanted every day and could get up when I wanted I would be happier than I am now.

If I was at that level I don't think having a massive house and a garage full of Ferraris would make much difference after that.

No stress, no worries and enough money so I didn't even have to think about it would be enough for me.

[Shnozz]

What I find interesting is that some of the most content and happy people have often been living in poorer nations with low living standards but usually a sunny and warm environment.

[DT1975]

The lack of debt buys happiness in our case, paying the mortgage off was magical. I also take a bit of 'comfort' in the savings we now have. I certainly feel happier in relation to finances. I'm from the generation of 15% mortgages mind, when we were literally eating beans on toast hanging onto our house with our fingertips at a time when people were throwing house keys back at lenders.

[lrdisco]

In my honest opinion you need a certain amount of money to be happy but after that it really doesn’t get much better/happier.
I’ve gone up and down over the years but honestly I think for me only having lower outgoings is more important.

I just can not get my head around having a £500k mortgage and relying on 2 x £80k incoming every single month.
Where’s the slack in the system?