Can money buy happiness?

We've always heard countless arguments on this topic. Some say that no matter what, money can't buy happiness whereas some believe that money is everything.

In this post, I will discuss the importance of money and consequences when you give way too much importance to money.

Importance of money

Do I need to even explain this? Every physical thing that you see around you costs money. The food you eat, the vehicle you drive, the device in which you're reading this post, your house, education, your bills,.....and this list goes on.

Tell me why do people do a job?

Because they like it? Hell no!

Maybe they like it but it's not the primary reason why they do it. They do it because they have to pay their bills, they have to make their ends meet, they don't wanna sleep hungry, they want to buy stuff, in short, they do it because it makes it possible for them to live a better life.

Most of us have probably learned about Maslow's hierarchy of needs in our schools.

Observe the above pyramid carefully...

It shows the order of priorities of human needs and wants.

The fundamental needs of humans are water and food. After these needs are satisfied, we search for security and safety. As you can see further in the picture, only after the underneath needs in this pyramid are satisfied, we go upside chasing more things. 

So here is the million-dollar question...


"Can money buy happiness?"

Absolutely not!

I can name you a number of wealthy people who led a miserable life despite being wealthy. That's because apart from money, we need to have a balance between other aspects of life like health, family life, emotional well-being which has a great influence on the quality of our life.

Though money can't buy happiness, it reduces various problems in our life drastically.

Let me explain,

• Suppose you don't have enough money to pay your bills, now tell me would you be able to have good sleep at night in such a condition? I don't think so. But if you have sufficient money, you can sleep peacefully knowing that your money will take care of your bills.

• Suppose you don't have money and you want to invest in some promising scheme, would you able to do that? I don't think so. But if you have money, you would invest and will be benefitted by returns on investment. Thus you'll be able to earn more money because you have money.

Out of all the problems we have, most of the problems can be solved by money.

• Of course, money can't buy health. Money won't make you healthy if your health is already ruined but it will surely help reduce your pain by costly medical treatments.

• Money can't buy you sleep but it will buy you a comfortable bed in which you can sleep peacefully.

People who say that "money can't buy happiness" are either rich or poor.

Rich people say this because they have enough amount of money in their bank account so they can't understand how is it to struggle to fulfill your wishes.

Poor say this because they don't have any money so they don't know how is it to have a shitload of money who can solve their most problems. Since they can't earn more money, most of them find it easier to curse money.

I think middle-class people understand the value of money more than anyone. That's why they struggle their whole life to earn money.


Here is a dialogue from the movie "The Wolf of Wall Street"

Couldn't agree more.

Consequences of giving too much importance to money

I agree that money is very essential in our life, but there are some things which are far more important than money like family, health, true love, character, peace of mind, time. If you prefer money over these things, you'll do anything to get money and you'll ignore other things and as a result, you're going to have a miserable life for sure!

Remember one thing that money can be earned back but if these things which I mentioned above are once lost, they can't be earned back.

Conclusion

Money doesn't buy you happiness but it makes you able to buy things which will make you happy. Of course, you should value money but not at the cost of your well-being.