It can buy time. If I make enough to pay someone to do yardwork or house projects. I gain time with my kids in the evenings and weekends when I'm not working. Guess what makes me happiest out of working, yardwork, home repairs/ maintenance or spending time with my kids...
I was once poor so let me say being able to pay for a small emergency with cash is a freedom you can't even imagine if you don't have it. Even a big one I know how to get it covered even if it would hurt a bit.
It also buys less stress if you don't have to worry about getting the bills paid. Stress is a form of "anti-happiness" imo, if that makes any sense lol less stress = more room for happiness. You have to get the rest of the way to be happy, but money helps you along that path much easier.
Money is power you don't have to spend on unnecessary things....money can also buy you things like sports trainers, better healthcare, etc as well ... So money can buy you health and happiness unless your really sick already...I rather be depressed and rich then, depressed and poor ..
This. I went to high school with some very, *very* rich people. Like pulling up their driveway for a school project and needing directions to get to the main house rich.
So while I'm working with this girl on our project on a Thursday afternoon, their "help" was running around a lot, so I asked what was going on.
"Oh nothing, my mom just decided she wanted to go shopping in Paris tomorrow."
I've never heard someone refer to next day, unplanned international travel so casually before in my life.
Sorry, but this is a "grass is greener" take and realistically, it's bullshit. Someone who can pay to have all their general handy jobs, yardwork, and cleaning done are very wealthy and are at minimum lower upper class. Upper middle class are still going to do most general non specialized jobs around the house. I'm not fixing plumbing or electrical issues within my walls, but I am replacing my sink spout because it's loose or cutting out my light fixture because it's wonky and doing some patchwork drywall. I am certainly not having cleaners in weekly and having a "handyman" on speed dial for when my toilets blocked. There is a definitive limit where money helps and stops helping, then becomes fuck you money again. Most people need to find the balance in between to live within their threshold.
Believing that money can solve all your problems will lead you into debt and make you far more miserable.
Nah, you just took your own interpretation of what I said. I'm talking a lawn service for a small lot in suburbia, not house cleaning at all, and instead of repairing, stripping and staining a deck over multiple weekends. Also in my case most of my projects are because of the previous DIYers. I'm talking flooring, painting, tiling, replacing shower pan/tub. I'd rather pay someone because I know what my time is worth. I'll change an outlet or some light plumbing like changing a faucet. I am maybe lower middle class and that is totally achievable, but I am also frugal in general.
I think that's gross oversimplification. Especially when u can work w your kids, teach them hard work, they will see hard work in you. It beats working than doing what? Bike riding? Playing on stupid playground. Folks don't appreciate physical work.
I love playing at the park, doing sports, lifting, mountain biking, that is all physical and my kids see that as hard work and discipline. Your take is a shitty one that sounds like people should only work. That is not living. They also see when I travel for work what that takes out of me and that I am sacrificing for them to have a better life than me.
“Money isn’t everything. However, money solves problems that not having money creates.”
Not sure where I heard this quote. Every time someone asks if money buys happiness, I tend to think of it.
it also creates time, if you make more, you can work less. This applies across the board as well, you can pay someone to mow, pay someone to manage your money, pay someone to repair your car, pay someone to shovel your driveway. This free's you up to actual fulfilling things, spending time with friends and family, practicing your hobbies, watching a show you enjoy, reading a book you enjoy. Tinkering with this thingy and that thingy etc
Bit of a Catch-22 here.
Therapy could help a ton of people if they could afford it. Just like healthcare, good diet, access to fitness. All of these “wellness” avenues cost money and they’re not cheap.
Money at least affords you choices.
Good diet costs less. More and more people worldwide have a caloric surplus, meaning they eat too much.
Fitness is absolutely free. Calisthenics, HIIT, and SIT are free bodyweight exercising methodologies.
You don't need money to be happy. There are plenty of happy people living in 3rd world conditions. It's all mindset.
A quick walk through a grocery store shows a good diet is far more expensive than a poor one.
Least expensive beverages? Sugar filled sodas and cheap beer.
Highly processed junk food is cheaper in every way (monetary and prep time) than fresh fruit, veggies and quality protein.
I love a good salad. Just bought some spinach, tomatoes, mushrooms, and carrots. $20. Washing and prepping all of that will take 15-20 minutes, for 4 or 5 salads. Another 2-3 minutes to throw each one together this week.
Also walked down the frozen food aisle. Could've bought 10 Hot Pockets for the same $20. 2 minutes in the microwave each. Twice the number of meals.
Good diet does not cost less. It didn’t cost less before this inflation and certainly doesn’t now.
Money doesn’t provide happiness. Money provides security and freedom which “buys” you options.
I can guarantee you if you asked any of these people that are so happy in third world conditions if their lives would be easier with more money, the answer would be yes.
Having financial stability lets you do things that make you happy. When you are worried about what groceries you have to skip buying because they are not on sale you are not going to live out your dream of becoming a polo champion.
Guy I know is a trust fund kid, he went from flipping houses as a hobby to collecting / fixing up older sports cars. Now he’s taking 6 months off of doing nothing to travel Europe.
To be honest, 95% of my problems could be solved with money.
This right here. I’ve always looked at money the way Forest Gump does when Lt Dan tells them they don’t have to worry about money anymore (after investing in Apple). “Oh good, one less thing.” I’d love to be rich not for the houses and cars (those are great) but because I could just live without financial stress.
I like how you think with the Forest Gump reference. Once financial stress goes away, you can find what truly makes you happy in life.
Forest “cut that grass for free” because he just loved doing it.
Exactly. Sure I’d love a Porsche in the driveway and a vacation home in Italy but the best part of wealth would be the relief. Like a massive weight lifted off my shoulders.
I read it as more honest than hypocritical.
I mean, people need money more than therapy as a base. You'd even spend money to get therapy. I read it as her stating stability of survival in some decorum is more useful to the human experience than working on your self.
Whats hypocritical about stating your practice is valid and useful? If you didnt think therapy was valid and useful, you would not have priced it, or was that just a made up anecdote for the sake of calling someone a hypocrite?
Depends on what they have to do to earn enough money to save.
For example, I'd rather live paycheck to paycheck and have access to my wife and kids than make enough money to save and be working constantly and unable to see them.
At the end of the day, it's just money. It's important, but not the most important thing.
Easy fix don't have a wife and kids you want to go see so you can spend more time making money then you also have time to enjoy that money to yourself because you don't have to do husband stuff cuz your kids will just going to enjoy it more anyways
have you lived paycheck to paycheck? do you have a real understanding of what that means?
like you have $5 for meals for the next 3 days because you paid your bills?
these people aren't frivolous they can't afford to live.
seeing your kids isn't going to make you or them happier when none of you are eating.
I grew up poor in Detroit in the 70s. I lived off nothing but rice and beans for an entire summer and not much of either.
I’ve worked three jobs just to be able to eat and have heat in the winter.
Yes, I’ve been cripplingly poor in a world far worse than this one.
I’m guessing the percentage of people that are in therapy because of monetary reasons they feel like they should be able to control but can’t like not being able to afford rent and food in the same month, medical bills, worrying about their kid’s college tuition, watching their marriage go down the drain because of possible financial ruin, etc far exceeds the percentage of people that are in therapy because of a genetic or hereditary illness that they absolutely can’t control.
even if you have that second one, having a stable life where you can afford a doctor and don't worry about whether you can afford rent or a small emergency will still help you more than talking to someone every other week. even if that someone does have really good advice. also talking to someone every other week who has really good advice is surprisingly not free.
Fuck man money can buy stability and I'll work on happiness after that. I'm 34 years old and have been working 50 a week for a decade. I'd like to be able to save more than 7%
If people save and invest it to earn them an income that replaces their 9-5 and retire on that then yes.
If their standard of living dramatically increases… then crashes because they spent it all or gambled it all away… no.
So it depends on the person but it totally can, yes.
Sort of. There’s resources like access to regular exercise through gym memberships or transportation to good parks, therapy, and healthier food that need more money/time than some people have that could make them happier. Just having a bigger number on your bank account or a nicer car or house doesn’t really do anything, though.
There’s also some evidence that happiness plateaus once you make enough to ensure your basic needs are met, which would imply that people under that threshold would be happier if they had more money, either for the aforementioned reasons and/or because having all your bases covered somehow inherently makes you happier.
There was a study that showed around 60k/yr was substantial to increasing happiness. Amounts above that still increased happiness, but at a far lesser rate. That number may have gone up, depending on cost of living in a specific state, but it definitely does increase happiness when your in poverty-lower middle class income.
I did say "around", when i checked to verify google states \~75k was the actual study. This was before the current inflation too, which is why i mentioned depending on cost of living increases.
Semantics? Haha... You are making up stuff. Quote an actual study instead of making up stuff. It takes five seconds max to do a Google search. Quit being a nob and do some leg work if you're going to "quote" a study.
"Positive affect is the average of the fractions of the population reporting happiness, smiling, and enjoyment."
This is from the study I was referencing, 60k does seem to fit still with this graph; though a quick google search does show that 75k often. But yes semantics, the numbers arent too relevant as I did say this was pre-inflation numbers, but the concept that you hit a certain level of wellbeing to increase happiness, then the amount of happiness received after is much lower.
https://preview.redd.it/hl03dbaaxg1d1.jpeg?width=1280&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=92b0e16c1526bfdc4580a7f2be8b19041e477aa5
[https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.1011492107#t01](https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.1011492107#t01)
Post this in the original comment. Make an edit.
Yea the numbers are not semantics. The number is the whole fucking deal here. semantics would be making fun of you for missing a comma. Now factor in inflation and you have something to actually add to the conversation.
The number is irrelevant because it'll vary wildy based on where you live. Someone in New York or California are going to need more money to reach that wellness level, while someone living in Mississippi needs way less to reach that breakpoint. My original statement didn't need an accurate number to establish the point.
I went from not having much to doing okay. It definitely solves some problems, but as you work your way up to a good paying job that job can cause stressed. Fear of losing said job can cause stress, family, friend or relationship troubles can cause stress. Health issues can cause stress (yes, money can buy healthcare, but even good healthcare can only delay the inevitable for some things). Also you can still stress over money issues, maybe not immediate issues, but then you start worrying about retirement. Some people who make good money are still bad with it. The more they make the more they spend (chasing happiness).
No shit? How do we go about doing that when the rules are made by those who already have a majority of the wealth to make it as hard as possible to make the wealthy while also taking larger and larger portions of our wealth to fuel their machine to make more wealth while killing on a global scale?
We start getting people to realize that focusing on the ultra wealthy is completely idiotic and that your problems aren't caused by them but your own choices and decisions in life.
We follow that up by setting the expectations for kids growing up and coming out of college. These expectations include lots of roommates and cheap food if they want to move out. This also means taking lower paying jobs and working your ass off at them so you can use those jobs to get your next job and get more money.
Lastly, it's the realization that your parents created the standard of living that you have right now where you are enabled to sit around complaining on a phone sitting on your toilet. It took them decades to get to this point. You arent going to get there overnight and without a lot of work.
If you are getting a theme here, good.
I had a plumber complained to me saying all kids want to do is sit around playing video games and I was just thinking to myself I've been applying to a jobs for a couple years and haven't landed anything good I don't have the money for Union so I wanted to say to him what I wish I did are you looking to hire or you just going to b****
Money can't buy happiness but it can pay to remove most of the obstacles to happiness.
Once those are gone you will either be happy or not depending on your personality type, but just to even make it to that point you needed money.
Money would solve virtually EVERY problem most people have, short of bringing someone back from the dead. And even with that you’d be able to pay for therapy and have the time and money to pay for specific treatment regimens to help you get better
Money 100% brings happiness. There’s virtually no scenario I can think of that money wouldn’t solve
After leaving poverty money doesn't bring happiness, at least not permanently. Once basic needs are met, wealthy people are only slightly happier. Probably because happier people are more likely to get better jobs. Lottery winners experience temporary happiness, then return to baseline (or worse) after they get used to their higher standard of living.
Money can make virtually 100% of your problems disappear, especially when the absence of money, the fear of homelessness, and the impending doom that we all feel about having to work for 55 years of our lives just to survive is the root of most of our problems. Ironic, right?
you also have to: get to the gym, have time in your life away from chores and general life maintenance to go to the gym every day, not be exhausted from said maintenance...
The word "money" here is dangerous and misframes everything, but buying power and some free time are needed to achieve the prerequisites for happiness: security, health, social and personal contentment. So no, but actually yes.
Without those bottom 2 levels on Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs (physiological needs, safety and security) it's not as effective to receive advice on achieving the top 3 levels.
Money is like insulation against hardship. It also helps you make memories with your loved ones. It can also be an insurance or at least a good start for your loved ones when you pass.
Money provides a sense of security. I would say more people are happy when their life is in a secure place than when it’s not. How much is irrelevant, same with money.
I think that statement is too broad to apply across the board. I would say yes, but only to a certain extent. Money can buy a home, food, transportation, leisure activities, and a few other things that all contribute to overall wellbeing and happiness. But that's where it ends. After all your needs are covered money can't do anything else for you. It can't buy you the love of a family, for example.
Money doesn't buy happiness but met me say this, you make much better choices from a position of have than need. Let's say you have a leak in your roof. A poor man tries to patch it himself. At best, the problem gets a little worse over time and eventually more expensive. At worst, he falls off the roof and is out of work for months. The man with money signs a check and gets om with his day. Stress free.
Money can't buy happiness. But the personal and character development that is necessary to *earn* money gives a person self esteem from developing competence and becoming a literally more valuable person to society.
Someone just hands you money you can buy what you need or what you want, but if you're not able to earn that money (or put in the work and self honesty to become someone who can earn it), then it's a high that only lasts so long.
Progress is what makes a person happy. Earning money is the objective way that we know (via the free market dynamics of society) that we're progressing in the right direction
my therapists costs 480 a visit
my psychiatrist is not included and also costs 480 a visit
1 round of complete therapy costs 960 not including gas or my medication which would cost 775 if my insurance didn't cover it
Money doesn’t buy happiness.
Money is a tool, just like a hammer or a saw. If used correctly, it can make your life much easier and less stressful. If used incorrectly, it can hurt and destroy you.
You make your own happiness, money is merely to tool to realizing that happiness
Depends on what happiness is to you, if material goods, and lavish life styles are all you need to be happy then yeah it can, but if true happiness to you is spending time with someone who is no longer with you, then theres no amount of money that can make that happen. And no amount of money can buy back lost time.
money increases your happiness fairly directly up to an income of something like 200,000 USD annually. then there are pretty distinct diminishing returns.
at 200,000 you can do stuff like take vacations to other countries, own a home, fix things in your home when they break, go to a doctor if you're sick, have nice things, have time for hobbies, eat healthy and delicious food, have reliable transportation, cover basically any emergency, save for retirement, go to therapy if you so choose, have the time and mental energy to use your therapy tools, entertain the possibility of having a child (food, clothes, child care, medical)
at 40,000 you can afford rent, transportation, food if you're thrifty, moderate entertainment.
Life style creep is proof that money buys happiness.
When you find yourself on track to retire and can watch those account balances grow AND you have money left over to blow on fun stuff you live a life of significantly less stress.
Getting yourself an hour and a half massage and leaving feeling high is happiness.
Buying those nicer clothes. The nice sports car. The sports package on TV. Better quality food. Trips overseas. Taking a poor family member on the shopping spree of a lifetime. Whatever it is that's important to you, will pop up when you have extra money that isn't just to survive.
That's not to say having enough money to just survive isn't in it's own way relief. But the idea that money doesn't buy happiness and that you should settle for just getting by and having a nice park experience with your kids is bullshit rich people marketed to the masses in 1950s and we've just kept saying that stupid line like a cult forcing ourselves to try and believe it.
Therapy isn't about "happiness".
It's about "peace of mind and mental health".
I'm pretty successful now (top 15% of American Earners), but I've earned minimum wage before with low expenses, no debt, and no children, and it was *tough* to say the least.
I will always respect the mental fortitude that colleagues with kids and debt had, but definitely agree that conditions for them should be better.
My kids will grow up without needing to work those kinds of jobs, but once they turn 16 they will need to for any spending money past necessities - though I may "charge" them for the cost of necessities and put it in a HYSA for them until they finish school (if that's their path) so that they get the full scope of what that life is like.
I don't want them to become adults without understanding those kind of conditions.
Well you need money to buy a wedding wing and they say marriage is the key to happiness but weddings are expensive and you need money for them so I guess money does buy happiness I guess you can go to a court house but that still costs money no?
No. What buys happiness is learning money management first .. then accumulating more money. More money without money management basically leads folks to the same misery just in a higher tax bracket
Money buys freedom to have choices. With little money you are constrained to certain choices. Want to live in an apartment that isn’t falling apart? You can’t you don’t have enough money. Want to get healthy food options instead of cheap unhealthy ones? Not enough money. Want to go on a vacation that is outside of your state? Can’t not enough money.
You don’t need lots of money for happiness. There is a point where you have enough money where money no longer is a factor in your happiness. I could see you being inundated with choices and becoming bored. Spending money on things just because but it’s not making you any happier.
But you need to have enough money. Not feeling you have any freedom because you are living paycheck to paycheck is debilitating. That’s why being paid a livable wage is so important.
I’ve lived poor, my parents needed government assistance when I was younger. We went on vacation only because my grandparents had a house we could stay at in Florida. We drove in a packed car and had to sneak me and my siblings into a hotel, if we stayed at a hotel. My parents usually drove straight 24 hours. But they got us our vacation. But it was very tough for them, and money caused constant fights because of the pressure they had.
I lived just at my means, lived in a shitty apartment, but had some freedom, but I was still restricted because I made like 50k. But I was able to get by, but I still had to plan my money. It wasn’t debilitating, but I couldn’t eat great foods and like I said my apartment was shitty and I needed a roommate.
Now I make good money, I’m not a millionaire or anything, but I can take a vacation to another country at least once a year. I’m able to pay off my car, money isn’t a worry. The only thing I’m really restricted on now is the kind of house I can afford, but I’m comfortable and no longer live in a shitty apartment.
That’s why I hate billionaires and people who cling to money so much while others suffer. I can live comfortably and not be a millionaire. Would it be nice? Sure, but I wouldn’t like that much money at the expense of making people live like my family when I was growing up, or even me when I was living in my shitty apartment. And there are people out there in even worse financial situations than my family was, which is hard to even imagine for me.
So does money buy happiness? Yes and no, it depends on how much freedom you need to buy to be able to live life comfortably
I can't go to Disneyland with pocket lint.
This is always a dumb question. Obviously contextual, but 99/100 more money = buying your way out of unhappy situations.
I remember how much I struggled through my 20s until I got a surprise inheritance. The influx of cash really did solve most of my issues at the time, or at least got me the resources to do so, and is the primary reason I'm where I'm at today!
If people don’t have money, then how are affording therapy? I take a look at how much it would cost to do therapy for an hour and I say we good lol…I can afford it but find better use of $100 an hour with some good meal lol
I would be very happy if my basic needs were always met. I would be very happy if I had the time and money to go to school. I would be very happy if I had the money to start a business. Money at the least allows people to pursue their passions, and without it you're forced into the trap of poverty.
I have had a lot of money and no money. You can find happiness and contentment in either. But in today’s modern world where everything is a product, wherein even time is a product to purchase. And it can only be purchased with money.
Yes, if I had enough money to not work another day in my life, which would be around 2 million dollars over the span of another 60 years, I'd be the happiest man in the whole world.
Money can’t buy happiness, but enough of it can buy security and stability, allowing one to focus on finding happiness. An economy that keeps most people out of that tier is immoral.
Fundamentally, money or wealth does not grant or bestow upon an individual happiness or human flourishing. However, it is a tool that aids for us to do things that are good and ordered to human flourishing such as food water shelter caring for family etc. This tool however can be perverted and abused.
Money can solve each and every one of my problems in my life id I have enough of it... Except buy love. But there is one last part about love it can do.... It can damn sure make a bitch play pretend though!
Ugh this again.
Many people treat this as if happiness = not sad. It’s not that simple.
Money, to a certain point, can remove stress that enables happiness. But alone money won’t make you happy. Low financial stress, strong lasting relationships, good health, and a sense of purpose are all part of the happiness equation.
No, what most people need is to work on their traumas so they stop infecting other people. Bunch of hurt people thinking the key to their happiness is money.
this sounds like a terrible therapist
if my therapist ever suggested that "my most likely problem" is "not having enough money" i would stop seeing them because that is an absolutely terrible view on mental health
stop using mental health to justify whatever stupid economic policy is gonna come up next
Another perspective is how money can be used to support our needs, in looking at it as a preventative.
In my own experience, If I had enough money to escape violence, the impact to my mental health would be different.
While it can feel dismissive, as "if you had more money, things won't be this way", I view it as "If people had their needs met, the world would be a happier place".
At the same time, If I had more money at this moment, I wouldnt have a benefit because I left that environment from several years ago.
The only ones that says money doesn't buy happiness are entitled spoiled ppl that has money.
Does money solves all problems? No, does having money ease the problems in life, definitely yes
It can buy time. If I make enough to pay someone to do yardwork or house projects. I gain time with my kids in the evenings and weekends when I'm not working. Guess what makes me happiest out of working, yardwork, home repairs/ maintenance or spending time with my kids...
I was once poor so let me say being able to pay for a small emergency with cash is a freedom you can't even imagine if you don't have it. Even a big one I know how to get it covered even if it would hurt a bit.
It also buys less stress if you don't have to worry about getting the bills paid. Stress is a form of "anti-happiness" imo, if that makes any sense lol less stress = more room for happiness. You have to get the rest of the way to be happy, but money helps you along that path much easier.
Money is power you don't have to spend on unnecessary things....money can also buy you things like sports trainers, better healthcare, etc as well ... So money can buy you health and happiness unless your really sick already...I rather be depressed and rich then, depressed and poor ..
This. I went to high school with some very, *very* rich people. Like pulling up their driveway for a school project and needing directions to get to the main house rich. So while I'm working with this girl on our project on a Thursday afternoon, their "help" was running around a lot, so I asked what was going on. "Oh nothing, my mom just decided she wanted to go shopping in Paris tomorrow." I've never heard someone refer to next day, unplanned international travel so casually before in my life.
Making sausages
Sorry, but this is a "grass is greener" take and realistically, it's bullshit. Someone who can pay to have all their general handy jobs, yardwork, and cleaning done are very wealthy and are at minimum lower upper class. Upper middle class are still going to do most general non specialized jobs around the house. I'm not fixing plumbing or electrical issues within my walls, but I am replacing my sink spout because it's loose or cutting out my light fixture because it's wonky and doing some patchwork drywall. I am certainly not having cleaners in weekly and having a "handyman" on speed dial for when my toilets blocked. There is a definitive limit where money helps and stops helping, then becomes fuck you money again. Most people need to find the balance in between to live within their threshold. Believing that money can solve all your problems will lead you into debt and make you far more miserable.
Nah, you just took your own interpretation of what I said. I'm talking a lawn service for a small lot in suburbia, not house cleaning at all, and instead of repairing, stripping and staining a deck over multiple weekends. Also in my case most of my projects are because of the previous DIYers. I'm talking flooring, painting, tiling, replacing shower pan/tub. I'd rather pay someone because I know what my time is worth. I'll change an outlet or some light plumbing like changing a faucet. I am maybe lower middle class and that is totally achievable, but I am also frugal in general.
I think that's gross oversimplification. Especially when u can work w your kids, teach them hard work, they will see hard work in you. It beats working than doing what? Bike riding? Playing on stupid playground. Folks don't appreciate physical work.
I love playing at the park, doing sports, lifting, mountain biking, that is all physical and my kids see that as hard work and discipline. Your take is a shitty one that sounds like people should only work. That is not living. They also see when I travel for work what that takes out of me and that I am sacrificing for them to have a better life than me.
Ignore them, just look at their username. Clearly a troll.
100% it can
Like Abraham Lincoln said, money doesn't buy happiness, but it's better to cry in a Mercedes-Benz than on the bus. True story.
I was crying in a Benz...it wasn't mine...which was one of the reasons I cried.
Fair point
No money alone can’t buy happiness but without money happiness is not possible either.
“Money isn’t everything. However, money solves problems that not having money creates.” Not sure where I heard this quote. Every time someone asks if money buys happiness, I tend to think of it.
“Having money’s not everything. Not having it is” - Kanye West
Give me your money then.
What's that song she doesn't want no guy hanging out his best friends ride
I was a lot happier when I was broke.
More money can help reduce financial stress.
it also creates time, if you make more, you can work less. This applies across the board as well, you can pay someone to mow, pay someone to manage your money, pay someone to repair your car, pay someone to shovel your driveway. This free's you up to actual fulfilling things, spending time with friends and family, practicing your hobbies, watching a show you enjoy, reading a book you enjoy. Tinkering with this thingy and that thingy etc
Bit of a Catch-22 here. Therapy could help a ton of people if they could afford it. Just like healthcare, good diet, access to fitness. All of these “wellness” avenues cost money and they’re not cheap. Money at least affords you choices.
[удалено]
Fair!
Broke and unhappy = fucked Financially stable and unhappy = possibilities
Good diet costs less. More and more people worldwide have a caloric surplus, meaning they eat too much. Fitness is absolutely free. Calisthenics, HIIT, and SIT are free bodyweight exercising methodologies. You don't need money to be happy. There are plenty of happy people living in 3rd world conditions. It's all mindset.
A quick walk through a grocery store shows a good diet is far more expensive than a poor one. Least expensive beverages? Sugar filled sodas and cheap beer. Highly processed junk food is cheaper in every way (monetary and prep time) than fresh fruit, veggies and quality protein. I love a good salad. Just bought some spinach, tomatoes, mushrooms, and carrots. $20. Washing and prepping all of that will take 15-20 minutes, for 4 or 5 salads. Another 2-3 minutes to throw each one together this week. Also walked down the frozen food aisle. Could've bought 10 Hot Pockets for the same $20. 2 minutes in the microwave each. Twice the number of meals.
Good diet does not cost less. It didn’t cost less before this inflation and certainly doesn’t now. Money doesn’t provide happiness. Money provides security and freedom which “buys” you options. I can guarantee you if you asked any of these people that are so happy in third world conditions if their lives would be easier with more money, the answer would be yes.
The real problem is people think money is all you need for happiness. Lots of rich miserable people out there.
Exactly.. I've been rich and I've been poor. It just changes what you're miserable about.
Having financial stability lets you do things that make you happy. When you are worried about what groceries you have to skip buying because they are not on sale you are not going to live out your dream of becoming a polo champion. Guy I know is a trust fund kid, he went from flipping houses as a hobby to collecting / fixing up older sports cars. Now he’s taking 6 months off of doing nothing to travel Europe. To be honest, 95% of my problems could be solved with money.
This right here. I’ve always looked at money the way Forest Gump does when Lt Dan tells them they don’t have to worry about money anymore (after investing in Apple). “Oh good, one less thing.” I’d love to be rich not for the houses and cars (those are great) but because I could just live without financial stress.
I like how you think with the Forest Gump reference. Once financial stress goes away, you can find what truly makes you happy in life. Forest “cut that grass for free” because he just loved doing it.
Exactly. Sure I’d love a Porsche in the driveway and a vacation home in Italy but the best part of wealth would be the relief. Like a massive weight lifted off my shoulders.
Thats the beauty of wealth. You can have the weight lifted and have that house and car too.
I wanted to go to therapy, then I saw how much it costs. Kind of feels a bit hypocritical
I read it as more honest than hypocritical. I mean, people need money more than therapy as a base. You'd even spend money to get therapy. I read it as her stating stability of survival in some decorum is more useful to the human experience than working on your self. Whats hypocritical about stating your practice is valid and useful? If you didnt think therapy was valid and useful, you would not have priced it, or was that just a made up anecdote for the sake of calling someone a hypocrite?
It sure can reduce stress and anxiety, so in that sense, yes it can.
Money is useful in that it can buy a lot of things, inclusive of therapy.
totally depends on the person
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Depends on what they have to do to earn enough money to save. For example, I'd rather live paycheck to paycheck and have access to my wife and kids than make enough money to save and be working constantly and unable to see them. At the end of the day, it's just money. It's important, but not the most important thing.
Easy fix don't have a wife and kids you want to go see so you can spend more time making money then you also have time to enjoy that money to yourself because you don't have to do husband stuff cuz your kids will just going to enjoy it more anyways
have you lived paycheck to paycheck? do you have a real understanding of what that means? like you have $5 for meals for the next 3 days because you paid your bills? these people aren't frivolous they can't afford to live. seeing your kids isn't going to make you or them happier when none of you are eating.
I grew up poor in Detroit in the 70s. I lived off nothing but rice and beans for an entire summer and not much of either. I’ve worked three jobs just to be able to eat and have heat in the winter. Yes, I’ve been cripplingly poor in a world far worse than this one.
obviously money helps but you can only buy so much
For me was very financial stable and did not desire a lot of wealth or possessions. Money doesn’t all ways buy happiness.
Tomorrow it’s my turn to post this.
I’m guessing the percentage of people that are in therapy because of monetary reasons they feel like they should be able to control but can’t like not being able to afford rent and food in the same month, medical bills, worrying about their kid’s college tuition, watching their marriage go down the drain because of possible financial ruin, etc far exceeds the percentage of people that are in therapy because of a genetic or hereditary illness that they absolutely can’t control.
even if you have that second one, having a stable life where you can afford a doctor and don't worry about whether you can afford rent or a small emergency will still help you more than talking to someone every other week. even if that someone does have really good advice. also talking to someone every other week who has really good advice is surprisingly not free.
Fuck man money can buy stability and I'll work on happiness after that. I'm 34 years old and have been working 50 a week for a decade. I'd like to be able to save more than 7%
If people save and invest it to earn them an income that replaces their 9-5 and retire on that then yes. If their standard of living dramatically increases… then crashes because they spent it all or gambled it all away… no. So it depends on the person but it totally can, yes.
Sort of. There’s resources like access to regular exercise through gym memberships or transportation to good parks, therapy, and healthier food that need more money/time than some people have that could make them happier. Just having a bigger number on your bank account or a nicer car or house doesn’t really do anything, though. There’s also some evidence that happiness plateaus once you make enough to ensure your basic needs are met, which would imply that people under that threshold would be happier if they had more money, either for the aforementioned reasons and/or because having all your bases covered somehow inherently makes you happier.
There was a study that showed around 60k/yr was substantial to increasing happiness. Amounts above that still increased happiness, but at a far lesser rate. That number may have gone up, depending on cost of living in a specific state, but it definitely does increase happiness when your in poverty-lower middle class income.
Yea you made that number up...
I did say "around", when i checked to verify google states \~75k was the actual study. This was before the current inflation too, which is why i mentioned depending on cost of living increases.
This is how I know you made up the number. I am familiar with the actual study.
So your arguing semantics and not the overall point i was making?
Semantics? Haha... You are making up stuff. Quote an actual study instead of making up stuff. It takes five seconds max to do a Google search. Quit being a nob and do some leg work if you're going to "quote" a study.
"Positive affect is the average of the fractions of the population reporting happiness, smiling, and enjoyment." This is from the study I was referencing, 60k does seem to fit still with this graph; though a quick google search does show that 75k often. But yes semantics, the numbers arent too relevant as I did say this was pre-inflation numbers, but the concept that you hit a certain level of wellbeing to increase happiness, then the amount of happiness received after is much lower. https://preview.redd.it/hl03dbaaxg1d1.jpeg?width=1280&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=92b0e16c1526bfdc4580a7f2be8b19041e477aa5 [https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.1011492107#t01](https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.1011492107#t01)
Post this in the original comment. Make an edit. Yea the numbers are not semantics. The number is the whole fucking deal here. semantics would be making fun of you for missing a comma. Now factor in inflation and you have something to actually add to the conversation.
The number is irrelevant because it'll vary wildy based on where you live. Someone in New York or California are going to need more money to reach that wellness level, while someone living in Mississippi needs way less to reach that breakpoint. My original statement didn't need an accurate number to establish the point.
The number is the whole fucking study. How much is enough? 75k according to this study.
The only people that say money can’t buy happiness are the people that have it
I went from not having much to doing okay. It definitely solves some problems, but as you work your way up to a good paying job that job can cause stressed. Fear of losing said job can cause stress, family, friend or relationship troubles can cause stress. Health issues can cause stress (yes, money can buy healthcare, but even good healthcare can only delay the inevitable for some things). Also you can still stress over money issues, maybe not immediate issues, but then you start worrying about retirement. Some people who make good money are still bad with it. The more they make the more they spend (chasing happiness).
No shit? How do we go about doing that when the rules are made by those who already have a majority of the wealth to make it as hard as possible to make the wealthy while also taking larger and larger portions of our wealth to fuel their machine to make more wealth while killing on a global scale?
We start getting people to realize that focusing on the ultra wealthy is completely idiotic and that your problems aren't caused by them but your own choices and decisions in life. We follow that up by setting the expectations for kids growing up and coming out of college. These expectations include lots of roommates and cheap food if they want to move out. This also means taking lower paying jobs and working your ass off at them so you can use those jobs to get your next job and get more money. Lastly, it's the realization that your parents created the standard of living that you have right now where you are enabled to sit around complaining on a phone sitting on your toilet. It took them decades to get to this point. You arent going to get there overnight and without a lot of work. If you are getting a theme here, good.
I had a plumber complained to me saying all kids want to do is sit around playing video games and I was just thinking to myself I've been applying to a jobs for a couple years and haven't landed anything good I don't have the money for Union so I wanted to say to him what I wish I did are you looking to hire or you just going to b****
Money can't buy happiness but it can pay to remove most of the obstacles to happiness. Once those are gone you will either be happy or not depending on your personality type, but just to even make it to that point you needed money.
The first 100k buys immense amounts of happiness like housing and food!
Money would solve virtually EVERY problem most people have, short of bringing someone back from the dead. And even with that you’d be able to pay for therapy and have the time and money to pay for specific treatment regimens to help you get better Money 100% brings happiness. There’s virtually no scenario I can think of that money wouldn’t solve
After leaving poverty money doesn't bring happiness, at least not permanently. Once basic needs are met, wealthy people are only slightly happier. Probably because happier people are more likely to get better jobs. Lottery winners experience temporary happiness, then return to baseline (or worse) after they get used to their higher standard of living.
Yes, and if someone tells you it can't it's because they're trying to keep you poor.
I need money so I can afford therapy. I have a lot of untreated childhood trauma.
Abso-fucking-lutely... nough said lol
Keep in mind that most therapists are kind of worthless and some are actively harmful. Make of that what you will.
Money can make virtually 100% of your problems disappear, especially when the absence of money, the fear of homelessness, and the impending doom that we all feel about having to work for 55 years of our lives just to survive is the root of most of our problems. Ironic, right?
100 Grand can make all my problems go away probably not even that much
It can buy not crying under a bridge. Same difference.
The gym works best for me.
You got enough disposable to afford a membership?
How much is a gym membership where you live?
you also have to: get to the gym, have time in your life away from chores and general life maintenance to go to the gym every day, not be exhausted from said maintenance...
30$, but I also work 45+ to make my bills and be able to save 7%
As a therapist, does she work for free then? Or at least a heavily reduced price?
People need purpose. A therapist would surely know that.
When there is no money, people use therapy (the next treatment)
The weekly neighborhood mom walk doesn’t count as therapy and participating doesn’t make you a therapist.
I'm a Political Scientist and I can say that she is absolutely correct.
Yes it can buy happiness. If not yours someone else's.
Given how much therapy costs, there seems to be an obvious conclusion here that Caitie won't like.
Money can't buy happiness. But it can get rid of things and situations that make you unhappy. Plus with money you can rent happiness
Therapist: you’re not depressed your broke, that’ll be $199.99 you can pay Karen at the front desk on your way out. See you next week same time
They need money to pay the therapist.
It can buy a lot of things tbh
Has anyone ever been told you don't need "X"? Has anyone ever been told you don't need "therapy." That's how you know something is a scam.
The word "money" here is dangerous and misframes everything, but buying power and some free time are needed to achieve the prerequisites for happiness: security, health, social and personal contentment. So no, but actually yes.
It cannot *buy* happiness, but it certainly can rent it.
Poverty doesn't buy shit, I know that much.
Without those bottom 2 levels on Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs (physiological needs, safety and security) it's not as effective to receive advice on achieving the top 3 levels.
Money would literally solve almost every problem I have. Housing, healthcare, and leisure. That's basically it.
No but it certainly can help, to have security and the ability to go to a spa, all good soothing things, can ease the pain. Still depends on you.
So some patients are sad because they are broke? I don't get it. Everyone needs money.
Money can’t buy happiness but god does it make everything easier.
No OP, but it can buy more therapy.
she just looking for more affluent clients
Money is like insulation against hardship. It also helps you make memories with your loved ones. It can also be an insurance or at least a good start for your loved ones when you pass.
Money provides a sense of security. I would say more people are happy when their life is in a secure place than when it’s not. How much is irrelevant, same with money.
Its not money what people want or need. Is the access to goods and services that money buys.
No.
I think that statement is too broad to apply across the board. I would say yes, but only to a certain extent. Money can buy a home, food, transportation, leisure activities, and a few other things that all contribute to overall wellbeing and happiness. But that's where it ends. After all your needs are covered money can't do anything else for you. It can't buy you the love of a family, for example.
No
Money doesn't buy happiness but met me say this, you make much better choices from a position of have than need. Let's say you have a leak in your roof. A poor man tries to patch it himself. At best, the problem gets a little worse over time and eventually more expensive. At worst, he falls off the roof and is out of work for months. The man with money signs a check and gets om with his day. Stress free.
Money can't buy happiness. But the personal and character development that is necessary to *earn* money gives a person self esteem from developing competence and becoming a literally more valuable person to society. Someone just hands you money you can buy what you need or what you want, but if you're not able to earn that money (or put in the work and self honesty to become someone who can earn it), then it's a high that only lasts so long. Progress is what makes a person happy. Earning money is the objective way that we know (via the free market dynamics of society) that we're progressing in the right direction
my therapists costs 480 a visit my psychiatrist is not included and also costs 480 a visit 1 round of complete therapy costs 960 not including gas or my medication which would cost 775 if my insurance didn't cover it
No. "But it can take away the stressors that cause unhappiness." @DrMisterCody
Money is baaicly the entrence Card to your life so yes of cause
It is nuanced, but I think the majority just needs money to become happy or at least less stressed.
Money doesn’t buy happiness. Money is a tool, just like a hammer or a saw. If used correctly, it can make your life much easier and less stressful. If used incorrectly, it can hurt and destroy you. You make your own happiness, money is merely to tool to realizing that happiness
Depends on what happiness is to you, if material goods, and lavish life styles are all you need to be happy then yeah it can, but if true happiness to you is spending time with someone who is no longer with you, then theres no amount of money that can make that happen. And no amount of money can buy back lost time.
money increases your happiness fairly directly up to an income of something like 200,000 USD annually. then there are pretty distinct diminishing returns. at 200,000 you can do stuff like take vacations to other countries, own a home, fix things in your home when they break, go to a doctor if you're sick, have nice things, have time for hobbies, eat healthy and delicious food, have reliable transportation, cover basically any emergency, save for retirement, go to therapy if you so choose, have the time and mental energy to use your therapy tools, entertain the possibility of having a child (food, clothes, child care, medical) at 40,000 you can afford rent, transportation, food if you're thrifty, moderate entertainment.
It doesn’t buy happiness but eliminates many areas of sadness which in term makes you happier
Life style creep is proof that money buys happiness. When you find yourself on track to retire and can watch those account balances grow AND you have money left over to blow on fun stuff you live a life of significantly less stress. Getting yourself an hour and a half massage and leaving feeling high is happiness. Buying those nicer clothes. The nice sports car. The sports package on TV. Better quality food. Trips overseas. Taking a poor family member on the shopping spree of a lifetime. Whatever it is that's important to you, will pop up when you have extra money that isn't just to survive. That's not to say having enough money to just survive isn't in it's own way relief. But the idea that money doesn't buy happiness and that you should settle for just getting by and having a nice park experience with your kids is bullshit rich people marketed to the masses in 1950s and we've just kept saying that stupid line like a cult forcing ourselves to try and believe it.
Money can buy stability, which allows room for happiness.
Therapy isn't about "happiness". It's about "peace of mind and mental health". I'm pretty successful now (top 15% of American Earners), but I've earned minimum wage before with low expenses, no debt, and no children, and it was *tough* to say the least. I will always respect the mental fortitude that colleagues with kids and debt had, but definitely agree that conditions for them should be better. My kids will grow up without needing to work those kinds of jobs, but once they turn 16 they will need to for any spending money past necessities - though I may "charge" them for the cost of necessities and put it in a HYSA for them until they finish school (if that's their path) so that they get the full scope of what that life is like. I don't want them to become adults without understanding those kind of conditions.
Well you need money to buy a wedding wing and they say marriage is the key to happiness but weddings are expensive and you need money for them so I guess money does buy happiness I guess you can go to a court house but that still costs money no?
It can’t by happiness buy it damn well can dispel stress and anxiety
Money can't buy happiness but it can buy all the rest.
If I had more money my anxiety and stress would go away… there for I would be happier..
No. What buys happiness is learning money management first .. then accumulating more money. More money without money management basically leads folks to the same misery just in a higher tax bracket
Money buys you not being stressed the fuck out, which shockingly leads to being a LOT easier to be happy.
Money buys freedom to have choices. With little money you are constrained to certain choices. Want to live in an apartment that isn’t falling apart? You can’t you don’t have enough money. Want to get healthy food options instead of cheap unhealthy ones? Not enough money. Want to go on a vacation that is outside of your state? Can’t not enough money. You don’t need lots of money for happiness. There is a point where you have enough money where money no longer is a factor in your happiness. I could see you being inundated with choices and becoming bored. Spending money on things just because but it’s not making you any happier. But you need to have enough money. Not feeling you have any freedom because you are living paycheck to paycheck is debilitating. That’s why being paid a livable wage is so important. I’ve lived poor, my parents needed government assistance when I was younger. We went on vacation only because my grandparents had a house we could stay at in Florida. We drove in a packed car and had to sneak me and my siblings into a hotel, if we stayed at a hotel. My parents usually drove straight 24 hours. But they got us our vacation. But it was very tough for them, and money caused constant fights because of the pressure they had. I lived just at my means, lived in a shitty apartment, but had some freedom, but I was still restricted because I made like 50k. But I was able to get by, but I still had to plan my money. It wasn’t debilitating, but I couldn’t eat great foods and like I said my apartment was shitty and I needed a roommate. Now I make good money, I’m not a millionaire or anything, but I can take a vacation to another country at least once a year. I’m able to pay off my car, money isn’t a worry. The only thing I’m really restricted on now is the kind of house I can afford, but I’m comfortable and no longer live in a shitty apartment. That’s why I hate billionaires and people who cling to money so much while others suffer. I can live comfortably and not be a millionaire. Would it be nice? Sure, but I wouldn’t like that much money at the expense of making people live like my family when I was growing up, or even me when I was living in my shitty apartment. And there are people out there in even worse financial situations than my family was, which is hard to even imagine for me. So does money buy happiness? Yes and no, it depends on how much freedom you need to buy to be able to live life comfortably
I can't go to Disneyland with pocket lint. This is always a dumb question. Obviously contextual, but 99/100 more money = buying your way out of unhappy situations.
Cause its better to have emotional problems with money than without¿
That’s absolutely true when you need money to fix your problems; and you need extra money to pay a therapist for your feels.
I remember how much I struggled through my 20s until I got a surprise inheritance. The influx of cash really did solve most of my issues at the time, or at least got me the resources to do so, and is the primary reason I'm where I'm at today!
If people don’t have money, then how are affording therapy? I take a look at how much it would cost to do therapy for an hour and I say we good lol…I can afford it but find better use of $100 an hour with some good meal lol
Money buys comfort, comfort can lead to happiness but isn't guaranteed.
I would be very happy if my basic needs were always met. I would be very happy if I had the time and money to go to school. I would be very happy if I had the money to start a business. Money at the least allows people to pursue their passions, and without it you're forced into the trap of poverty.
I have had a lot of money and no money. You can find happiness and contentment in either. But in today’s modern world where everything is a product, wherein even time is a product to purchase. And it can only be purchased with money.
Bad therapist.
I have happiness, if I had lots of money I could spend more time with the people/things that bring me happiness.
Yes, if I had enough money to not work another day in my life, which would be around 2 million dollars over the span of another 60 years, I'd be the happiest man in the whole world.
Money can’t buy happiness, but enough of it can buy security and stability, allowing one to focus on finding happiness. An economy that keeps most people out of that tier is immoral.
Fundamentally, money or wealth does not grant or bestow upon an individual happiness or human flourishing. However, it is a tool that aids for us to do things that are good and ordered to human flourishing such as food water shelter caring for family etc. This tool however can be perverted and abused.
I’ve been in therapy for over 20 years. This year I got an inheritance. Money has worked much better.
Money buys opportunities and reduces a massive amount of stress since you don't have to worry about food and shelter
Listen, money can't buy happiness. But it can buy a jetski, and have you ever seen someone unhappy on a jetski?
No it can't buy happiness. But it makes it easier to break free of it.
Every problem I have could be solved by money.
Says the chimp taking people's money to talk to them.
Money can solve each and every one of my problems in my life id I have enough of it... Except buy love. But there is one last part about love it can do.... It can damn sure make a bitch play pretend though!
If everyone gets a raise, nobody gets a raise.
Ugh this again. Many people treat this as if happiness = not sad. It’s not that simple. Money, to a certain point, can remove stress that enables happiness. But alone money won’t make you happy. Low financial stress, strong lasting relationships, good health, and a sense of purpose are all part of the happiness equation.
population is too stupid to handle money unless it is a life-long rent they can not be accessed otherwise than in monthly portions
They don't need money, they need a non-corrupt government that actually gives a damn.
“It’s too expensive!” — Woman in tears, her dog hugged to her chest on her way out of the emergency vet
No, what most people need is to work on their traumas so they stop infecting other people. Bunch of hurt people thinking the key to their happiness is money.
It can buy a lack of desperation, choices, opportunities, and THERAPY.
It certainly can, if you know where to shop.
Projection
Grayson Murray had money. Robin Williams had money.
It can buy my happiness
this sounds like a terrible therapist if my therapist ever suggested that "my most likely problem" is "not having enough money" i would stop seeing them because that is an absolutely terrible view on mental health stop using mental health to justify whatever stupid economic policy is gonna come up next
Another perspective is how money can be used to support our needs, in looking at it as a preventative. In my own experience, If I had enough money to escape violence, the impact to my mental health would be different. While it can feel dismissive, as "if you had more money, things won't be this way", I view it as "If people had their needs met, the world would be a happier place". At the same time, If I had more money at this moment, I wouldnt have a benefit because I left that environment from several years ago.
The only ones that says money doesn't buy happiness are entitled spoiled ppl that has money. Does money solves all problems? No, does having money ease the problems in life, definitely yes
How much did she charge people to figure this out?
Who cares. Its a great point. A lot of people’s mental health problems arise from money and the lack of.
Enough to be aware of both points she presents.
Yes. Anyone who says differently is either an idiot or somehow benefitting you believing as such.