#238 Does Money Buy Happiness
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What does the phrase “money can’t buy happiness” really mean?
You know the old saying, money can't buy happiness? I'm sure you've heard it before. We've all heard it. And, you know, as the holiday season approaches and just everything going on in the world, I've been thinking about it a lot for many different reasons. And I feel like it's an excuse for for the mindset and the thought, the belief that money is evil, or I shouldn't charge for my services or things that I'm trying to sell, or even on a societal level that it keeps people from wanting more, trying to better yourself, just like doing something different with your life, right? Because you should just be happy with the way that things are. I mean, I realized the philosophical meaning behind it. Happiness comes from within.
It's not something you can buy. You can't go to the store and purchase happiness, right? That feeling of happiness from spending, you know, the dopamine hit from being on social media or getting likes or adding something to cart on Amazon. That is short-lived. It leads to a cycle of guilt and shame. Certainly not happiness, right? But money can solve a lot of our problems in one way or another. Money solves just about everything. Obviously not everything in the whole world, right? Like nothing does that. But money solves most of our problems. Most things can be solved with more money. Let's be real. If you had more money in your emergency fund and your car breaks down, does that help you? Does it make you happy to know that you have the money to cover it?
If you don't have the money to cover it, that's really stressful, right? And so when you think about it in that aspect, money can buy happiness in certain ways, right? In 2022, now I'm sure it's about the same. Maybe it's even more. Two thirds of Americans reported feeling stressed about money. Let's be real. Money is contributed to around 40% of divorces, 40%. And I would wager that that is probably higher. It just, it's, it's the underlying cause of stress, right? So it may not be like the number one thing that people identify as except for 40% of the time. But if you really break it down, money is a major factor in divorce and I'm sure depression and stress and anxiety and all of the things, right?
It's a huge factor. I mean, 80% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck. can't cover a thousand dollar emergency, right? If you have a couple thousand dollars or, you know, several thousand dollars in your savings account, what would that mean for your happiness level, for your mental health, right? Just the thought of financial stability can bring about a feeling of happiness, right?
How does financial stress affect mental health and relationships?
It's a True happiness, true joy, yeah, it's probably not going to come from money, but it gets you there, right? It gets you moving in that direction because you don't have to worry about all the little things. You can focus on the bigger things, the bigger picture things like spending more time with your family, having experiences, taking your kids on vacation and trips. You don't get to have that without money. Money gives you the ability to figure out what happiness means for you and to go freaking get it. Right? Like even let's say happiness for you is fishing. Okay. Maybe most of my audience is women. So maybe not fishing. Let's do, um, I used to collect handbags and heels. Okay. I didn't really wear them all.
or even most of them, but they brought me a little bit of joy, right? Let's talk about a hobby. Okay, I like to do crafts, right? I need money to buy crafts. I need money to buy the things to make the crafts, like crafts. I'm not just making stuff out of thin air. Money helps you do the things that bring you happiness, right? So is it really true that money can't buy happiness? I feel like it's just something people say to make you not feel like so bad about the situation that you're in, right? Which there's nothing necessarily wrong with that, but money can help you be happy and do the things that make you happy. So You know, in a lot of ways, money can buy happiness, right? All right. We're going to dive into this a little bit more here in just a minute.
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Chapters
3 chaptersSpeakers
1 identifiedMore from Money Mindset Podcast - Budgets Made Easy
#240 Setting Your Marriage up for Financial Success
#239 How to Get Through the Holidays Without Adding to Your Debt
#237 What Feminism Has to do With Money
#236 Fall Financial Game Plan: 5 Steps to End the Year Strong
#235 5 Things to Remember When Paying Off Debt Feels Impossible
#234 7 Little Wins That Mean You’re Doing Better With Money Than You Think