to think money and happiness are linked?

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At least a bit.

I don't think winning the lottery in itself would make anyone properly happy but I can't see how it's possible to be happy if you're worrying about how to keep a roof over your head or where food will come from at the end of the week. We were poor but we were happy must really depend on just how poor you were, mustn't it?

My Grandad, who grew up very poor and became quite well off used to say "Money can't buy you happiness but it makes being miserable a damn sight more comfortable"

your grandad is spot on

the only people I know who say money doesnt count are people married to men earning loads.....must be great.

money gives you choice, without it you're f**ed.

Having money doesn't buy happiness, but it gives you choices and this is the key to happiness IMO.

SWYM

Money and happiness aren't particularly closely linked.

But lack of money and unhappiness often are.

And amount of money that takes you out of worry is relative to where you live and what your peers have.

I agree. I would love to be financially comfortable but we're not and I can't see us being comfortable any time soon. We have no chance of buying a flat for at least two years and honestly, I'm terrified by the thought of getting a deposit together. Maybe money can't buy happiness but it can buy peace of mind.

Money won't make you happy - but it's a lot more comfortable to cry in the back of a Mercedes than on a Bicycle.

Well I'm skint & pretty miserable!!

No spare money whatsoever until wed.. Have exactly tomorrow's bus fare in my purse none available to draw out of bank until wed!! Got enough food in freezer thankfully!

I think there is a tipping point, kind of a plateau.

I think you need money to be happy as in have the fundamentals in place ie nice place to live, enough to eat, clothes that you like to wear and a good education.
Then extra money buys extra happiness like great holidays, better healthcare, a decent car or two.

But it stops making a difference once you have enough money for all those things because you cannot buy relationship stability, physical health or mental health. You only have to look at celebrities and extremely highly-paid executives to know that this is true.

Pretty much what everyone has said. Money doesn't equal happiness directly but it gives you a whole lot more choice in life.

Having choices makes people happy, often I see lots of comments on FB where people try and suggest money makes you a bad person or makes you "poor". As if you can't have money, love, health etc all in one package. Me and DH just let it rollover us when we see this as we think its a coping mechanism for people.

Its not that money buys happiness but that it makes life so much easier. Although it can't always help with health or relationships having a financially stable backbone gives you more choices and security.

We've had periods of being broke, having to constantly budget, no spare for takeaways or trips out let alone holidays and it's hard. Now having the money for these things means there is more enjoyment and less stress!

Poverty is certainly a cause of stress and unhappiness but as far as winning the lottery all the research shows that it makes you much happier for a short amount of time but after a year people have returned to the same level of happiness they were at before.

There's always something to worry about, something you want but can't have and so etching to irritate you. Some people are just better at not stressing out than others.

I think you can be poor and happy and also rich and miserable. And vice versa. I think it's all relative, tbh.

You could call me poor going on my earnings. I really struggle some weeks/months, but I'm not at all unhappy. I think your approach and mindset play a huge part in how you deal with certain stresses.

I could quite easily curl up under my duvet and sing a woe is me song about all the things I don't have and constantly wobble over my dry bank account, but what's the point? Is it going to solve anything or make me feel any better? No. I know it sounds horribly cliche, but you really do just have to make the best of things sometimes. Problems don't fix themselves.

I can't afford a great many things. I'm usually always behind with one bill or another and when it's the final few days before payday, I am usually hunched over the kitchen table counting out coppers from my penny tin to buy bread and milk. The only reason I haven't been evicted for stumbling with my rent most months is because my parents are my landlords and they're fortunately very understanding. I wish i could say the measly £5 I receive every week in child maintenance goes straight into my daughter's savings account, but unfortunately I always need it to buy food, etc. Hey ho.

I do have my moments now and again where I get fed up with the struggle, and then I remind myself that things could be so much worse and give myself a good shake.

I think part of being a flawed human is our desire to always want 'more'. It doesn't matter how good we've got it, we constantly want bigger and better. And living in that mindset is what makes people so miserable, because nothing with ever be enough. There's a lot of peace to be found in acceptance, I've found.

Are money and happiness linked? Yes and no. I say this because I don't believe material goods and an obscene fortune ever buy anybody genuine happiness, but day-to-day stability in life always will.

Money can buy you security, and that takes away some stress so you might be happier but there have to be other things that make you happy as well. Its not an instant cure but its a wonderful bonus! (I imagine)

If you are a fundamentally unhappy and pessimistic person then having money will make little relative difference to that. If you are a fundamentally happy and positive person, then you can life a happy and fulfilling life on relatively little.

Personally speaking, my happiest years coincided with the period when I had the least money. Because that was the same period in time (university) when I had the least responsibilities. I just had to think of myself and where the next pint was coming from.

It's all relative. Don't compare your lot to that of some flashy billionaire. Compare it to the poor sod in the Philippines who lives on a rubbish dump.

I agree. Money in itself won't make most people happy but what you can do with it would.

I'd love to be comfortably off - own our own house, have a decent car we can all fit in and have the money to replace things when they need it without saving like mad for months.

At the moment we don't have much money. We're not as bad as some but when things need replacing we have to save for months eg dd needs a new bedroom carpet but its going to be after Christmas before we can save enough to buy one.

Yes you can be rich and miserable but at least you don't have the extra worry of where the next meal is coming from or if you'll lose the roof over your head.

Money won't fix your life - but it will fix the problems caused by a lack of money...which let's face it can be quite a lot of problems.

Money is the root of all evils. I believe the world would be a happier place in general if it didn't exist. It's used to divide and control us. I hate it.

Sadly, I agree with your grandad, money can take away the unhappiness caused by not having it. It can't take away unhappiness that has other causes, but then it can give you options for dealing with that unhappiness.

The only people who don't think they're linked are those who've never worried about how to feed themselves and their children, or endured the kind of low-level misery involved in how figuring out how to manage unexpected outlays along with paying the rent and bus fares. This is why David Cameron and his Buller buddies have absolutely no idea about the lives of millions of the population of this country.

poolomoomon - what sort of system would you have instead? Just being self sufficient and/or bartering? (I like the idea of that until I realise i'd starve if I had to live off what I could grow myself.)

I totally agree with your Grandad.
Money gives you choices. There's a correlation between poverty and unhappiness. Yes, there will be people who say they are happy who are pretty poor, and yes there will be unhappy rich people, but life sure is easier when you have choices and alternative ways to do things when something is making you unhappy.

The only people I know (yes gm I'm looking at you!) who don't think they're linked are the ones with no money worries. I told my dgm recently about a period of time (over a year) in which myself and my Dd lived on nothing but jacket spuds and other cheap food, and sometimes I'd eat nothing so Dd could. She honestly could not wrap her head around the fact that some people have to live like that while complaining about how poor she is with only £200 000 in the bank and even now I don't think she really believes me

I'm thinking about money and making sure I have enough in the bank for bills ect everyday. There are a lot of things I could do if I had a bit more money, which would in turn make me happier.

I agree with the premise that lacking money and unhappiness can be linked but not sure that the other side ie having money and happiness are linked. Some of the most unhappy people I know are also the most well off. Happiness does come from within to a large extent I believe, or maybe I am confusing it with contentment. I have less money now than I did when I was single and child free but I am much happier now than I was then. However even though we go through regular skint periods we are not living hand to mouth and I can see that were things to get a lot worse that would probably affect my happiness a great deal.
There are though people who seem born happy,determined to see the best in everything and always happy with 'their lot' (I wish I could be more like this) and also people who seem born miserable and always feel as though life is unfair no matter how much they've got.
Argued myself in and out of that,hmmm confused now!

Ok I think what I mean is yes lack of money is certainly linked to unhappiness, but more money past a certain point doesn't mean more happiness. Although I don't think you claimed a proportional link so no YADNBU.

I agree.

I think people also have a misconception about how much money and skill it takes to be cosily frugal.

However, I also think there is a point where more money won't make you more happy.

I have gone from one end of the spectrum to the other. It helps a damned lot.