To ask can money make you happy?

[Needinghelp1]

I'm feeling a bit at the moment.

Can it make you happy, do you think?

It gives you more choices and arguably more ways out of certain kinds of unhappiness.

Up to a point, yes.

worrying about money is hard, when you have very little or nothing left over at the end of the month, you can't save and you know one rent increase or repair bill will wipe you out. That's a source of stress you can take away with money.

I've lived like that, and I didn't enjoy it. Constant worry. Now I have a better job and a two income family, the difference is massive. I can save, I know I can meet day to day obligations and an unexpected bill won't cripple us. Much less stressful. I feel more secure with a bit of a buffer in the bank.

Would more money make me happier? Maybe up to the point I could do one or two things (financial security for life, give up work, buy a summer house.) but that's really in the category of 'not essential for happiness.'

Past that? Probably not. I know several very, very well off people and I don't think they are any happier than me. I certainly wouldn't turn down a lottery win, mind ;)

If it means you don't have to worry about putting the heating on, or having enough money to feed your DCs, then yes. It also gives you choices, so being able to travel a long way suddenly if a relative who lives far away suddenly gets very ill. But a bigger and better car doesn't make you more happy. Buying things is not the way to happiness.

I used to work for the uber rich and plenty of them were really miserable with their personal lives. I'm moderately well off and quite happy but I have good health both mentally and physically which makes all the difference.

Billie Holiday - ' I've been unhappy and poor and unhappy and rich. Rich is better'.

Rich doesn't necessarily make you happier but it makes life easier and more palatable/exciting.

It might not make you happier but it certainly does help to build an less stressed family home. I've been at both ends of the scale- broke and comfortable. Money does make for an more stable life, but if the man you are is knob does it really matter?

It sure as hell buys a better class of misery.

I've had lots of money, oh crap I can't buy food amounts of money and moderate money. Personally moderate money was my happiest time. Not worrying about how to pay a bill or having to shop with a calculator is great but having mega money doesn't make you any happier. You just attract scroungers and asshats...

Up to a point - if you have enough to pay mortgage, bills, buy food, go on holidays, and not have to worry about money then that certainly makes you content.

But having enough money to buy diamonds, if you're unhappy otherwise, won't help or make you happier.

If you're unhappy about anything, then being broke will make things a hundred times worse.

I think if your generally happy then money just allows you to do more. If you unhappy then it's not going to make other problems in your life go away.

You're *

There is a theory used in HR called Herzberg Motivators about what motivates someone at work - his theory is that there are hygiene factors such as decent pay, work conditions, security that if not in place can cause dissatisfaction but once in place just cause no dissatisfaction rather than a positive state and that satisfaction rather than caused by high pay is achieved by giving employees things like growth, responsibility etc

That pretty much sums up my experience of money, that a lack of it can cause unhappiness, but once people have enough to know they have security, a roof over their head, a holiday, a decent car, that they are no more happier when that becomes a better holiday, a better car etc so I can completely believe the studies others have referred to about money only bringing happiness to a certain amount.

It removes one of the biggest problems most people have. Remove a problem people are happier.

I think there is something about relativity to those around you. So struggling to make ends meet in an area where lots are in the same boat feels (marginally) less miserable than next to a millionaire. £40k is good money in the North East but not a lot in parts of London.
How you feel about what 'enough' is is relative rather than fixed.

I've just gone back to work today after maternity leave. DS woke at 3 this morning, my commute too an hour and a quarter with DS crying most of the way, I had to hand him over to nursery which I don't want to do and he fell asleep by 6.

If there was a guilt free, nice, no suffering, no inheritance way of getting enough money not to work then I would be a,lot happier right now.

Money makes problems easier to solve, and gives you more opportunities.

So although money alone doesn't bring you happiness, it certainly makes shit situations less shit.

Caring for a disabled child? You can buy respite care, specialist equipment, physical therapy etc.

Unhappy in your marriage? With independent wealth it's much easier to separate if you can afford to move out and set up a home by yourself.

Tired and stressed? Pay for a lovely holiday to Barbados.

Unfit and feeling bad about your weight? Pay for personal training at the gym.

Like a hobby? You can afford to do it.

I'd rather be healthy and happy than have money, but if I'm going to be sick and unhappy is sure as hell rather do that with money than without.

Hmmm - I'm not rich but I don't have to worry about having no money (and I did when I was younger -I have been desperately poor).
Some of it is inherited and I don't feel like it is mine...so I have to 'look after it' for my DCs -university, help buying a house etc.

I am definitely not flash at all...I am not comfortable being flash.

This might sound pathetic but I worry about it...I should be making the best of it, investing it better etc. It is a responsibility, actually a burden too...I don't know if there is some guilt mixed in too. I guess I am a natural worrier.
In some ways (definitely not all) not having money was a challenge. Saving up for something for ages and eventually getting it was a good feeling -just going out and buying something just isn't the same... But then if the fridge breaks just being able to go out and get a new one is probably a better thing ...
I guess if you are super rich - and comfortable with being flash, spending - it would be different.
And it is better than contemplating having sex with your (creepy dirty old man) landlord cos you haven't got the rent (I've been there). Or facing a lifetime of living hand to mouth, struggling to feed your DCs.
But I don't think it makes you happy ....not all good....(but that might just be me...)

Money makes me feel safe and secure, but not happy.

But money can make you happy, if you spend it the right way. Just imagine how incredible it would be to have enough money to take other people's problems away - to build a school, a hospital, to fund a fight against injustice.

If you just buy gold trinkets and fur hats of course you'll be miserable. Human beings are happiest when we are striving.

It greatly improves life, but it is not the root to happiness.

Is the 50k figure per person or household income? Because those are two quite different amounts. if household income that really is quite a modest amount, less than 2 people on an average wage. But if per person you are talking about earning the kind of figure that puts you into a professional and/or managerial job. And what you need to earn depends so much on your circumstances, I need more money to survive than my sister because she is single, lives mortgage free in her small flat and has no dependants whereas DH and I have 3 DC so have childcare, a bigger house, and more people to cloth and feed.

But overall I agree the lack of money causes a lot of unhappiness even if you can still be unhappy as a rich person.

It is per household.

In the words of Spike Milligan: Money can't buy you friends but you get a better class of enemy.

It can certainly relieve stress and thus increase happiness to have enough money to feel reasonably secure in life, not to worry about basic human comforts, enough money to save a bit for a rainy day, enough money for occasional treats, enough money to feel you have a few choices in life and can be generous with some of it rather than needing it all for yourself. Beyond a certain amount, though, and I think money starts to get stressful again and can make you miserable: you might start to worry about what to do with the bit you don't actually need - how to invest it, whether you should be doing something "worthwhile" with it, whether people are trying to rip you off because they think you are rich, whether you get as much pleasure out of things you are no longer obliged to ration for yourself (the "occasional treat" would only now be rationed by your conscience, not your wallet!), whether anybody would like you if you didn't have money, etc, etc.

It is per household.

Bloody hell £50k for a household isn't a 'happiness' level of money, that's a 'stressed about somewhere to live' about fora household in london!