when a rich person says 'money doesnt buy you happiness"

[pingIspom]

aibu to feel like screaming ?

money does buy happiness otherwise they'd give it all away

I’d rather be loaded and miserable than skint and miserable!

I was thinking about this the other day.

20k would make me happy. 5k for a car I could rely on. 5k in savings. 5k to pay off odds and sods. 5k for spends.

Other than that I don’t think a ton of money would make me happy

Plus someone in a wealthier position could then afford private therapy/counselling etc All the 'therapy' in the world could not comfort or help our family.

YANBU. I have lost a child and yy, money does make a huge difference. You can access therapies and do A LOT of things to help. My son has HFA and OCD. We're able to access therapies and treatments he was not getting in the UK or on the NHS and as a result, he is FAR 'happier' (calmer, most settled, able to cope with his conditions) than if he'd been poor in an area with no services and no money to pay for them. Poverty costs an enormous amount, the cost of it is incalculable. Money eases a great deal of stress which I know causes unqualifiable misery and even death.

@derxa 💐 yes I feel the same I am going to counseling for what I am going through at the moment but I have to admit I am struggling and heartbroken and always will be tbh.

YABU. I met my husband when we were both skint students. We are now comfortable, though not rich. But I’m more unhappy and he’s more stressed than we were then. More money doesn’t insulate you from illness, bereavement, loneliness, trauma, or any of the myriad of other ways life can throw shit at you. It may make it easier to find a temporary escape, but that’s all.

to you Youngandfree May you find some peace my darling.

No money doesn’t but happiness or guarantee health but it does help.

I have a child with special needs and I don’t have to fight for assessments, therapies, tutoring or extra care. I just pay for it.
When my grandparents needed care they could get appropriate care that suited their needs ( for my grandmother this included a paid companion to say the rosary with her for a certain number of hours per day as the family were not doing it properly).

I did a job for years were I advocated for people trying to get them services for their families and they often waited years. It was heartbreaking.

Of course money doesn’t buy happiness but it can remove or ameliorate certain types of problems.

It helped me, derxa, I'm sorry it didn't help your family.

I'd honestly be dead without the access my son and I have had to treatment. The loss of my child has been staggering but to have him have these two conditions on top was far too much for my mental health to cope with, not to mention his. The money to pay for this is the difference between life and death, not just about happiness. My son will need continual therapy that needs to be paid for.

It can buy you the time to focus on being happy.
I'm much happier out of debt than I was in it and having money in the bank means I can enjoy my time without thinking I shouldn't be doing this, spending that.

No it doesn’t buy happiness
Rich people still worry about their children, their parents, their friends
Money doesn’t cure Alzheimer’s, dementia, disabilities, special needs, cancer. It doesn’t take away the pain you feel watching your loved ones struggle with these things.
Doesn’t take the pain away when someone dies tragically, when you watch your child cry and cry because their other parent died.
It can certainly make life easier, but doesn’t automatically make you happy.

My in laws are “it’s only money” kind of people but that’s because they have it by the bucketloads whereas we struggle daily and an unexpected bill can floor us for months.
Money definitely makes the shit things in life easier - take the ASOS boss, he has experienced utter tragedy but imagine how much harder it would have been if he had to worry about bringing his children back for their funerals, wondering how much time off he could afford to have whilst still grieving, I bet he also had people in call to do the run of the mill cleaning/house admin etc whilst he grieved. You cannot tell me that money wouldn’t have made such a horrific thing slightly easier to deal with.
I’ve seen at least one person say the best things in life are free and give children as an example. Again having money is sometimes the only way to enjoy this “free” experience through ivf etc. And some of the stresses of having children can be alleviated through having money such as access to tutors, clubs, childcare etc.

We've been poor, but we now have enough to pay the bills, live in comfort, have a happy life and just about enough to get the stuff that is "nice to have". We do have to think twice before making a big purchase.

But DH worked for a billionaire - a foreign one who hid his wealth and never appeared on any rich list - and the guy was vile and miserable, as were his family and children. Too many choices, each purchase bigger and better than the last, and perpetually in fear of being ripped off or targeted. They had absolutely no concept of the value of money, or of how other people managed on what was spare change to them.

I learned this week that someone I know is a multi millionaire (mainly in property and shares). But he is unhappy, claims his wife doesn't love him and only stays for the money, and his work contract ends soon and will not be renewed because they want him out. He won't want for anything, but his millions won't help him feel better about himself.

But yes, it certainly buys you choice and comfort, if not the emotional contentment we all crave.

I've worked for a lot of incredibly wealthy 'new money' people. They were to a man, miserable, expected 24/7 perfection & everything now, this minute, even when clearly impossible or unachievable. The inherited, old money ones were a more mixed bag & some were rather nice (& endearingly bonkers) , but they had no idea of real life: to a jaw dropping degree.

I’d give all the money I got from my husband’s life insurance to have him back.
However, it’s true, money may not buy happiness but it can make life easier, as long as you aren’t working yourself to death to earn it (back to my husband again).
It allowed my mother to have round the clock carers in her home instead of going to a nursing home which she would have absolutely hated. Was she happy? No, but she would have been miserable in a home.

It doesn't, but jetting round the world on luxury holidays, buying what you want when you want, eating in fancy restaurants and basically having a life of leisure is more likely to make you happy than toiling away on a zero hours contract for minimum wage with only enough money to buy the basics to get by.

Rich people get ill, rich people have loved ones die, rich people are abused, rich people are in loveless marriages, rich people are unable to have children, rich people suffer with mental health, rich people often have very little work/life balance....

I’m sure a lot of people would rather be happy and healthy than rich

You cannot tell me that money wouldn’t have made such a horrific thing slightly easier to deal with. You really can't be serious

Having known bereaved parents who are really poor, it does make a huge difference, unfortunately.

There’s a massive difference between making a difference, making life easier and ‘bringing happiness’

Money doesn’t buy you happiness but poverty sure as shit buys you misery.

VERY true, Pancake!

I follow a couple of acquaintances on social media who are both clearly very well off financially. They both have a huge amount of nice 'stuff' but are forever both bleating on about 'collect memories not stuff' and all that kind of rubbish.

Money may not make you happy.

But worry about lack of money, really makes you miserable.

As a single parent my life would have been far better not having to worry about how you were going to afford to feed the kids for the rest of the month.