How money restricts life's pleasures
spring.org.uk
spring.org.uk
An alternative theory: people, when confronted with money, realize that they will not be able to enjoy more chocolate, due to the cost, and therefor rate it as being less enjoyable as a defense mechanism, to avoid the fact that they want more. They also eat it faster because they're worried that the researchers will make them pay for it.
On a slightly more logical note ... all this shows is that thinking about money reduces enjoyment of things. Presumably, richer people are able to get things without thinking about the cost, and hence money.
It would be interesting to do the same study on the rich and privileged, and see both if their average enjoyment of chocolate is lower, and if it gets even lower when they're thinking about money. Until that's done, it seems a bit extreme to say that this proves anything (except, perhaps, that worrying about money reduces enjoyment of chocolate, but I don't know if any of the subjects considered themselves rich, and how their results differed, if at all, so I can't even conclude that).
In my personal experience, at least, there's a huge difference between people's attitudes - even at equivalent means. By most people's standards, I'm rich. I don't think I'm rich, but I'm not attached to the money I have, or afraid of losing it, because I know that I can lose everything tomorrow and work my way back to my position in a year. (Because I've done it!)
On the other hand, I have friends who have as much money as me, or more, but who agonize over every little thing.
I would love to see if there's a scientifically provable difference between us, or if it's just my perception.
That would lead to the question of, can healthier attitudes about money be taught? Which is something of personal interest.
Sam Walton was a multi-billionaire. Drove around in an old pickup truck and bought his clothes at Wal-Mart. When he realized he needed some kind of plane to get to all his stores more effectively, he bought a used Piper. Treated it like a big station wagon (not an advisable thing to do). He used to fly slow and low to wherever he was going, looking for Wal-Marts along the way. If he saw one that didn't have a lot of cars in the parking lot? He would land at the nearest airport or grass strip and go over to see what was up. He had lots of money yet the money didn't have him.
Ron Howard was one of the most famous child actors from the 60s. Did his parents get him his own sitcom, tutors, and trips overseas? Nope. The Howards lived in a suburb in a modest home. Ron was expected to go to regular school like everyone else. Shooting on the Andy Griffith show was adjusted to make sure that the kid had a normal life. Sometimes his dad found work on the set doing odds and ends. All of his money was put in the bank until he got out of college.
1) the time to get all my work done which enabled me to actually enjoy the gardens and the park benches on campus
2) I was happy
The key to being happy isn't money, but having more time. After all, time is all we really have.
I can't stop to wonder if one wouldn't be happier if you had a large house and a nice car but used them as a means to an end (eg a large house so that you always had space for guests, maid service so you didn't have to waste time cleaning up, etc).
All of these studies seem to find nothing more than the fact that people who have no direction in life won't get it from money - which is both true and very obvious.
It was easier, in a way, being poor (and, later, homeless). Everything was off limits, so I didn't need to waste any thought on it.
There is one silver lining, though. We can do things for our kids that my parents could not do for me, like pay for martial arts lessons, musical instruments, movies and new clothes. Nothing gives me greater pleasure.
-Michael Caine
Obviously anecdotes mean little, but I can definitely think of examples from my own life of those who enjoy a sense of pride in _not_ having to spend money to increase their own happiness (or not spend as much as they perceive others find necessary).
My own parents, for example, have much happiness and not a huge amount of money. And I don't honestly think that having it would really make them that much happier.
I can tell you that money can't buy you happiness. Money doesn't even buy a sense of security. Your attitudes about money can make or break your happiness.
Example: If you are in the Sustenance Driven mindset defined by Abraham Maslow, you will always be motivated by "getting enough" and "keeping it" - even if you have a comfortable middle class lifestyle, you will be kept awake at night, afraid you will lose it. While most descriptions you find online will equate the feeling of Sustenance with actual Sustenance, you can hold this mindset no matter how much you have.
My (divorced) parents, no matter their earnings, were always in that category.
I was, too, until I actually did lose it all - I got scammed out of 2 months of work, had my car stolen, got mono, couldn't work for months, lost all my other clients, came within a hairs' breadth of being sued by one of them... if not for some guy I was only casually friends with on IRC, who up and gave me my rent one month, I would have been evicted and homeless.
Then I realized: it sucked, but I didn't die, and I recovered, got a job, bought a car, paid off that angry client, paid off my credit card debt.
Now I know exactly what money is worth to me.
That's why I quit a job where I could have stayed forever, never been fired, and got profit sharing that increased every month - by the time I quit, it was already equal to an additional pay check a month, and I was earning over $150,000 a year. Because I was unhappy there and knew what money was worth to me, and it wasn't worth that unhappiness.
So, there you go. Money can't buy you happiness. It can't even buy you the feeling of security, it can't even make you free from worry, because you can have lots of money and still feel insecure and worry about losing it all. It is, literally, all in your head.
if you didn't save money, well.............
And look! I didn't starve!
I trust more in my capabilities than in my liquid assets. That's the whole thrust of my above argument.
I won't be really happy with my bankroll until it breaks 6 figures in super conservative investments, that way I know if things go to shit, I'm good for a few years
like I mean if you were making 150K you were probably banking like ~10K a month? if your cost of living was a reasonable like 3K a month, then you still were banking 7K a month, imho 4-6 more months of that would have been a solid choice, the utility of 50K is WAY different than the utility of 15K
these guys have usually underestimated my check (given that my taxes have been weird) and you're close to 7500 even in cali which has massive taxes
Your Pay Check Results
Monthly Gross Pay $12,500.00
Federal Withholding $2,842.77
Social Security $775.00
Medicare $181.25
California $1,073.22
CA SDI $137.50
Net Pay $7,490.26
Your Pay Check Results Bi-weekly Gross Pay
$5,769.23 Federal Withholding
$1,351.36 Social Security
$357.69 Medicare
$83.65 California
$491.19 CA SDI
$63.46
Net Pay
$3,421.88
3421 * 26 = 88,946
the difference doesn't seem as much as it initially appears
Just because you are afraid doesn't mean I am/was.
People here like to show to other people that they have a lot of money and the best life they can ever get: Luxurious car, fancy mobile phone, expensive clothes...
Many people are spending for the exterior, more than the interior. It means that their life, is kinda fuc*ing, but they have a great car, mobile phone and they are prestigious in the society. The only thing they care about is their position and prestige in the society. They sacrifice money and comfort for it.
Since money is power and can bring prestige, and prestige is what people are looking for and think is "the best life" or "the life of superior", then money means happiness.
I make about 55k a year, and it's enough for me. Any more and I'd stop appreciating what now takes a bit of time to save up for. :) (though I wouldn't say no to a one off cash injection for a really nice sporty weekender car ;)
The correlation isn't high: there are lots of unhappy rich people, and lots of happy poor people, but the correlation is statistically significant.
We can easily choose to ignore money and enjoy the simple pleasures.
Money is means of exchange, you get in return for doing things. There's dishonest ways to get it (violence, fraud) - but outside of those, money is just a ticket that says "you contributed this value, as measured by the person who gave the ticket to you" - contribute immensely more value than you receive and you'll love money and be happy with it.
My wealthiest friends are honest wealthy people, who got their money as architects, doing shipping, surveying, building mines, coding, entrepreneurship, development, etc - creating value. They all contribute immensely more value than they receive in return - my best friend made $800,000 in his best year, but he facilitated about $100,000,000 of business while over-delivering across the board. When you're receiving .8% of the value you're helping build, you can be proud that you did so much and received such a small amount of it - while getting rich at the same time. Contribute much more than you receive in return, contribute a lot, receive a lot. Money isn't perfect, but it's a positive thing overall and not worth hating if you get it honestly.