Money = Happiness, but when it buys experiences | Hacker News Reader

Money = Happiness, but when it buys experiences

psychcentral.com

23 pointsrobg18 comments

This article really annoyed me.

Yes experiences can produce happiness in people who crave experiences but what of people who don't?

For what my opinion is worth here is the story behind Money and Happiness: Money does buy happiness but only if you really think through what your end goal is. So the guy who buys a bunch of stuff with his money and isn't happy didn't realize he was buying the stuff to get respect and that the stuff wouldn't actually get him that result. So he ends up not happy. But that doesn't mean he would be happy if he'd traveled Europe instead.

Happiness is an individual pursuit. I'll give you an example from my own life (if I might be so bold as to hold myself up as a template for happiness)

I think I've done pretty well for a guy in his 20s (I have a few hundred thousand dollars to my name). That money makes me very happy. But you know what I buy with it? Nothing. Zip. Nada. What I wanted out of life was the freedom to do what I want. I love to program and I wanted to spend my time trying to help the world. That money allows me to take a job where I make way less than I could elsewhere and still be confident that I won't starve and that I can retire someday if I want to.

Not an experience, not a possession but it makes me very happy because I focused on what I wanted from my money and found a way to get that out of it. That, to me, is how money buys happiness. There's not hard set rule like "spend on experiences" it's just a matter of honestly asking yourself what you really want and then logically finding a way to go after it.

Might I ask how you accumulated that much money so young?

It's the combination of being recruited right out of high school to a startup (which I contractually can't name but which was out of business after the first bubble), growing up poor (so when I did get a little money I didn't know what to do with it other than to store it away) and finally Bob Brinker who I follow religiously (http://www.bobbrinker.com/portfolio.asp)

But really the second is the most important. People have no idea how much money actually passes through their hands in an average year (or how much money it can get them if they invest it wisely). Yes I made $93,000 a year for a little over a year at 18 which was a huge break but I've added significantly to that simply by only buying things I really wanted to have and stuffing the rest away.

Money can buy happiness, but I think a few hundred K is not enough. The money needs to give you a complete freedom, so to me at least that means being able to at least retire right away w/o having to work an extra hour of my life

Not meant as an insult but I can't help but think you'll never be happy. The person who scoffs at a few hundred k is usually the person who ends up scoffing at a few million when they get that and so on.

Happiness is accepting the good luck you get and not letting yourself become fixated on the great luck you didn't.

I'm not scoffing at a few hundred K, I'm just saying that if someone uses the whole money=happiness equation, then they'll want more than the basic things.

But if you think about it, your basic necessities are more or less taken care off once you hit middle class. Pretty much the only difference after that is the size of someone's house, the car you drive and the vacations you take. Everything else is more or less equal.

50K = Honda + Decent house + 1 vacation costing $3K

100K = BMW + Slightly better house + 1 vacation costing $6K

1mm = Ferrari + BMW, Big Mansion + 1 vacation costing $15K + maybe a yacht

And what would you do with the rest of your life after retiring right now?

To me, knowledge is a collection of experiences (and the brain seems to code knowledge using the same resources it uses to process experience). It need not be direct experiences, but learning about bears is still an experience even if you never have the experience of meeting one. In this vein, "finding a way" means seeking the appropriate experiences.

You crave the experience of programming and specifically in a way in which you have freedom of choice in that experience. The money you have accumulated has essentially "bought" you that experience. I don't think this runs counter to the study's conclusions, just that the study was limited in the range of experiences studied.

It's a hair splitter but I don't think that's what they meant. They're specifically saying "purchasing experiences" which is where I think the distinction is.

I mean, it's hard to argue because in a lot of ways the question comes down to 'what constitutes buying an experience". If I buy a gadget I am buying an experience in using that gadget. So in that way purchasing items is also purchasing experiences which invalidates the article all together.

I think the social aspect mentioned would be key in differentiating the difference between the purchase of an object and an experience such as eating out, reading and commenting on HN, etc. As you say, it is a hair splitter and I'm probably stretching the theory behind the study and the conclusions way farther than can be justified.

I don't think so, keeping that money in the bank is purchasing your peace of mind, it's no different than purchasing any other experience.

It is more socially acceptable to have a nice holiday in Europe than it is to seem rich (by having _lots_ of stuff), and I can't seem to find the place where they talk about that so I am pretty skeptical of their claim.

Money == happiness when it buys me more time to spend on creative pursuits.

You can trade money for time. But for that to make you happy, you have to know what you want and yet not have time to do it.

I think that if you make enough money, you get to mix in circles with people who can make you happy. But I could be wrong.

Actually, you get to mix in circles with people who can make you miserable. But that's a whole 'nother story ;)

You have to consider chance personal disasters and look at the expected value calculation. Measure net potential misery, not "happiness." Rich people can much better deal with setbacks that would destroy a normal person's life.

Consider getting the best possible medical care for cancer. Or dealing with a long forced unemployment. Or raising young children after the death of a spouse. Poor people can be ruined by these things, whereas a rich person can likely continue to enjoy life.

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