money cannot buy happiness essay

Why Money Doesn't Buy Happiness

According to kahneman and deaton, money doesn't buy happiness. why not.

Posted August 25, 2022 | Reviewed by Michelle Quirk

• It's often said that money doesn't buy happiness, and, in a 2010 study, Kahneman and Deaton show that it doesn't.
• Nevertheless, most people apparently think that it does.
• Kahneman and Deaton found that "emotional well-being" is associated with social interaction rather than with higher income.

The old saw “money can’t buy happiness ” is often used, mostly by people who don’t have much, as a challenge to the importance of wealth in human society. But is it true? Does more money really not make people happier?

In a 2010 study, Nobel laureate Daniel Kahneman and Angus Deaton set out to answer this question. They explored two aspects of what’s known as “subjective well-being.” Importantly, they made a distinction between emotional well-being and life evaluation. Emotional well-being is defined as “…the emotional quality of an individual’s everyday experience—the frequency and intensity of experiences of joy, fascination, anxiety , sadness, anger , affection that make one’s life pleasant or unpleasant." Life evaluation “refers to a person’s thoughts about his or her life.” Here is what they found:

In the present study, we confirm the contribution of higher income to improving individuals’ life evaluation, even among those who are already well off. However, we also find that the effects of income on the emotional dimension of well-being satiate fully at an annual income of ∼$75,000… (Kahneman and Deaton, 2010, p. 16490).

In other words, getting more money makes us think our lives are better, but doesn’t make us feel any better.

To be sure, not having enough money negatively affects our emotional well-being. But once we have enough (about $75,000 in 2010), having more doesn’t positively affect it. So, while we think our lives would be better if we got a raise or hit the lottery jackpot, we’d be no happier than we were before the windfall. Now that’s interesting. Money really doesn’t buy happiness.

But why not? We think that Kahneman and Deaton’s distinction between life evaluation and emotional well-being might provide an answer.

Evolution of Emotional Well-Being

The emotions of well-being the authors identify—joy, fascination, anxiety, sadness, anger, affection—evolved over hundreds of thousands of years in hunter–gatherer bands. There was no money in these bands, of course, and, as we’ve noted in previous blogs, it was more important to use possessions as gifts than hold on to them. Well-being was having enough to eat and interacting with the other members of the band—hunting, gathering, quarreling, fighting, telling stories, dancing, healing.

However, since the agricultural revolution, human history has been in large part the story of acquisition—more land, money, possessions, power. Today, acquisition messages are all around us: Buy more and better things, get a higher-paying job. These messages address post-agricultural thinking but ignore ancient emotional needs.

Thinking about how your life is going or will go is another creation of our old friend and nemesis the neocortex. Given the obvious advantages of wealth and power after the agricultural revolution, the cortex turned them into ideas, things to aspire to, goals . Moving up was good, whether it made you happy or not.

As more and more opportunities to move up were created by the industrial revolution and the market economy, more and more people could rise. It was great to have enough—enough money, enough to eat, and a place to live. And it felt good to rise and have more status.

A Moving Goal

Unfortunately, there was an unintended consequence: The goal kept moving. There was always a better position, a better salary, higher status. Thinking about well-being became associated with making more money. When Donald Trump was asked about what money meant to him, he said “Money was never a big motivation for me, except as a way to keep score.” He didn’t mention happiness.

So, here we humans are, stuck again between ancient emotions and an environment that pushes us to achieve and acquire. As Kahneman and Deaton note in their study, when asked the question, “What made you happy yesterday,” most people emphasized time with family and friends, taking care of a relative, working on a project with others, etc. When asked what they thought would make them happier, most said, “Having more money.”

Kahneman, D. and Deaton, A. 2010. “High Income Improves Evaluation of Life, But Not Emotional Well-Being.” PNAS. September 21, 2010, vol. 107, no. 38, pp. 16489-16493.

J. Gary Bernhard, Ed.D. has been involved in educational leadership for more than 40 years. Kalman Glantz, Ph.D. has spent nearly 30 years as a psychotherapist in private practice in Boston.

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Why money can't buy happiness

Does More Money Really Make Us More Happy?

by Elizabeth Dunn and Chris Courtney

Summary .   

Although some studies show that wealthier people tend to be happier, prioritizing money over time can actually have the opposite effect.

• But even having just a little bit of extra cash in your savings account ($500), can increase your life satisfaction. So how can you keep more cash on hand?
• Ask yourself: What do I buy that isn’t essential for my survival? Is the expense genuinely contributing to my happiness? If the answer to the second question is no, try taking a break from those expenses.
• Other research shows there are specific ways to spend your money to promote happiness, such as spending on experiences, buying time, and investing in others.
• Spending choices that promote happiness are also dependent on individual personalities, and future research may provide more individualized advice to help you get the most happiness from your money.

How often have you willingly sacrificed your free time to make more money? You’re not alone. But new research suggests that prioritizing money over time may actually undermine our happiness.

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Does More Money Make You Happier? Yes, But It's Complicated

Research says it can help, but there are a few caveats...

Verywell Mind / Getty Images

Why We Think Money Might Buy Happiness

The relationship between money and happiness.

• Limitations
• The Role Money Plays
• Finding Happiness Beyond Money

We've all heard the phrase: “Money can't buy happiness.” But how true is this, exactly? Growing up poor in rural Idaho, I often took comfort in this idea, reassuring myself that those with more money weren't necessarily any happier than I was. But sometimes I wondered: Am I just fooling myself?

Of course, money can't replace the deep joy and meaning we find in relationships and experiences. But there's no denying that financial security feels pretty darn good.

“Money can bring about happiness or a sense of satisfaction that can feel like happiness because it allows security and reduces constant financial anxiety and fear,” explains Sarah Whitmire , LPC-S, ATR-BC, a licensed professional counselor and founder of Whitmire Counseling and Supervision.

A Look Ahead

Many mental health experts will point out that money alone is no guarantee of happiness. Other factors like relationships, purpose, and personal growth have a more powerful impact. 

But money does have some effect on happiness. How much? Keep reading on to learn more about this connection and whether a few extra dollars in your wallet truly translates to a joyful heart or if the key to happiness is something money can't buy.

When you think of happiness, things like friends, family, and life’s simple pleasures often come to mind—not money. So, where does the idea that money can buy happiness come from?

According to Kanchi Wijesekera , PhD, a licensed clinical psychologist and clinical director of the Milika Center for Therapy & Resilience , the origin of this idea is multifaceted. She notes that poverty itself is associated with more stress and a higher risk for mental health issues . 

“There are some caveats, but it can be harder to feel happy when you're living under the chronic stress of poverty and all it entails,” she says. “You may not have the same time and energy to invest into your well-being as if you were to be financially well-off.”

She stresses that this doesn’t mean people with less financial means aren’t happy or can’t be happy. But it can be more challenging to feel happy compared to someone well-off.

Kristin Anderson , LCSW, a licensed psychotherapist and founder of Madison Square Psychotherapy , notes that the idea that money can buy happiness is often deeply engrained in many societies.

“These societies often equate financial success with a good life, and it can be easy to get caught up in that idea,” she says. “It’s the idea that financial resources can provide security, comfort, and opportunities, which are all associated with happiness.”

While money certainly does allow people to afford necessities that can improve their quality of life, such as healthcare and education, Anderson says these are no guarantee of greater happiness. 

Money can enhance our living conditions, but it does not guarantee genuine happiness, which often comes from personal fulfillment, relationships, and emotional well-being.

Whitmire explains that modern consumer culture has a role in creating this idea. By promoting the idea that buying goods and services can make us happier, we’re more likely to believe that having more equals being more fulfilled. 

Dr. Wijesekera notes that our own hard-wired tendencies help fuel these beliefs. Even when we are comfortable, we might think we’d be even happier if we just had a little bit more , whether it’s a new car, a better job, or a bigger house. (Hint: it doesn't).

Money alone doesn’t bring happiness , but researchers have found evidence supporting the connection between financial security and increased happiness and well-being.

According to a 2010 study, higher income does indeed help increase subjective life satisfaction as money can help alleviate emotional pain associated with challenging life events like divorce and poor health. Other research supports the link between financial security and happiness. In fact, studies show that security is particularly connected to happiness in societies where financial instability is more common.

A recent 2023 study has added another layer to this age-old debate by suggesting that higher income levels are connected to increased happiness.

The study found that happiness increases don't plateau once you hit a certain income. Instead, these benefits continue to grow, albeit at a slower pace.

That said, researchers do  note that money isn’t the only factor contributing to happiness. But money undoubtedly plays a huge in creating security, access to resources, and growth opportunities, all of which impact your overall well-being. 

The Limitations of Money in Achieving Happiness

It’s tempting to think that earning a bigger paycheck will be the secret to a fulfilling life. But try not to hinge your happiness on your bank account. Having more money may help increase happiness, yes, but can also bring about diminishing returns if the pursuit of extra cash affects your quality of life.

Studies suggest that beyond a certain income threshold—often cited around $75,000 to $100,000 annually—the additional happiness gains from extra income begin to level off. A boost in salary can make a big difference if you are struggling with basic needs. But you’re less likely to notice the extra income if you are already comfortable or doing well. 

We like to think that money solves all our problems, but the pursuit of financial rewards can be more harmful than good, especially if it costs us healthy relationships and social connections. Sure, having extra cash would be great, but if it means sacrificing meaningful connections with others, are the benefits even worth it?

Our emotional health and well-being thrive on strong relationships and social interactions. What good are financial rewards if they're overshadowing your relationships and experiences?

I know money solves a lot of problems, but it can't buy a sense of purpose and meaning. Think of it like this: if your job is financially rewarding but emotionally draining, burnout is inevitable. You can't appreciate all your hard work and reap the financial benefits if you're emotionally and mentally exhausted. And no amount of money can make your brain or body feel any less tired.

The Role of Money in Different Aspects of Life

The ability to afford what we want and need is often linked to a higher quality of life. Feeling financially secure can reduce anxiety since you’re less worried about how you’ll pay for life’s expected and unexpected expenses.

“We know financial stability also affords improved access to healthcare, leisure activities, and opportunities for personal growth, all of which contribute to better mental and emotional well-being,” Dr. Wijesekera says.

Financial stress can leave you in a constant state of fight or flight mode , she adds. Access to more money and resources shifts you from survivor mode into a space where you can focus on hobbies, friends, or things that make you happy.

Not having to worry about money allows someone to think about their mental health. They have time and an advantage to think about how they are feeling and doing. They do not have a survivalist mentality and can spend time thinking about their pursuits and how they can thrive.

In other words, not having to stress about money is what contributes to happiness the most.

“Imagine the difference between constantly feeling stressed about finances versus having peace of mind knowing your needs are met,” Anderson says. “While money itself is not a direct source of happiness, the security it provides can create a more stable environment for mental health to flourish.”

While it’s important to recognize the relationship between money and happiness, it’s not a silver bullet. True happiness comes from the often intangible things money can’t guarantee including happy relationships, a sense of purpose, and feeling connected to a community.

Strategies for Finding Happiness Beyond Money

There’s no question that financial security can offer comfort and ease stress, but it’s also true that the things that bring us happiness are immaterial.

Some research-backed ways to bring more happiness to your life (that, fortunately, don’t cost money):

Cultivate Positive Relationships

Research has consistently shown that having strong, supportive relationships is essential for mental health and life satisfaction. One 2023 study, in particular, found a significant positive relationship between social support and increased happiness.

Focus on cultivating stronger relationships with your family, friends, and community to gain greater emotional support and a sense of belonging . “Engaging in meaningful interactions and shared activities with loved ones can create lasting memories and strengthen bonds, leading to a sense of fulfillment and happiness that material possessions often cannot match,” Whitmire says.

Dr. Wijesekera suggests building a supportive social network by participating in free community events, joining support groups, or volunteering.

Find Meaning and Purpose

Pursuing a sense of purpose and meaning in your life can also play a pivotal role in your happiness and life satisfaction.

Interestingly, some research suggests that feeling a sense of purpose might be connected to financial success as well. In one study, people who felt a sense of purpose in their work earned more money than those who felt their work lacked meaning.   (Of course, earning more might also help make your work feel more meaningful, too). 

Some experiences like hobbies, volunteer work, and engaging activities can help you find purpose. Dr. Wijesekera suggests exploring inexpensive or free hobbies such as drawing, reading library books, and cooking new recipes. Being open to new experiences can bring a profound sense of fulfillment and meaning that will ultimately help you feel happier.

Practice Gratitude

Gratitude can be a powerful antidote to feelings of sadness and negativity. That’s because regularly reflecting on the things you love and appreciate can help shift your focus away from what might be lacking. Research has found that gratitude interventions such as gratitude journaling increase positive moods, subjective happiness, and life satisfaction.

“Taking time each day to appreciate the good things in your life, big or small, can shift your focus from what you lack to what you have,” Anderson says. “By acknowledging the positive aspects of your life, you can significantly boost your mood and overall well-being.”

Tip From a Clinical Psychologist

Practicing habits such as maintaining a gratitude journal, verbal affirmations, giving thanks, or reflecting on daily blessings can reduce stress and profoundly elevate one's well-being.

Practice Mindfulness and Other Self-Care Strategies

Mindfulness and other self-care practices are powerful tools for fostering better emotional well-being. Mindfulness centers on being fully present and engaged in the present moment without worrying about the past or future.

One study found that mindfulness was associated with various positive outcomes including higher levels of happiness and decreased anxiety and depression. Other self-care activities like meditation , exercise, and adequate sleep are also low-cost or free ways to enhance happiness.

Dr. Wijesekera recommends trying free apps or online videos to learn meditation techniques. She also says that simple mindfulness exercises like deep breathing and mindful walking can be beneficial.

Spending Time in Nature

Dr. Wijesekera recommends spending time outdoors in nature to help alleviate some of the physiological effects of stress. She points to research on the Japanese practice of shinrin-yoku or “ forest bathing .”  This report found that spending just 20 minutes walking outdoors can lower your heart rate, blood pressure, and cortisol levels (a stress hormone).

“Visit local parks, hiking trails, or beaches, which are often free,” she says. “Gardening, even in small spaces or community gardens, can also be a low-cost way to connect with nature.”

Help Others

Anderson also recommends volunteering and finding ways to assist others in your life. “Volunteering your time or doing something kind for someone else can be incredibly rewarding,” she says. “It strengthens your sense of community and purpose, and seeing the positive impact you have on others can be a great source of happiness.”

While evidence suggests that money increases happiness, it isn’t the only thing that brings joy. Plenty of things bring fulfillment to your life that doesn’t involve boosting your financial bottom line.

Strengthening relationships, going after meaningful goals, and caring for yourself are all proven strategies for improving your happiness and well-being. Focusing on those areas can help you create a more fulfilling life, regardless of your finances.

Remember, happiness doesn't come from a single source. By incorporating these strategies into your life and building a fulfilling lifestyle, you can find joy and contentment, regardless of your financial situation.

The answer to the question of whether money can buy happiness is, well, complicated. Research shows that money can alleviate stress and improve life satisfaction. But those benefits will start to taper off after a certain point. A higher income level provides financial security and access to resources and opportunities but doesn't guarantee enduring happiness.

Happiness isn’t just about what’s in your bank account. Finding happiness is an ongoing process that involves many facets. And while there’s nothing wrong with pursuing financial well-being, don't sacrifice your mental health in the long run. Instead, find a balance between your financial pursuits and relationships and experiences. That, we say, is the best approach for unlocking lasting happiness.

Kahneman, D., & Deaton, A. (2010). High income improves evaluation of life but not emotional well-being .  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences ,  107 (38), 16489–16493. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1011492107

Ek, C. (2017). Some causes are more equal than others? The effect of similarity on substitution in charitable giving .  Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization ,  136 , 45–62. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jebo.2017.01.007

Buttrick, N., & Oishi, S. (2023). Money and happiness: A consideration of history and psychological mechanisms .  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences ,  120 (13), e2301893120. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2301893120

Beygi, Z., Solhi, M., Irandoost, S. F., & Hoseini, A. F. (2023). The relationship between social support and happiness in older adults referred to health centers in Zarrin Shahr, Iran .  Heliyon ,  9 (9), e19529. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e19529

Hill, P. L., Turiano, N. A., Mroczek, D. K., & Burrow, A. L. (2016). The value of a purposeful life: Sense of purpose predicts greater income and net worth .  Journal of Research in Personality ,  65 , 38–42. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrp.2016.07.003

Cunha, L. F., Pellanda, L. C., & Reppold, C. T. (2019). Positive psychology and gratitude interventions: A randomized clinical trial .  Frontiers in Psychology ,  10 , 584. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00584

Crego, A., Yela, J. R., Gómez-Martínez, M. Á., Riesco-Matías, P., & Petisco-Rodríguez, C. (2021). Relationships between mindfulness, purpose in life, happiness, anxiety, and depression: Testing a mediation model in a sample of women .  International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ,  18 (3), 925. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18030925

Park, B. J., Tsunetsugu, Y., Kasetani, T., Kagawa, T., & Miyazaki, Y. (2010). The physiological effects of Shinrin-yoku (Taking in the forest atmosphere or forest bathing): Evidence from field experiments in 24 forests across Japan .  Environmental Health and Preventive Medicine ,  15 (1), 18–26. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12199-009-0086-9

By Kendra Cherry, MSEd Kendra Cherry, MS, is a psychosocial rehabilitation specialist, psychology educator, and author of the "Everything Psychology Book."

A business journal from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania

Does Money Buy Happiness? Here’s What the Research Says

March 28, 2023 • 5 min read.

Reconciling previously contradictory results, researchers from Wharton and Princeton find a steady association between larger incomes and greater happiness for most people but a rise and plateau for an unhappy minority.

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The following article was originally published on Penn Today .

Does money buy happiness? Though it seems like a straightforward question, research had previously returned contradictory findings, leaving uncertainty about its answer.

Foundational work published in 2010 from Princeton University’s  Daniel Kahneman  and Angus Deaton had found that day-to-day happiness rose as annual income increased, but above $75,000 it leveled off and happiness plateaued. In contrast, work published in 2021 from the University of Pennsylvania’s  Matthew Killingsworth  found that happiness rose steadily with income well beyond $75,000, without evidence of a plateau.

To reconcile the differences, Kahneman and Killingsworth paired up in what’s known as an adversarial collaboration, joining forces with Penn Integrates Knowledge  University Professor  Barbara Mellers  as arbiter. In a new  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences  paper , the trio shows that, on average, larger incomes are associated with ever-increasing levels of happiness. Zoom in, however, and the relationship becomes more complex, revealing that within that overall trend, an unhappy cohort in each income group shows a sharp rise in happiness up to $100,000 annually and then plateaus.

“In the simplest terms, this suggests that for most people larger incomes are associated with greater happiness,” says Killingsworth, a senior fellow at Wharton and lead paper author. “The exception is people who are financially well-off but unhappy. For instance, if you’re rich and miserable, more money won’t help. For everyone else, more money was associated with higher happiness to somewhat varying degrees.”

Mellers digs into this last notion, noting that emotional well-being and income aren’t connected by a single relationship. “The function differs for people with different levels of emotional well-being,” she says. Specifically, for the least happy group, happiness rises with income until $100,000, then shows no further increase as income grows. For those in the middle range of emotional well-being, happiness increases linearly with income, and for the happiest group the association actually accelerates above $100,000.

Joining Forces to Ask: “Does Money Buy Happiness?”

The researchers began this combined effort recognizing that their previous work had drawn different conclusions. Kahneman’s 2010 study showed a flattening pattern where Killingsworth’s 2021 study did not. As its name suggests, an adversarial collaboration of this type — a notion originated by Kahneman — aims to solve scientific disputes or disagreements by bringing together the differing parties, along with a third-party mediator.

Killingsworth, Kahneman, and Mellers focused on a new hypothesis that both a happy majority and an unhappy minority exist. For the former, they surmised, happiness keeps rising as more money comes in; the latter’s happiness improves as income rises but only up to a certain income threshold, after which it progresses no further.

To test this new hypothesis, they looked for the flattening pattern in data from Killingworth’s study, which he had collected through an app he created called Track Your Happiness. Several times a day, the app pings participants at random moments, asking a variety of questions including how they feel on a scale from “very good” to “very bad.” Taking an average of the person’s happiness and income, Killingsworth draws conclusions about how the two variables are linked.

A breakthrough in the new partnership came early on when the researchers realized that the 2010 data, which had revealed the happiness plateau, had actually been measuring unhappiness in particular rather than happiness in general.

“It’s easiest to understand with an example,” Killingsworth says. Imagine a cognitive test for dementia that most healthy people pass easily. While such a test could detect the presence and severity of cognitive dysfunction, it wouldn’t reveal much about general intelligence since most healthy people would receive the same perfect score.

“In the same way, the 2010 data showing a plateau in happiness had mostly perfect scores, so it tells us about the trend in the unhappy end of the happiness distribution, rather than the trend of happiness in general. Once you recognize that, the two seemingly contradictory findings aren’t necessarily incompatible,” Killingsworth says. “And what we found bore out that possibility in an incredibly beautiful way. When we looked at the happiness trend for unhappy people in the 2021 data, we found exactly the same pattern as was found in 2010; happiness rises relatively steeply with income and then plateaus.”

“The two findings that seemed utterly contradictory actually result from data that are amazingly consistent,” he says.

Does It Matter Whether Money Can Buy Happiness?

Drawing these conclusions would have been challenging had the two research teams not come together, says Mellers, who suggests there’s no better way than adversarial collaborations to resolve scientific conflict.

“This kind of collaboration requires far greater self-discipline and precision in thought than the standard procedure,” she says. “Collaborating with an adversary — or even a non-adversary — is not easy, but both parties are likelier to recognize the limits of their claims.” Indeed, that’s what happened, leading to a better understanding of the relationship between money and happiness.

And these findings have real-world implications, according to Killingsworth. For one, they could inform thinking about tax rates or how to compensate employees. And, of course, they matter to individuals as they navigate career choices or weigh a larger income against other priorities in life, Killingsworth says.

However, he adds that for emotional well-being money isn’t the be all end all. “Money is just one of the many determinants of happiness,” he says. “Money is not the secret to happiness, but it can probably help a bit.”

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August 10, 2010

Can Money Buy Happiness?

New research reveals that reminders of wealth impair our capacity to savor life's little pleasures

By Sonja Lyubomirsky

Money can't buy you love. Worshipping Mammon foments evil ways. Materialists are shallow and unhappy. The greenback finds itself in tough times these days. Whether it’s Wall Street bankers earning lavish multi-million-dollar bonuses or two-bit city managers in Los Angeles County bringing in higher salaries than President Obama the recessionary economic climate has helped spur outrage and revulsion at those of us collecting undeserved lucre.

Wealthy people have a bad rep. Sure, there are philanthropists like Warren Buffet and Bill Gates, who have given billions of their net worth away and have made the world a better, healthier, safer place. But, sadly, they are an exception . American families who make over $300,000 a year donate to charity a mere 4 percent of their incomes. The statistic should not be surprising, as studies by University of Minnesota psychologist Kathleen Vohs and her collaborators have shown that merely glimpsing dollar bills makes people less generous and approachable, and more egocentric.

Now come a new set of studies that reveal yet another toll that money takes. An international team of researchers led by Jordi Quoidbach report in the August 2010 issue of Psychological Science that, although wealth may grant us opportunities to purchase many things, it simultaneously impairs our ability to enjoy those things.

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Their first study, conducted with adult employees of the University of Liège in Belgium showed that the wealthier the workers were, the less likely they were to display a strong capacity to savor positive experiences in their lives. Furthermore, simply being reminded of money (by being exposed to a picture of a huge stack of Euros) dampened their savoring ability. 

Quoidbach and his colleagues’ second study was even cleverer. Participants aged 16 to 59 recruited on the University of British Columbia campus were entrusted with the not unpleasant task of tasting a piece of chocolate. Before accepting the chocolate, however, they were obliged to complete a brief questionnaire. For half of the participants, this questionnaire furtively included a page with a picture of Canadian money (allegedly for an unrelated experiment), and for the other half, it included a neutral picture.

Although the ostensibly irrelevant photo was unlikely to have elicited more than a cursory glance, it had a pronounced effect on the volunteers’ behavior. Those “primed,” or subconsciously reminded, of money ended up spending less time consuming the chocolate and were rated by observers as enjoying it less.

How to explain these results? The researchers argue that because wealth allows people to experience the best that life has to offer, it ultimately undermines their ability to savor life’s little pleasures. Once we’ve had the opportunity to drink the finest French wines, fly in a private jet, eat foie gras with edible gold leaf, and watch the Super Bowl from a box seat, coffee at Starbucks with a friend, a sunny day after a week of rain, or an unexpected Reese’s peanut butter cup on our desks just doesn't provide the same jolt of happiness it used to. Indeed, a landmark study of lottery winners showed just that: People who had won between $50,000 and $1,000,000 (in 1970s dollars) were less impressed by life’s simple pleasures than people who experienced no such windfall.

Of course, Quoidbach et al.'s findings may have alternative explanations. Maybe seeing banknotes triggers feelings of disgust (due to associations with greed or just with germs) or stirs up our money worries, and those feelings of disgust, anxiety, or unease may be enough to lose our appetites just a little and curb enjoyment of the chocolate bar.

Despite those possibilities, I find the researchers' arguments compelling. In a book I'm writing, I devote an entire chapter to the costs of materialism and wealth. The single biggest culprit, I argue, is that having money raises our aspirations about the happiness that we expect in our daily lives, and these raised aspirations can be toxic. They say you can never go back to holding hands, but it's also hard to go back to economy class (from business), to sleeping on a futon with a bunch of roommates (from your comfortable master bedroom in a split level), or to eating at chain restaurants (after regularly partaking of the cuisines of Mario Batali and Bobby Flay ).

Unfortunately, raised aspirations don’t only lead us to take things for granted and impair our savoring abilities. They steer us to consume too much, tax the planet's resources, overspend and undersave, go into debt, gamble, live beyond our means, and purchase mortgages that we can’t afford. Not long ago, I read a newspaper article that quoted the shocking statistic that 20 percent of Americans trade in their automobiles every two years. Every two years! We acquire the new Toyota Camry or Lexus SUV or Jaguar, and for the first few weeks or months, the ride is thrilling. But, as we all know too well, the thrill wears off not long after the new car smell fades.

If attaining wealth or earning pay raises so unfailingly elevates our aspirations, are we doomed never to reap money’s pleasures and rewards? Can people who make partner, write a best-seller, or invest wisely ever enjoy a simple piece of chocolate? Of course, they can. Indeed, in my mind, one of the biggest misconceptions about money is that it can’t make us happy – or rather, that the joys it offers can be only faint and fleeting. As it happens, a growing social science of money is showing how we can compensate for some of its damaging effects by getting the most out of our spending. The conclusion is that if we want to buy happiness, we need to wring as many rewarding and stretching experiences from our purchases as possible. The most effective empirically-supported ways include:

spending our money on activities that help us grow as a person (taking guitar lessons, investing in an entrepreneurial venture), strengthen our connections with others (dinners with colleagues, car trips with friends, roller blades for mom and child), and contribute to our communities (catering a fundraiser, donating to the needy);

shelling it out on activities and experiences (e.g., rock climbing expeditions, wine tasting family reunions) rather than material possessions;

spending it on many small pleasures (e.g., regular massages, weekly delivery of fresh flowers, or frequent phone calls to our best friend in Europe) rather than on one big-ticket item (like a new car or flat-screen TV); and

splurging on something that we work extremely hard to get and have to wait for (whether it’s a concert, trip, or gadget) and relish the feeling of hard-won accomplishment and anticipation as we wait.

Finally, our money will be even better spent if we take the time to appreciate the objects of our spending (the vacation, gadget, or smiles of the people we have helped); if we make efforts to inject novelty, variety, and surprise (e.g., buying activities that bring unexpected opportunities or adventures); and if we strive to compare less with others (e.g., focusing on how much I enjoyed the Paul McCartney concert rather than on how much better my neighbor’s seats were, or recognizing that my roller blades give me no less pleasure even if my sister has an even fancier pair). As researchers (including Ken Sheldon and myself ) have argued, these are all factors that slow down or pre-empt the process that leads us to take our purchases for granted and allow us to derive the maximal possible happiness from them.

Both empirical research and anecdotal observations testify to the many pitfalls of thinking about money. And now we know from Quoidbach and his colleagues that merely scanning a wad of cash can impair our ability to savor life’s small delights. If this all seems like pretty strong evidence that money cannot pay for happiness, then we are not looking at the problem in the right way. The truth is that money’s pitfalls can be overcome with a little effort and forethought.

A famous Lexus ad pronounced, “Whoever said money can’t buy happiness isn’t spending it right.” Happiness is a choice. We can choose to become never-satisfied janitors of our possessions, or we can use our money in ways that improve our worlds and, as a bonus, supply us with genuine and lasting well-being.

Are you a scientist? Have you recently read a peer-reviewed paper that you want to write about? Then contact Mind Matters co-editor Gareth Cook, a Pulitzer prize –winning journalist at the Boston Globe, where he edits the Sunday Ideas section. He can be reached at garethideas AT gmail.com

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Money Can’t Buy Happiness Essay | Essay on Money can’t buy Happiness for Students and Children in English

February 14, 2024 by Veerendra

“Money Can’t Buy Happiness” Essay: The problem with the saying, “money can’t buy happiness” is that it’s only partly right. When we think of spending money typically, we tend to think about spending money on things – a new car, a new TV, the latest sound-cancelling headphones and so on.

However, as human beings with sophisticated minds, over time, we often adapt surprisingly well to new changes in our world.

You can read more  Essay Writing  about articles, events, people, sports, technology many more.

That new TV we have wanted for so long after a few months is just a TV to us as we have gotten used to the higher clarity, better audio, and the 4K resolution. That new game out in the market, which we will spend a lot of money on, will soon get boring and we will eventually stop playing it. People often equate money with happiness, but that may or may not be the case depending on the context and situation.

Below are given a few examples of long and short essays concerning the topic.

Long and Short Essays on Money Can’t Buy Happiness for Kids and Children

We have provided a few sample essays on the mentioned topic. There is one extended essay of 500 words; a short piece of 100-150 words; and ten lines on the subject of money not buying happiness.

Long Essay on Money Can’t Buy Happiness 500 Words in English

Such long essays are usually helpful for students in classes 7, 8, 9, and 10. They are asked to write these essays for assignments and exams.

We often think that our lives would be so much better off if we just had more money. For example, “that person in my class has the brand new Playstation. I wish my parents were that rich to buy me one.” or “That person has a nice looking Rolex. If only I had the money to buy one.” “If only I had the money to buy a new car.” Hence, the list goes on. But what we take for granted is that once we have enough money to buy that item, we get bored of it and desire something new.

Psychologists call this the “Hedonic Treadmill” – New things always become “old”, and they need to be replaced with newer items.

Another factor we’re not going to be happy with buying things is that we want to compare ourselves to those around us – our families, our friends, celebrities, advertisements, etc.

When we see some new advertisements on TV, we feel like we have to buy it as a celebrity endorses it. When we open social media, we see photos of our friends and relatives who have gone for vacations and trips, and we feel we need the money to go on a vacation to enjoy ourselves as that is the only way to spend time with family properly. But what we don’t realize is comparisons are often insidious and harming, especially if we see ourselves at the non-receiving end.

What we should keep in mind is money always begs for more money. Of course, the main aim of a modern lifestyle is to get a proper job and earn wealth, but making earning wealth the sole purpose of one’s existence is dangerous and harmful. One will never be happy and peaceful and will always yearn for more wealth. He/she will never be satisfied. No amount of wealth can be seen as “enough”. If one’s sole purpose is to accumulate wealth to spend on material goods, then he/she will never be satisfied with their life.

Greek Philosopher, Diogenes says, “He has the most who is most content with the least.” This means that when a person appreciates and knows the value of his earnings, and does not take it for granted, and takes care of it properly, he can be happier than the wealthiest person on Earth.

With this being said, there are ways in which you can utilize your money more happily and healthily; Instead of wasting money on material goods, spend your accumulated wealth on road trips and vacations, picnics, family outings, etc. Getting out of the house and getting the experience of the outside world will have a positive impact on your mental health. Visiting new locations, be it solo, with friends, or family will boost your morale as you visit new places and meet new people, giving you new experiences and will teach you how to use your money carefully. If you have enough money to spare, you should donate some money to charity to help those less unfortunate. Not only will you be doing a good deed, but acts of charity will also teach you to be empathetic towards others.

All in all, the bottom line then is whether money buys you happiness or not is entirely dependent on how you choose to spend it.

Short Essay on Money Can’t Buy Happiness 150 Words in English

Such short essays are usually helpful for students in classes 1,2,3,4,5, and 6. They are asked to write these essays for assignments and exams.

We often think to ourselves, “If only I had the money to buy the PlayStation.”.” If only I had the money to buy a new car”.

Of course, the main aim of a modern lifestyle is to get a proper job and earn wealth, but making earning wealth the sole purpose of one’s existence is dangerous and harmful. We started equating our success to the material things we own in comparison to others.

There is always the question of “Who has the latest iPhone?” If one’s sole purpose is to accumulate wealth to spend on material goods, then he/she will never be satisfied with their life. There will always be a desire for something newer once the “new” becomes “old” again.

10 Lines on Money Can’t Buy Happiness Essay in English

• Focussed on making as much wealth as possible, you may lose the time available at hand.
• Buying things for personal consumption may feel rewarding at first. But using that money for a cause other than personal gain will help in growing a positive personality.
• Money cannot buy authentic relationships like friendship, love, etc.
• Everything isn’t about money, it’s the little things in life that matter the most.
• Money cannot buy time, so use your time wisely.
• Money cannot fix broken relationships.
• Addiction to earning money can cause severe mental stress.
• Money can seem to be “never enough.”
• Materialism can become an unhealthy obsession.
• Money alone cannot buy peace of mind.

FAQ’s Money Can’t Buy Happiness Essay

Question 1. Can money buy happiness?

Answer: Whether or not money buys you, happiness depends on how you chose to spend it. Always hoarding money will cause more anxiety and mental stress. Spending money in healthy ways like, for a vacation, or charity, will help you establish a positive and healthy mind.

Question 2. How to be happy with less money?

Answer: Of course, money is a necessity, but life should not solely revolve around the material gains it brings. If one can refrain from spending money uselessly on material goods, he will be much happier.

Question 3. What is the best way to utilize money?

Answer: Refrain from too much materialism. Instead, spend some of that money on trips with friends/family, charities, etc., as they help you refresh your mind, and help to maintain good mental health.

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Money can't buy happiness

Extremely wealthy people have their own set of concerns: anxiety about their children, uncertainty over their relationships and fears of isolation, finds research by Robert Kenny.

By Amy Novotney

July/August 2012, Vol 43, No. 7

Print version: page 24

• Mental Health

Most of what we think we know about people with a lot of money comes from television, movies and beach novels — and a lot of it is inaccurate, says Robert Kenny, EdD.

In an effort to remedy that, Kenny, a developmental psychologist and senior advisor at the Center on Wealth and Philanthropy at Boston College, is co-leading a research project on the aspirations, dilemmas and personal philosophies of people worth $25 million or more. Kenny and his colleagues surveyed approximately 165 households via an anonymous online survey and were surprised to find that while money eased many aspects of these people's lives, it made other aspects more difficult.

The Monitor spoke to Kenny about his findings and about the significance of his research for those of us who don't have a net worth of $25 million or more.

What prompted you to study wealthy families?

We wanted to try to understand the deeper motivations of people in high net worth households. They are rarely questioned about this, and instead are asked whether they would like a Mercedes or a Lexus. Do they prefer Tiffany's or Cartier? Most surveys of high net worth households are marketing surveys to sell a product, so the questions that are asked are pretty narrow.

We decided to ask three major questions: First, we asked, "What is the greatest aspiration for your life?" As far as we can tell, no one has ever asked this population that question, yet there are assumptions made about this all the time. The second major question was, "What's your greatest aspiration for your children?" Our third question was, "What's your greatest aspiration for the world?" After each of the major questions we asked, "How does your money help you with your greatest aspiration?" and, "How does your money get in the way?"

What did you find?

People consistently said that their greatest aspiration in life was to be a good parent — not exactly the stereotype some might expect. When asked whether their money helps with that, they answered with all the obvious: good schools, travel, security, varied experiences. But when we asked how their money gets in the way, that was a payload. We received response after response on how money is not always helpful. They mentioned very specific concerns, such as the way their children would be treated by others and stereotyped as rich kids or trust fund babies, they wondered if their children would know if people really loved them or their money, whether they'd know if their achievements were because of their own skills, knowledge and talent or because they have a lot of money.

Some were concerned about motivation. They worried that if their children have enough money and don't have to worry about covering the mortgage, what will motivate them? How will they lead meaningful lives? This is where the money might get in the way and make things confusing, not necessarily better. Very few said they hoped their children made a lot of money, and not many said they were going to give all the money to charity and let their kids fend for themselves. They were, however, really interested in helping their children figure out how they could live a meaningful life. Even though they did not have to "make a living," they did need to make a life.

As for the respondents' aspirations for the world, they focused, once again, on how to help the youth in the world live healthy, meaningful and impactful lives. Their answers were consistently youth-focused: They were concerned about being good parents, they were concerned about their children and they were concerned about the children of the world in general. We found that to be very interesting, and even surprising because it runs contrary to so many of the stereotypes about this population.

What had you expected to hear?

One could expect that you might hear things like, "I wanted to make a lot of money and become financially independent and be able to do whatever I wanted to do whenever I wanted to do it." But very few said anything like that, although they appreciated the temporal freedom. It was so non-financially focused. I expected that when we asked them about their greatest aspiration for their children, we'd get a lot more people saying they wanted their children to be world leaders, but that's not what they said at all. People said, "I'd like them to think about how to make their world a better place." Not the world, their world — their community, their neighborhood, their family.

What might psychologists find most interesting about this work?

A net worth of $25 million or more brings temporal freedom, spatial freedom and sometimes psychological freedom, but it's not always easy. Eventually temporal freedom — the freedom to do anything you want — raises dilemmas about what the best way to use all your time might be. There's also spatial freedom: You get to build anything you want — a house, a business, a new nonprofit — and people often get lost or befuddled with all of their options. And you get choice. You can go to this restaurant or that one, this resort or that one, buy this car or that one. People can get overwhelmed by all the choices and possibilities, and the amount of freedom that they have.

Then the overwhelming question becomes: What is the best use of my time and resources? After a while one can actually become stymied and even dispirited. There are plenty of folks who are more than willing to make suggestions, but it takes a lot of individual work to develop the psychological freedom to make decisions. For most, that's not a problem because time and money are limited, so the choices are limited. Being willing to try to understand the challenges of having an oversupply of time and money can be difficult for therapists.

The takeaway from all of this is that there seemed to be a trend that said you can't buy your way out of the human condition. For example, one survey participant told me that he'd sold his business, made a lot of money off that and lived high for a while. He said, "You know, Bob, you can just buy so much stuff, and when you get to the point where you can just buy so much stuff, now what are you going to do?"

What's the significance of this research for the vast majority of us who aren't wealthy?

This research shows the rest of the world, who often think that if they just made one more bonus or sold one more item or got one more promotion, then their world and their family's world would be so much better, that this isn't necessarily true. There's another whole level of concerns that parents are going to have about their kids. One of those concerns is this feeling of isolation. That's actually a No. 1 concern for families with a high net worth — this sense of isolation — and the higher the wealth, the worse it gets. We know this is a very powerful feeling when it comes to one's overall sense of well-being, and these people feel very isolated because they have what most of the world thinks they want. But just because you have money doesn't mean you're not going to have a bad day every once in a while. But what you often lose when you have all this money is the friendships that support you through the difficult times.

What have you learned through your years of working with people with a high net worth?

I think the toughest part about both working with this population and being in this population is that as soon as you say they have a net worth of $25 million, someone will start playing the violin. Like, "Oh, cry me a river, you have all this money and it's causing problems?"

No one is saying, "Poor me, I have a lot of money." In fact, most of them are saying, "I love having a lot of money. But don't get me wrong, there are some downsides."

These people don't have to worry about whether they'll have enough to make the mortgage payment, and they feel very fortunate. But it isn't nirvana either. If their kids have access to a lot of money, and therefore a lot of drugs, that hurts just as much as if they don't have any money and their kids are doing drugs. It doesn't save you from any of that. It's still a parent who has a child who is hurting.

Amy Novotney is a writer in Chicago.

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I Don’t Believe Money Can Buy Happiness Essay

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Happiness is very essential in each and everyone’s life as it makes life enjoyable and motivates someone to move on. There are many factors that contribute to an individual’s happiness, for instance, satisfaction in one’s family life, work, love relationships and even good academic performance.

Money is also a contributing factor but only when combined with other aspects like mentioned above. This paper gives an insight on why I don’t believe that money can buy happiness. I don’t believe that money can buy happiness since some aspects that leads to happiness for example respect, power love and a feeling of appreciation and belonging cannot be bought but rather attained naturally.

The more one earns, the more the needs that are to be satisfied and so money is essential to a certain level after which it becomes a problem and make people less approachable and more egocentric affecting their social life negatively hence hindering happiness in their lives. Money also impairs people ability to enjoy life and the many things they have acquired through their wealth despite being in a better position to purchase items of choice because life’s little pleasures are overlooked.

Money helps us to have a comfortable life as we can be able to cater for our needs but it surely cannot buy us happiness. This is because happiness in our lives is brought about by the little pleasures that life holds for us for example the joy attained through socialization with others, satisfaction in work and family life among others and not in the big pleasures attached to wealth and money.

Materialistic people are generally unhappy as they tend to ignore the little things that bring about happiness in life in search of bigger things with the hope of being happier which does not come to pass.

According to Luscombe (2010), money contributes happiness when it is acquired to a certain amount ($ 75,000) in a year after which no greater happiness is attached to the money. He argues that the lower an individual’s income falls below $75,000 per year, the unhappier he or she may be but at the same time, earning more than this does not guarantee any much happiness.

This shows that as much as money is essential in acquisition and satisfaction of our needs, it does not guarantee our happiness by its own and other aspects of life have to be incorporated to attain happiness.

Happiness can be viewed as the way one feels at a particular moment for example either emotionally well or not. It can also be viewed as the inner satisfaction an individual feels about his or her life in general in regard to what is happening. Money seems to make life appear to be working out well but it actually does not contribute to a person’s emotional well being that leads to total happiness.

Lower income does not in itself lead to sadness but make people stressed up by the problems that face them. For instance those with family problems like those who are sick, separated or divorced are not happy irrespective of the amount of income they earn hence money just help improve living conditions and brings a person to a life he or she thinks is better but do not necessarily lead to happiness.

There is more to happiness than money and there are people who are without money but are happier than those with lots of money depending on the circumstances that face them and the conditions in which they live.

People who delight in their work for example those who are involved in more social work and lot of human contact seem to achieve much higher levels of happiness as compared to those whose work involves dealing with machines and less human interaction since there is a good feeling that comes along with sharing of experiences, ideas and opinions with others.

For example hairdressers, doctors, nurses, teachers and social workers tend to be happier due to the strong social relations they develop in their work between their colleagues and also with their clients. This shows that although income matters, our attitude towards life is essential plus the consideration of other factors that may lead to our happiness like love, respect and recognition.

The key issue towards attainment of happiness is the ability to have just enough money to cater for the basic needs for instance food, clothing, shelter and health and some little more for emergency and concentrating on how you spend your time and not what you can acquire.

One should work on his or her strengths, purpose, the people and things that make life worth living and not on the items perceived to bring happiness but in reality do not. This is because happiness is an attitude and making enough to facilitate basic needs and a little surplus creates some peace of mind hence happiness and lack of it causes pain and stress as one tries to make ends meet.

Luscombe, B. (2010). Do We Need $75,000 a Year to Be Happy? . Web.

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More Proof That Money Can Buy Happiness (or a Life with Less Stress)

When we wonder whether money can buy happiness, we may consider the luxuries it provides, like expensive dinners and lavish vacations. But cash is key in another important way: It helps people avoid many of the day-to-day hassles that cause stress, new research shows.

Money can provide calm and control, allowing us to buy our way out of unforeseen bumps in the road, whether it’s a small nuisance, like dodging a rainstorm by ordering up an Uber, or a bigger worry, like handling an unexpected hospital bill, says Harvard Business School professor Jon Jachimowicz.

“If we only focus on the happiness that money can bring, I think we are missing something,” says Jachimowicz, an assistant professor of business administration in the Organizational Behavior Unit at HBS. “We also need to think about all of the worries that it can free us from.”

The idea that money can reduce stress in everyday life and make people happier impacts not only the poor, but also more affluent Americans living at the edge of their means in a bumpy economy. Indeed, in 2019, one in every four Americans faced financial scarcity, according to the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. The findings are particularly important now, as inflation eats into the ability of many Americans to afford basic necessities like food and gas, and COVID-19 continues to disrupt the job market.

Buying less stress

The inspiration for researching how money alleviates hardships came from advice that Jachimowicz’s father gave him. After years of living as a struggling graduate student, Jachimowicz received his appointment at HBS and the financial stability that came with it.

“My father said to me, ‘You are going to have to learn how to spend money to fix problems.’” The idea stuck with Jachimowicz, causing him to think differently about even the everyday misfortunes that we all face.

To test the relationship between cash and life satisfaction, Jachimowicz and his colleagues from the University of Southern California, Groningen University, and Columbia Business School conducted a series of experiments, which are outlined in a forthcoming paper in the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science , The Sharp Spikes of Poverty: Financial Scarcity Is Related to Higher Levels of Distress Intensity in Daily Life .

Higher income amounts to lower stress

In one study, 522 participants kept a diary for 30 days, tracking daily events and their emotional responses to them. Participants’ incomes in the previous year ranged from less than $10,000 to $150,000 or more. They found:

• Money reduces intense stress: There was no significant difference in how often the participants experienced distressing events—no matter their income, they recorded a similar number of daily frustrations. But those with higher incomes experienced less negative intensity from those events.
• More money brings greater control : Those with higher incomes felt they had more control over negative events and that control reduced their stress. People with ample incomes felt more agency to deal with whatever hassles may arise.
• Higher incomes lead to higher life satisfaction: People with higher incomes were generally more satisfied with their lives.

“It’s not that rich people don’t have problems,” Jachimowicz says, “but having money allows you to fix problems and resolve them more quickly.”

Why cash matters

In another study, researchers presented about 400 participants with daily dilemmas, like finding time to cook meals, getting around in an area with poor public transportation, or working from home among children in tight spaces. They then asked how participants would solve the problem, either using cash to resolve it, or asking friends and family for assistance. The results showed:

• People lean on family and friends regardless of income: Jachimowicz and his colleagues found that there was no difference in how often people suggested turning to friends and family for help—for example, by asking a friend for a ride or asking a family member to help with childcare or dinner.
• Cash is the answer for people with money: The higher a person’s income, however, the more likely they were to suggest money as a solution to a hassle, for example, by calling an Uber or ordering takeout.

While such results might be expected, Jachimowicz says, people may not consider the extent to which the daily hassles we all face create more stress for cash-strapped individuals—or the way a lack of cash may tax social relationships if people are always asking family and friends for help, rather than using their own money to solve a problem.

“The question is, when problems come your way, to what extent do you feel like you can deal with them, that you can walk through life and know everything is going to be OK,” Jachimowicz says.

Breaking the ‘shame spiral’

In another recent paper , Jachimowicz and colleagues found that people experiencing financial difficulties experience shame, which leads them to avoid dealing with their problems and often makes them worse. Such “shame spirals” stem from a perception that people are to blame for their own lack of money, rather than external environmental and societal factors, the research team says.

“We have normalized this idea that when you are poor, it’s your fault and so you should be ashamed of it,” Jachimowicz says. “At the same time, we’ve structured society in a way that makes it really hard on people who are poor.”

For example, Jachimowicz says, public transportation is often inaccessible and expensive, which affects people who can’t afford cars, and tardy policies at work often penalize people on the lowest end of the pay scale. Changing those deeply-engrained structures—and the way many of us think about financial difficulties—is crucial.

After all, society as a whole may feel the ripple effects of the financial hardships some people face, since financial strain is linked with lower job performance, problems with long-term decision-making, and difficulty with meaningful relationships, the research says. Ultimately, Jachimowicz hopes his work can prompt thinking about systemic change.

“People who are poor should feel like they have some control over their lives, too. Why is that a luxury we only afford to rich people?” Jachimowicz says. “We have to structure organizations and institutions to empower everyone.”

[Image: iStockphoto/mihtiander]

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Money can't buy happiness, a neuroscientist explains why

We all need enough funds to cover our basic needs, but beyond that the connection between wealth and wellness is less clear.

Dean Burnett

"Money can’t buy you happiness" is either a widely accepted insight or a tired cliché. Is it right , though? Scientifically speaking, the answer is… mixed.

A recent study carried out at the University of Bath has once again looked at the relationship between income and happiness .

It seems that, up to a point and within a specific set of circumstances, money can buy happiness. But beyond that, the relationship between money and happiness becomes much looser and uncertain.

What makes us happy?

At the most immediate and fundamental levels, the things that make us happy, or at least the provoke a positive, reward response in our brains, are those that satisfy our basic biological needs. Put simply, we humans, living organisms, need many things to ensure our survival, such as food, water, air, sleep, and security. Our brain recognises these things as being ‘biologically significant’, so if we obtain them, we experience a sense of reward.

Because the human brain can make intuitive and abstract leaps, it can easily recognise that receiving money means we can now more easily obtain food/water/shelter etc. This, as a study carried out by the Wellcome Trust in 2007 found, can be both rewarding and motivational , two things that could fall under the umbrella of happiness.

However, this doesn’t mean ‘more money’ automatically means ‘more happiness’. Money may be recognised by our brains as biologically significant, but there’s an upper limit on how rewarding even biologically significant things can be. For example, eating food can often be pleasurable, but at some point you’ll be sated, after which point eating more causes actual discomfort. Same with drinking. Even things like shelter and security; build too many barriers around yourself and you can feel isolated and oppressed.

There’s also the phenomenon of habituation, where the fundamental parts of our brains learn to not react to things that occur predictably and reliably. As evidenced in a 2011 study carried out by Dr Ruth Krebbs at Ghent University, this is why things that are novel, as in surprising and unexpected, are often more rewarding than familiar things .

In many cases, the same thing happens with money. Receiving your regular pay is reassuring, but receiving unexpected money, even if it’s much less, often makes you much happier.

Also, when we actively and tangibly need it for our survival, obtaining money is very rewarding. But when we go beyond that point, when we’re ‘financially secure’ as they say, money can still be rewarding, but it’s power to make you happy is significantly reduced , a study carried out at San Francisco State University found. More psychological, experience-based stimuli (e.g. travelling, forging new relationships, helping others etc.) have a greater ability to make you happy.

Granted, in the modern world you usually need money to do all those things too, but this ultimately means money’s link to happiness is more indirect, as a means to an end, rather than directly rewarding in its own right.

Is there a threshold amount of money that can make us happy?

That there’s a certain cut-off amount of money where it stops making people has a lot of implications, particularly in the present day. With much talk of wage stagnation, rising prices, and trials of universal basic income becoming increasingly common, the question of how much money people need to be happy is an increasingly salient one.

Unfortunately, there can be no easy answer, at least not one that applies to all people equally, because the factors that determine how much money is ‘enough’ for security and happiness are highly subjective, and vary considerably from person to person.

Some people feel they’d be happy for life with surprisingly modest sums, others don’t think they’d ever feel they had ‘enough’ money. Studies carried out by researchers at the University of Bath have also found that these significant variations are even more apparent when you compare people from different cultures , suggesting the link between money and happiness is at least as much learned as it is ‘innate’.

But even within the same capitalist culture, people’s ideas about financial security can differ drastically, with people who have ample money sometimes being much less happy than those with far less money because they have more worries about.

Can too much money make us unhappy?

This introduces another factor; money can make you unhappy . Or reduce happiness in other ways. Studies have shown that being paid to do something you enjoy can make you less motivated to do it, suggesting it actively reduces potential happiness. This would explain why people are often reluctant to turn a hobby into a job, or actively regret doing so.

Also, in our modern world, money is not static. If we have more money than we strictly need, we don’t hoard a big pile of gold coins in our spare room like modern-day dragons. Money is fluid, often intangible, and typically ends up being tied up with things like investments, stocks, properties, savings accounts, and more.

All these things are subject to the whims of politico-economical factors and more, meaning the person whose money it is has less control over it and less certainty than if they’d gone for the ‘big pile of gold’ option. Loss of control and uncertainty are two reliable sources of stress and unhappiness for the human brain.

Ultimately, rather than “money can’t buy you happiness”, it might be better to say “money can buy you safety and security”, and these things make it easier for us to be happy. But there’s no direct one-to-one relation between money and happiness, and how it affects us ultimately depends on who we are and how we’ve been raised.

Read more about happiness:

• Is waving back at a stranger on a bridge a sign of happiness?
• National happiness mapped over the last 200 years
• Why does chocolate make us happy?
• Could being happier help you fight infectious disease?

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Research: Can Money Buy Happiness?

In his quarterly column, Francis J. Flynn looks at research that examines how to spend your way to a more satisfying life.

September 25, 2013

A boy looks at a toy train he received during an annual gift-giving event on Christmas Eve 2011. | Reuters/Jose Luis Gonzalez

What inspires people to act selflessly, help others, and make personal sacrifices? Each quarter, this column features one piece of scholarly research that provides insight on what motivates people to engage in what psychologists call “prosocial behavior” — things like making charitable contributions, buying gifts, volunteering one‘s time, and so forth. In short, it looks at the work of some of our finest researchers on what spurs people to do something on behalf of someone else.

In this column I explore the idea that many of the ways we spend money are prosocial acts — and prosocial expenditures may, in fact, make us happier than personal expenditures. Authors Elizabeth Dunn and Michael Norton discuss evidence for this in their new book, Happy Money: The Science of Smarter Spending . These behavioral scientists show that you can get more out of your money by following several principles — like spending money on others rather than yourself. Moreover, they demonstrate that these principles can be used not only by individuals, but also by companies seeking to create happier employees and more satisfying products.

According to Dunn and Norton, recent research on happiness suggests that the most satisfying way of using money is to invest in others. This can take a seemingly limitless variety of forms, from donating to a charity that helps strangers in a faraway country to buying lunch for a friend.

Witness Bill Gates and Warren Buffet, two of the wealthiest people in the world. On a March day in 2010, they sat in a diner in Carter Lake, Iowa, and hatched a scheme. They would ask America‘s billionaires to pledge the majority of their wealth to charity. Buffet decided to donate 99 percent of his, saying, “I couldn‘t be happier with that decision.”

And what about the rest of us? Dunn and Norton show how we all might learn from that example, regardless of the size of our bank accounts. Research demonstrating that people derive more satisfaction spending money on others than they do spending it on themselves spans poor and rich countries alike, as well as income levels. The authors show how this phenomenon extends over an extraordinary range of circumstances, from a Canadian college student purchasing a scarf for her mother to a Ugandan woman buying lifesaving malaria medication for a friend. Indeed, the benefits of giving emerge among children before the age of two.

Investing in others can make individuals feel healthier and wealthier, even if it means making yourself a little poorer to reap these benefits. One study shows that giving as little as $1 away can cause you to feel more flush.

Quote Investing in others can make you feel healthier and wealthier, even if it means making yourself a little poorer.

Dunn and Norton further discuss how businesses such as PepsiCo and Google and nonprofits such as DonorsChoose.org are harnessing these benefits by encouraging donors, customers, and employees to invest in others. When Pepsi punted advertising at the 2010 Superbowl and diverted funds to supporting grants that would allow people to “refresh” their communities, for example, more public votes were cast for projects than had been cast in the 2008 election. Pepsi got buzz, and the company‘s in-house competition also offering a seed grant boosted employee morale.

Could this altruistic happiness principle be applied to one of our most disputed spheres — paying taxes? As it turns out, countries with more equal distributions of income also tend to be happier. And people in countries with more progressive taxation (such as Sweden and Japan) are more content than those in countries where taxes are less progressive (such as Italy and Singapore). One study indicated that people would be happier about paying taxes if they had more choice as to where their money went. Dunn and Norton thus suggest that if taxes were made to feel more like charitable contributions, people might be less resentful having to pay them.

The researchers persuasively suggest that the proclivity to derive joy from investing in others may well be just a fundamental component of human nature. Thus the typical ratio we all tend to fall into of spending on self versus others — ten to one — may need a shift. Giving generously to charities, friends, and coworkers — and even your country — may well be a productive means of increasing well-being and improving our lives.

Research selected by Francis Flynn, Paul E. Holden Professor of Organizational Behavior at Stanford Graduate School of Business.

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Question and Answer forum for K12 Students

Money Can’t Buy Happiness Essay for Students and Children in English

Money Can’t Buy Happiness Essay: The proverb “Money Can’t Buy Happiness” states that money can buy all the materialistic things like cars, houses, and also you can live a luxurious life too but having all the materialistic things surely will not give happiness. Money can be used to buy anything in the world but there is no shop where you can walk and buy happiness and so they say money can’t buy happiness.

When it comes to the question of whether money can buy happiness or not the answer here is that money is just a tool to buy things that give us luxury which in turn will give us happiness. But it doesn’t necessarily increase our happiness. Buying more and more luxurious things won’t really bring you more joy. More money isn’t going to improve your mindset, nor will it bring peace to mind. In other words, you can say that more money can’t buy happiness. There are many aspects which money can’t give.

You can read more  Essay Writing  about articles, events, people, sports, technology many more.

Suppose you think a new 24” LED TV will bring you happiness but after having the same 24” LED you see a better option and it makes you feel sad. You want to have better than this. It is not actually the tv that gives you happiness, it is the human nature of having more. A human being is one who is never satisfied. Happiness is actually the state of mind which cannot be achieved by materialistic things. There are many reasons which prove that money can’t buy happiness.

Buying stuff won’t make us happy, because we tend to compare it with others. Comparisons are ridiculous and quite often harmful to us.

What is Happiness?

Is it a big car, a luxurious house, or a big-screen LED TV?  Buying any new stuff feels great at first.  But gradually months and years later, the excitement decreases. The bright, shiny, newness will eventually go down and you’ll want a new one or more.

Happiness is a feeling. Feeling that money can’t buy. If someone asks are you happy, what will you answer?.

Happiness means satisfaction. Be satisfied with what you have in your life.  Not to crave on the things that you don’t have.

Reasons Why Money Can’t Buy Happiness

There are some very good reasons why having more money doesn’t necessarily make a person happier. It can actually turn the opposite. Many wealthy people, for example, are actually under stress.

Here we mention few reasons why money can’t buy happiness

More Stuff More Work

Many think that if you get more luxurious stuff our life would be happier but that isn’t true. The more the stuff, the more work it takes to take care of it. Day by day everything has become larger. Today people want larger houses to live in but keeping it clean and maintained is again a challenge. It takes more time and effort to keep your mansions neat and tidy.

More Stuff Less Free Time

As you own more stuff, you will get less free time because you’ll be spending time in the maintenance of the things you bought. Time is very important for everyone, but much of our free time is spent doing house chores and taking care of our stuff. You can use the money to hire maids but that is not possible in every situation.

More Stuff More Expenses

The more stuff you own, the more money you will have to spend to maintain it.

For example, bigger houses need more repairs than smaller ones. Unfortunately, repairs are a necessary part and can be expensive.

The more stuff you own, the more work and money is spent to maintain it. Having less stuff can free up some of your time to do things you enjoy. So money cannot always bring you happiness.

Materialistic things give Temporary Satisfaction

Money can buy temporary happiness. Everyone experiences themselves on cloud nine when they’ve bought something they’ve been desiring. These feelings of happiness are usually temporary. This happiness soon fades away and that new thing is no longer interesting.

Scientists have proved that we get more happiness from our experiences but not from materialistic things. And also they don’t cost much.

Time spent with your loved ones will give you more happiness than buying a costly item that you were eyeing for a long time.

Money Can’t Buy Family, Friends and Love

Family, friends and your loved ones are the people who will make you special. They are the people whose surroundings will make you happy. And definitely, money cannot buy these relationships.

When people are dying and taking their last breath they don’t want to see the things they own or the achievements of their life. All they want to see are their loved ones.

It’s their relationships that really matter but not stuff.

True love doesn’t care whether your loved one is rich or poor. That person will value you for who you are and not money.

Money Can’t Give You Peace of Mind

A person can live without a big house, he can survive without driving a car but cannot live with a stressful mind. True happiness has nothing to do with the bank balance. More money also sometimes steals away the peace of mind because of insecurity.

Changing our outlook for money is the first step in achieving true happiness, the kind of happiness that comes from being satisfied with what you have.

In conclusion, once you have your basic needs like food, water, shelter, clothing and the feeling of safety, then money can’t buy happiness.

It’s up to you to build meaningful relationships, enjoy the little things in life, and start spending your money on experiences and other people rather than materialistic things.

Essay on Money Can’t Buy Happiness

Students are often asked to write an essay on Money Can’t Buy Happiness in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on Money Can’t Buy Happiness

The meaning of happiness.

Happiness is a feeling of joy that comes from within. It’s when we feel good about our lives and the people around us. It’s not something you can go to a store and buy like a toy or a candy bar.

Money’s Role

Money is useful. It helps us buy things we need like food and a home. It can also help us have fun, like when we buy a game or go on a trip. But these things only make us happy for a short time.

Riches and Smiles

Some rich people have lots of money but are not happy. They may feel lonely or worried. This shows us that even with all the money in the world, you can’t buy a happy heart.

Lasting Joy

True happiness comes from love, friendship, and good memories. These are things that money can’t buy. Doing kind things for others or spending time with family and friends makes us truly happy.

250 Words Essay on Money Can’t Buy Happiness

What is true happiness.

True happiness is a feeling of joy, contentment, and well-being that comes from within. It’s not something you can pick up from a store or order online. Happiness is about feeling good inside your heart and mind, not about how much stuff you have.

Money and Things

Money can buy a lot of things like toys, games, and candy. But these things only make us happy for a little while. After some time, new toys become old, and the excitement fades. The joy that comes from things you can touch and buy does not last forever.

Love and Friendship

Think about the times you laugh with your friends or get a hug from your family. These moments give you a warm feeling that stays with you much longer than the happiness you get from a new toy. Love and friendship are priceless, and you cannot buy them with money.

Helping Others

Have you ever helped someone and seen them smile because of what you did? This kind of joy comes from giving, not getting. When you help others, you feel good on the inside. You can’t put a price tag on the happiness that comes from being kind.

The Simple Things

Often, the best things in life are free. Playing outside, talking with friends, or reading a good story can make you very happy. These simple pleasures do not cost anything, yet they fill us with happiness.

500 Words Essay on Money Can’t Buy Happiness

The meaning of true happiness.

Many people think that having a lot of money means you will be happy. They believe that when you are rich, you can buy anything you want, and that will make you happy. But true happiness is not something you can buy with money. True happiness comes from love, good health, and being content with what you have.

Love and Relationships

Think about the times you feel the happiest. Is it when you get a new toy, or is it when you are playing with your friends? For most of us, being with our family and friends makes us feel good. Laughing, playing games, and sharing stories are moments that make us happy. These moments do not cost anything. Money cannot buy the love of your family or the fun times with your friends.

Health is Wealth

Contentment is key.

Contentment means being happy with what you have. It does not matter if you do not have the newest video game or the latest sneakers. Being thankful for what you have is a big part of being happy. If you always want more, you will never be happy. Even if you have a lot of money, you will always be looking for the next thing to buy. But if you are content, you can find joy in the simple things in life.

The Best Things in Life Are Free

Some of the best things in life do not cost any money at all. Watching the sunset, playing in the park, and reading a good book are things that can make you very happy. You do not need to spend money to enjoy these things. Nature, art, and imagination are always there for you to enjoy.

Money and Happiness

In conclusion, happiness is not something you can buy at a store. It comes from love, health, being content, and enjoying the simple things. Remember, the most precious moments in life are often the ones that money cannot buy. So, smile, play, and enjoy every day, and you will find that happiness is all around you.

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Does Money Buy Happiness?

Money can not buy happiness.

Money Can't Buy Happiness. (2016, Jul 09). Retrieved from https://studymoose.com/money-cant-buy-happiness-essay

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StudyMoose. (2016). Money Can't Buy Happiness . [Online]. Available at: https://studymoose.com/money-cant-buy-happiness-essay [Accessed: 11-Sep-2024]

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