Money Can Buy Happiness - to a point

[GordMay]

Can money buy happiness?
Income may boost emotional well-being, more than we thought.
Research [1], from 2023, has disproven a widely cited 2010 study [2], on the link between happiness and income, that cemented the idea that money could buy happiness only to a certain point — and that point was said to be about $75,000, at the time.
New research [1] raises it to $500,000, in annual income.
More about ➥ https://www.cbc.ca/radio/costoflivin...ness-1.7107592

[1] “Income and emotional well-being: A conflict resolved” ~ by Matthew A. Killingsworth, Daniel Kahneman, and Barbara Mellers [March 1, 2023]
➥ https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.2208661120

[2] “High income improves evaluation of life but not emotional well-being” ~ by Daniel Kahneman and Angus Deaton [September 7, 2010]
➥ https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1011492107

[mvweebles]

Spotted last week at Galeria Arte, a very nice restaurant in Barra de Navidad MX. The owner is a Canadian who married a Mexican and they jointly opened the restaurant.

[Dockhead]

I prefer David Lee Roth's take on this:


"Money can't buy happiness, but it can buy a great big yacht which can sail up right next to it"


Or something like that.

[Tin Tin]

Can't buy me Love and Happiness is a Warm Gun.

[ArmyDaveNY]

Money may not buy happiness, but it sure beats the misery of poverty!

This is really common sense. Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs perhaps most famously summed this up. One needs a certain level of income in order to provide not only basic necessities, but also to allow one to engage in fulfilling activities. Given the debasement of our currencies these past few decades, it's no wonder that the minimum level of income has grown exponentially.

[Island Time O25]

This is looking at happiness from the wrong POV. If one is happy (whether by doing what one loves, being with one one loves, etc) one's need for money is not a priority. It helps not to be dirt poor but given a choice of health and ability to do what one loves vs. lots of money doing the rat race grunge I'll take the former package any time. And have been doing it for most of my life.

In the latter situation, there is a need for $$ to compensate for the misery of otherwise unhappy life. So once the $ is over a certain threshold amount, say $500K as stated, it can alleviate a lot of unhappiness. If this wasn't true the rich would not be paying for their shrink's kids' medical and law schools.

[Kettlewell]

In all my years of cruising I have found the folks on the small, simple boats are having the most fun and seem to be the happiest. Having big, wonderful possessions always means more responsibilities, time wasting repairs, etc. Ever noticed that some of the most uptight people in the anchorage are the folks with the expensive boats that are always polishing and waxing? Those are the ones that scream at you to stay away if you cross their bow with your anchor in the ready position. There's one guy like this we have run into a few times, and once he chased us away from what he thought was anchoring too close--we were ahead of where his anchor was on the bottom. I have avoided him many times over the years because he frequents an anchorage we like too. I don't know how many times I have observed him pacing the decks with arms crossed as someone circles to anchor, or actively involved in a shouting match. I noticed his wife stays down below hiding. Big, beautiful boat with all the toys nice and shiny, but not enjoying the cruising life.

[5BTM]

Originally Posted by mvweebles

Spotted last week at Galeria Arte, a very nice restaurant in Barra de Navidad MX. The owner is a Canadian who married a Mexican and they jointly opened the restaurant.

Do you think she would have married him if he didn't have money or a Canadian passport?

https://clip.cafe/arthur-1981/i-take...e-calling-you/

[MicHughV]

The day I set out to see the world, I was more or less quite broke. Having $5 in my pocket at any one time made me feel rich.
Off course, I had no bills, no insurance of any kind for either me or the boat, but I also had no cares, no worries, etc.
As far as I was concerned, I was living the dream and I was.
After about 11-12 years of this, I stopped and got an actual job, and all of a sudden I was sucked into bills, insurance, and a myriad of other things, and my life, as I had known it, came to a sudden grinding halt.
I had a bit more money in my pocket, but was I happier.....ha ha....funny......

[sailorboy1]

The only time people with money don't understand they aren't happy is when they lose it all.

I never have understood why some think is a badge of honor to not have money. Is it to tell themselves it is OK because they couldn't make more money?

I have been poor and it is WAY happier to to have money!

[MicHughV]

I think one must factor in "youth" in this equation.

I was in my 20's when I took of...... single, young, in great physical shape, etc, etc.

Fast forward to today. Not so young anymore, a few medical ailments here and there, etc...age takes a toll.
I have more money, but also more bills and so on, but happier....hmmmmm.... ?????

[davefromoregon]

Money equals lack of fear.
Lack of money invites fear.
Fear is the antithesis of happiness.

[Mike OReilly]

Thanks Gord, it's a good reset for my thinking.

The findings are far from simple though, and it begs a lot more research. The fascinating finding is that happiness does indeed seem to rise with income for most people, but not everyone.

For 15th percentile of people, the relationship shows little increase in happiness. The 30th to 50th percentile group shows a linear rise with increased wealth. And at the upper 70th percentile, growth in happiness happens at an accelerated rate, with the top 85th percentile showing a significant rise in the slope of the increased happiness.

In summary, if you're at the bottom of the happiness scale to begin with (15th percentile), more wealth beyond threshold doesn't do much to increase your happiness. But if you're in the top (85th percentile) of the happiness scale, more wealth not only increases your happiness, but it does so at some sort of exponential rate.

Another important point the authors stress is that the overall relationship of wealth to happiness is "weak."

The correlation between income and well-being is much discussed, both by the public and by social scientists and has been the focus of considerable research (3–13). Yet is important to note that the relationship is weak, even if statistically robust. The correlation between average happiness and log(income) is 0.09 in the experience sampling data, for example, and the difference between the medians of happiness at household incomes of $15,000 and $250,000 is about five points on a 100-point scale. The flattening and accelerating patterns are even smaller modulations of a small effect.

(Bold is mine).

[Kettlewell]

I suspect the answer is obvious. Money does not buy happiness. I know some people with plenty of money who are just miserable because they don't have their health. A good friend of mine just died with tons of money in the bank after battling health problems for decades. OTOH, I knew someone else who was so poor she lived in a one-room home with no running water and a woodstove for heat, in northern New York State. She carried her water from the creek every day. She and I shared some laughs about three days before she died of cancer, which she had been battling for years. Never complained as she was dieing, which seemed to vex her nurses and doctors. They thought it was strange that she wasn't facing reality and moaning and groaning about imminent death. Her attitude was why waste time worrying about it?

[Lake-Effect]

Originally Posted by ArmyDaveNY

... Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs perhaps most famously summed this up. One needs a certain level of income in order to provide not only basic necessities, but also to allow one to engage in fulfilling activities.

Mazlow's Hierarchy for the win.

Where money detracts from happiness is when the pursuit of money elbows out other important needs in the triangle: especially relationships, self-actualization, creativity.