Does Money Buy Happiness? Donald Tolbert John Brown University Executive Summary The subject of this paper is the age-old question, “Does Money Buy Happiness”. On the surface, this question appears to be an easy one. Happiness however, is a subjective item. To better answer this, several points must be analyzed such as, “What is happiness?”, “How is it measured?” etc. To better streamline this process, a research question was developed: * “Does an increase in personal income cause individuals to have a change in their level of well-being?” In an effort to answer this question, several conflicting views were examined and several individuals were interviewed who had financial windfalls to determine the effect that an …show more content…
Their marriage was torn apart by the introduction of money into the relationship. Just 11 days after winning $1.3 million in the California lottery, Denise filed for divorce. In addition to that, she hid her winnings from her then-husband, hoping to keep it all herself. Denise was quoted as saying she didn’t want her ex-husband “getting his hands on” the winnings (O'Neill, 1999). The story doesn’t end there. Two years later, after going bankrupt and losing his business, Thomas happened upon a piece of misdirected mail that let him on the fact that Denise had won the prize. After legal proceedings, the Judge in the case awarded all the winnings to Thomas. Again, one party might have had a temporary increase in their well-being, but it didn’t last. In contrast to these examples, not all articles that have been researched end badly. Take, for example the stories of Joe and Lisa Johnson, Joan Ginter, and Adeline Angelo. All these individuals won lotteries and have found ways to share their good fortune. Joe Johnson won $10 million in the National Lottery in 1998, but the acquisition of a lifetime wasn’t what he expected. Joe says “In many ways, winning the Lottery had been one of the loneliest things that had ever happened to me” (Cable, 2009). After a couple of years, Joe found that the women that he dated “were more interested in my money than me” (Cable, 2009). After one memorably bad relationship,
When people suddenly win millions of dollars on things like the lottery, their lives are never the same. This is exactly how it goes for Jay Sommers, a young twenty year-old, who won one-fifth share of twenty-eight million dollars. He opted to receive $290,000 annually for twenty years. With the first check, five cars were purchased. “I blew all of the check in 2 ½ months,” Explained the now thirty-six year-old. The money was more liquid than water itself. His spending habits were causing his money to disappear like water in the desert. Jay couldn’t even pay taxes that he owed. He turned to the help of his friend, who was an established man of business. His buddy advised the millionaire in waiting to stop waiting. This meant taking out the rest of the money in a lump sum. Jay visits the bank years later and it was revealed that he had a balance of zero dollars, whittled away by his business friend’s terrible vested interests. He proceeded to sue his friend, but had $887,000 in lawyer fees and other accumulated debt. Jay Sommers was broke(Haugen 138). Everyone thinks that winning unbelievably large amounts of money will make them happy forever. Stories like Jay’s are not uncommon. Nobody expects what could really
By changing the perception of all types of wealth, not just fiscal prosperity, multiple pathways to happiness become apparent. “When your
Geoff Williams is no different when he constructed his article to have a large catching title like “Can Money Buy Us Happiness” and tropical destination pictures which tend to peak the curiosity of someone browsing by. Using personable witty humor as an opener to engage his audience its clear he was appealing to pathos. Using scientific studies, quotes, and publishing’s from people distinguished in their fields as well as Mr. Williams himself who credentials lead credence to the argument he has formed gives a strong ethos appeal. Williams constructed his argument stating his argument (buy experiences not material items for happiness), then the opposition’s argument (Material items can make some people happy at least short term) and concluding with a middle ground (buying something for someone else instead of yourself gives you happiness). Ultimately, the strength of pathos appeal in his article was what made his argument so
On the New York Daily News, Nicole Bitette wrote an article on a man named Jeffrey Dampier. Jeffrey was an ordinary man who lived in Illinois. He lived his life like every other person until one day, he won the lottery. In the article, Bitette wrote, “Jeffrey Dampier won $20 million in the Illinois lottery before his own family turned against him.” Winning the lottery may not be a blessing.
A Treasury of Terribly Sad Stories of Lotto Winners and the poem Richard Cory has changed my conception of happiness. By reading both stories it showed me how money can destroy people. I never looked at money as being evil or even winning the lottery as being bad. However, money can make you lose everything you have like your wife and kids especially if you pick up bad habits like Michael Carroll who spent all his money on drugs, gambling and prostitutes which lead to the loose of him losing his wife and daughter, sounds crazy, people would think Carroll would be taking his family on vacation but instead got stuck on drugs and blow his money on crazy things (Treasury of Terribly Sad Stories of Lotto Winners
A woman name Sharon Tirabassi won the lottery for $10.5 million by playing the Canadian Lotto Super 7. You would think that if someone won that amount of money they would be finically stable for a nice amount of time. Not If you buy a big house, fancy cars, designer wardrobe and taking exotic trips and threw fancy parties, that is what Sharon Tirabassi did. She also gave friends handout and loans which weren’t paid back. Out of all the things that she did for herself and others the only thing that she earned was a living pay check to pay check and catching the bus. Some people when they get a large amount of money they are not use to seeing if there are other things that they can put their money into. They usually end up getting their wants and not their needs. Typically, your wants lead you back to being carless with your money. If Sharon Tirabassi was not carless with her money, then she would probably not have to live pay check to pay check and not have to take the bus. For her being so carless with her money she lost it all and now Is back to
Defining happiness can be just as hard as achieving happiness. Some people find happiness through love, family or money. All three of these ideas can influence happiness, but do any of these have more power or influence of achievement or happiness over the others? Money seems to have the most influence in someone’s pursuit of happiness can suggest that money is the only thing that can make happiness. Money can only make a person happy on the outside, but one must have love and family for a person to truly be happy and money can’t truly buy that.
The fact that their parents did not provide economic outpatient care was astonishing. This means most millionaires were not financially supported by their parents. The author’s research indicates that “the more dollars adult children receive from their parents, the fewer they accumulate, while those who are given fewer dollars accumulate more”. I figured these millionaires were raised in a wealthy family and didn’t want to live any other way. I thought they were given things by their parents throughout their life. Another trait is their adult children are economically self-sufficient. The authors clearly believe that giving money to adult children damages their ability to succeed. I agree with this because if their children keep getting life handed to them on a silver platter they won’t learn the value of a dollar. They’ll think that daddy or mommy will bail them out whenever they’re in trouble which will not teach them anything about being successful on their own.
When someone is able to make more money they aren't are stressed about financial situations compared to someone with a low paying job (2010:39).
Although Americans do look better and feel better with the extravagant items they purchase, money doesn’t buy happiness for long term goals. Like many will argue, like Atlantic senior editor Derek Thompson did in his 2013 article, “Yes, Money Does Buy Happiness: 6 Lessons on the Newest Research on Income and Well-Being,” money can only buy happiness for short term goals; it won’t last very long for everyone and it could lead to worse scenarios when the money is gone. Thompson (2013) included statistics on richer countries that are proven to be happier, explaining, “First, the lines go up. More money, more happiness. Second, the lines go up in parallel, more or less. Across language, culture, religion, ethnic background, the same amount of extra money seems to buy the similar amount of extra happiness.” Thompson (2013) found the same similar pattern in many other countries and concluded that they are more happy than poorer countries. Although poorer countries don’t have as many resources or many things like richer countries do, Seth Borenstein, in his 2017 article for The Independent, “Norway Beats Denmark to be Named the Happiest Country in the World by the UN,” can beg to differ. Borenstein (2017) says, “While most countries were either getting happier or at least treading water, America's happiness score dropped 5 per cent over the past decade” (Borenstein, 2017). That shows that America, one of the richest
In today’s materialistic world, the phrase that ‘money can’t buy happiness’ is tending to be proved hence otherwise. Social research and surveys have shown results based on an individuals income, health and the political scenario which is dominant in his or her region. It is quite obvious that the gap between the privileged and the not so is growing into a great divide giving rise to different class and status, thus defining ones social circle. It should therefore be understood how an individuals economic status affects their personal happiness throughout all aspects of life. Many tend to refer to this age-old quote especially when they tend to belong to sector of people who can’t afford the modern day luxuries of life. What they do not
Everyone wants to live a happy life. Even those people that hate everything about everyone. The trick is how to get that wanted happiness. Is money a way to achieve this happiness? People, philosophers, professors, and ordinary, everyday people have been pondering this age-old question about the relationship between money and happiness and if money can buy happiness for a very long time. Much research and many surveys have been asked and performed by excited researchers and agog economists. A lot of experiments and presentations galore were rendered by inquisitive University professors and intrigued university undergraduates to provide useful data. As it turns out, money can and will buy happiness for everyone that spends it at the right time and on the right things.
The beautiful smile. The joyous laugh. The smiling eyes. The high pitched voice. All describe the characteristics of one being happy. Benjamin Franklin once stated “money has never made man happy, nor will it, there is nothing in its nature to produce happiness. The more of it one has the more one wants.”. In turn that quote has been a center of debates for centuries. Conversing over the debatable topic in which happiness does or does not extend from money. In a society such as the twentieth century, happiness is evidently reflected by wealth. Therefore, happiness is influenced by the amount of wealth that corresponds to the way one uses their money.
The texts, “High incomes don’t bring you Happiness” and “You can buy Happiness, if it’s an Experience”, completes the idea that monetary value does not bring true joy. In the passage, “High incomes don’t bring you Happiness”, the author states that bringing in an over excessive amount of money will not make one happy. The author said that an overall income of around $75,000 will complete one’s emotional well being, while anything over that will complete a life evaluation. Life evaluation is the idea that if one was to look at themselves while they’re in their deathbed, how would they rate their lifestyle. This is also supported through different statements within the passage, “You can buy Happiness, if it’s an Experience”. Within this study, it was proven that people enjoyed money, but often spent it on materialistic items which leaves them with a temporary feeling of satisfaction, while when they are given a fully paid trip to the Bahamas, the feeling of peace and joy lasts far longer than when they were to purchase an item of materialistic value. This
Another assumption is that the scales for measuring wellbeing change when circumstances change, this is a topic discussed by Brickman, Coates and Janoff-Bulman(1978) and by Oswald and Powdthavee