Money Can't Buy Happiness Essay

How often do you wake up worrying about money? How often do your loved ones worry about money? How often have you heard, “if only I had the money?” How often do you feel that more money would solve all your problems and would make you happy? What if I told you that you were right, to an extent. Author’s across the discussion of happiness have tried to answer the simply stated, yet complicatedly answered question, “Can Money Buy Happiness?” Authors Ed Diener and Robert Biswas-Diner attempt to answer the question in their piece of the same name, by explaining that “Yes, money buys happiness…but it must be considered in the bigger picture of what makes people genuinely rich” (Biswas-Diener 160-161). This idea that fiscal wealth is a path to happiness

Money and Happiness Why most of rich people are not happy with what they have? Happiness is the feeling which people feel it when they are satisfied with what they have even though these people are poor or rich. Money is the way that people use it to bring things which they can buy it by money. Sharon Begley in her article “Why Money Doesn’t Buy Happiness” states that sometimes there are relationship between money and happiness because people always try to spend less money when they want to buy somethings.

Does Money Buy Happiness? Studies over the last 10 years have shown that life experiences gives people lasting happiness and memories. There are two types of happiness: the measure of the quality of one's life, and how often one experiences positive emotions such as joy and affection. People in the top quartile for annual income have self-reported higher quality of life happiness than those in the bottom quartile, but about the same emotional happiness. Money can be used to purchase things ranging from physical objects to an experience.

In the world buying the things you want compared to buying the things you need is a consist problem for many people in America. Depending on a person’s financial situation, they might never be able to buy the things they want and just focus on the things they need. Most middle class Americans focus on paying for essential things such as: food, water, housing, and transport. My views towards consumerism is that people should focus on quality overbecause there are some moments in life that lower quality things will have negative effects.

The first point presented is experiencing things rather than buying merchandise. In explanation, if someone were to buy a watch it will be this great new thing for a short period of time then one will get used to it. The author says pick things that won’t let one adapt to it so quickly. Instead, someone could go on a trip and have that memory in the back of their head and could always refer back to whenever they wanted. Second, make money a treat.

Another commonality amongst our findings was that we found most people question their purchases after they’ve been bought. Regardless of the item, whether it is a fishing rod or makeup, almost all of our interviewees all mentioned having a feeling of guilt for purchasing an impulse buy that was stimulated from a selfie used in marketing.

Solomon, M. R., Zaichkowsky, J. L., & Polegato, R. (2011). Consumer behaviour: Buying, having, and being (5th Can. ed.). Toronto: Pearson Prentice Hall

My second article is Subjective Well-Being among Adolescent Consumers: The Effects of Materialism, Compulsive Buying, and Time Affluence. I used this article because I wanted to point out that unnecessary consumption could have a negative impact on our lives. But it is the culture we continue to teach our youth here in America.

However, with ease of purchase and easier returns people are less interested in the experience in a store but the convenience of the transaction and in the end satisfaction. “Retail stores used to be places where merchants would assemble an array of product they've selected for their consumers. That was important because consumers had nowhere else where they could see such a broad array of products” (Kestenbaum 2017). No longer do we care about the sale of an item and how well someone can talk about it. We can easily use the internet to find all of the reviews we could want without ever stepping out of our own homes let alone into a retail store. The consumer wants different things now. They are focused on unique items that are often locally made. The customer wants something that will create a moment or specific emotion whereas generations past have been more focused on a name brand and what may have been main stream or the best of the

When it comes to predicting how something will make you feel in the future, you will most likely be wrong. In the book Discovering Pop Culture, edited by Anna Romasino, is the article “The Futile Pursuit of Happiness”. In the article, author Jon Gertner talks about how people think certain things bring them happiness but aren’t as fulfilling as they may think. Gertner gives examples by writing about four men that have been questioning how people predict what will make them happy and how they feel after it happens. Among these men are a psychology professor Daniel Gilbert, psychologist Tim Wilson, economist George Loewenstein, and psychologist Daniel Kahneman. Gertner uses facts from scores of

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.

Landau states that “more money does not necessarily buy more happiness, but less money is associated with emotional pain” meaning money is materialistic and in the long run will not effect long term happiness (Landau 2). Money will buy you something materialistic that will be temporary in your life but after time fades you will eventually get bored until you find something new although it might have left you with some good memories and experience.

Happiness. What makes people happy? Is it meeting up with friends and family? Getting a new job? Having a good hair day? Receiving an A on a test? Sure, many people may agree that these few examples bring joy, however money is something that will assure happiness. Some people may argue that too much money teaches people to be entitled or spoiled, and not enough money can ruin one’s life. However, having a moderate amount of money in one’s life will fulfill everyone’s needs in order to bring joy and pleasure to all. A quote found online said, “They say money can’t buy you happiness. I say hand me 100 dollars, you can watch me smile” (Anonymous). It is pretty safe to say that almost everyone would be ecstatic to take the 100 dollars handed over rather than mourning and being sad after receiving the cash. Everyone views their own happiness in unique ways however, money certainly causes happiness in people's lives by representing success, sharing wealth, and improving an individual's state of well being.