Does Happiness Rely On How Much Money We Have?

The relationship between the two may not be as simple as we think it is

In today’s modern capitalistic society, we are taught to think and live by the maxim that money brings happiness. The more of the former one we have, the more likely we are to experience more of the latter one. Having as much money as possible and being at the top of the corporate ladder, is being considered to be the ultimate recipe for success.

But what is success anyway?

There’s a famous saying that money can’t buy happiness. On the contrary, some have argued that indeed stuff can make you experience a greater sense of joy.

However, there is a certain threshold, above which money stops making any sense when it comes to increasing happiness. But is this really true? In the are of consumerism, we are being thrown in the face with endless deals that will presumably change our lives for the better.

A couple of months ago I was browsing through the episodes of the podcast The Happiness Lab with Dr Laurie Santos. There, Dr Santos, a cognitive scientist and a professor of psychology at the Yale University, explores the science of happiness and how it makes us live our lives better.

As I was scrolling down the feed, I stumbled upon an episode, named The Unhappy Millionaire. It investigated the idea of whether winning the lottery could ruin one’s life, while contracting an incurable disease might feel like a “gift.” By listening to it, and then thinking and pondering over it, I have come up to realize that human happiness isn’t defined by such major events in the way assumed.

Although this is an extreme example, it can still be useful, in a way that it shows that too much or too less of anything could make us unhappy and unbalanced.

Let’s leave the extremes aside for now. We have all heard stories about the unhappy billionaires, who have virtually everything in their lives, except joy. Also, the poverty-stricken people that barely make it another day, due to the lack of food and water. No matter how true these stories are, extremes do not depict the general trends in the wide public domain.

Here, I’m talking about whether you would be willing to sacrifice something precious to you, be that relationships, time, or whatever you hold dear, just to have some more money in your bank account.

Would you prefer to occupy a higher-paying position at your job, at the cost of more stress and responsibility?

Would you sacrifice your time with yourself or with your loved ones for a bigger paycheck?

Such are the questions I’m trying to tackle in here.

Recently, one longitudinal study of graduating students found out that students who their time more than their money, were more likely to pursue intrinsically motivated activities, which, in turn, predicted greater well-being.

The study consisted of 1,000 students, most of which responded that they were happier 1 year after graduation, when valuing time over money. The difference was not huge though, 60% of them said that they preferred the former one, and 40%, the latter one.

Although the data is not significant, it still is an illustration of the idea that money is still not the predominant factor for increased happiness.

So, what’s that threshold I was talking about?

Harvard Business School researchers Michael Norton and Grant E. Donnelly, in The Wall Stress Journal, argued that money contributes to one’s own happiness just to meet some basic needs, however, above that level, having more money doesn’t lead to a happier life.

According to them, money does lead to well-being, however, the more you have of it, the faster the margins are depleted. For example, there may be a huge difference between having a yearly salary of $50,000 and $75,000. On the other hand, the difference is much smaller between earning $75,000 and $100,000. The amount of $25,000 may be the same for both cases, but for the latter one, the ratio of money/fulfilment is much smaller.

Angus Deaton and Daniel Kahneman, both professors at the Princeton University, have argued that there are no significant benefits to happiness after you reach the milestone of $75,000 a year.

In their research of how high income improves evaluation of life, but not emotional well-being, they have found out that these two variables increase with the rise of income. However, upon reaching and beyond $75,000, progress ceases to exist.

“We conclude that high income buys life satisfaction, but not happiness, and that low income is associated with both low life evaluation and low emotional well-being.”

To a certain point, having money could make you happier. However, above that point, accumulating more may possibly be useless and a waste of energy and resources.

In theory, happiness can be achieved in many ways — being healthy, having strong relationships, having a roof on top of your head, and so on. Alas, today’s world doesn’t allow us to settle down for such basic needs. It pushed us to want more and more from life, be that expensive cars, clothes, and houses. Things.

No matter how much we wish our happiness no to depend on how much money we have or what position we occupy at work, it’s just the way the world has evolved.

Nonetheless, apparently, money is not the sole reason for our happiness, it’s not even the primary reason for it to happen in the first place. The key is to be aware when money does indeed become your main reason for being happy. There’s more to it than that.

I hope you enjoyed my article. If you want to read more article written by me, check my Medium account:

I also write about psychedelics and mental health. Recently, I wrote articles on whether being high makes you dumber. Moreover, there is a second part of the interview you just read about, however, this time it was on LSD: