# Can money bring you happiness? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [December 22, 2002, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-money-bring-you-happiness/144319 "2002-12-22T04:20:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Who\_me\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/958977/32.png) [@Who\_me\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Who_me_1)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2002, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-money-bring-you-happiness/144319/21 "2002-12-23T18:51:31Z")
Money does not buy happiness, but it does make misery easier to deal with… I know happy people, I know unhappy people. Money is not really a factor in it. Kurt Cobain was rich, did it make him happy? It’s the same with a lot of people. And I _do_ know people barely getting by who enjoy just having their family around and never seem to leave a smile off their face or out of their eyes. Don’t confuse happiness/sadness with worrying/not worrying. Money does not make you happy, but it does eliminate some problems that the poor have to deal with. When you don’t have to worry about feeding your family, providing shelter, keeping a crap job, it does give you more options. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2002, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-money-bring-you-happiness/144319/22 "2002-12-23T19:50:24Z")
I am a proponent of Voluntary Simplicity. This is a principle that you examine _your_ life, and make the life decisions that will make _you_ happy. Life is not as black-and-white as “Money makes you happy” or “Lack of money makes you unhappy”. What is making me unhappy at the moment is that I am not able to do the things that I have decided are the best path for me because, at the moment, I lack the money to go ahead with them. It’s not the money that’s making me unhappy, it’s the unfulfilled life choices. I would caution people against seeing money (and by association the things it buys) as the be-all, end-all of their lives. Choose the things that fit you and your life, and work towards them. A good yardstick for this type of life is asking yourself what your reasons are for wanting the things you want. I want a house because I don’t want to keep paying rent (also known as paying someone else’s mortgage), I want an investment that will increase in value as I age and am less able to work, and because I want to know I will have a roof over my head when I am too old to work. I don’t want it as a status symbol or because everyone else does it. ---
**Author:** ![mack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mack)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2002, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-money-bring-you-happiness/144319/23 "2002-12-23T20:01:37Z")
**Jacob Needleman’s** book [Money and the Meaning of Life](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0385262426/qid=1040672368/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/103-7598598-4729449?v=glance&s=books) dwells on this very subject. I think generally you’ll be the same person you’ve always been, only with more money. You may not have to worry so much about shelter, food, and playthings but having more money than you had before doesn’t make life worry-free. I think fame does people in more than wealth does. ---
**Author:** ![yawndave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/43a26b/32.png) [@yawndave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yawndave)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2002, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-money-bring-you-happiness/144319/24 "2002-12-24T18:51:39Z")
If you had the choice, would you choose money over health? Over sanity?Over freedom? How about meaningful relationships with other people? ---
**Author:** ![X\_Slayer\_ALE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/bbe5ce/32.png) [@X\_Slayer\_ALE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/X_Slayer_ALE)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2002, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-money-bring-you-happiness/144319/25 "2002-12-24T20:10:03Z")
You got to read the words carefully. Money can **not** buy you love or happiness. I do agree with Sam Stone, you can rent it for a while. Money can Bring you happiness. still cant bring you love. but you can afford all the sex you want, to some people that is happiness and it is enuf. the bottom line is being poor sucks but if you have someone you love, happiness comes right along. Thats true whether your rich or poor. Money doesnt make you happy. but it can easily make the blues go away if you want it to. ---
**Author:** ![Zazie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Zazie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zazie)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2002, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-money-bring-you-happiness/144319/26 "2002-12-24T21:34:00Z")
Like Danzel Washington said the other day in an interview, “it’s a hell of a down-payment”! I am a pretty happy person, but I can say that in my private life, most of my worries would be gone if I had a lot of money… I am not talking the grand scheme of things like peace-in-the-world, blah blah blah, but I would be VERY happy in my life with money right now! ---
**Author:** ![verybdog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/49beb7/32.png) [@verybdog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/verybdog)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2002, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-money-bring-you-happiness/144319/27 "2002-12-24T21:54:48Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by X~Slayer(ALE) \* > \*\*You got to read the words carefully. > > Money can **not** buy you love or happiness. I do agree with Sam Stone, you can rent it for a while. > \*\* That’s funny. What if you keep renting it? ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2002, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-money-bring-you-happiness/144319/28 "2002-12-25T01:45:08Z")
According to [one British research,](http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/1750337.stm) the answer is “Yes, but it costs 1 million pounds.” ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2002, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-money-bring-you-happiness/144319/29 "2002-12-25T01:57:53Z")
If all 28000 SDMB members were willing to send me $100, I’d be happy to report the results in a detailed scientific journal filed from my new home in Rio. ---
**Author:** ![robertliguori](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/46a35a/32.png) [@robertliguori](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robertliguori)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2002, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-money-bring-you-happiness/144319/30 "2002-12-25T02:15:55Z")
Well, if you had enough money, you could fund the creation of a method of saturating your brain with synthetic endorphins, bribe people to shove the method through the FDA, and live out your life in a joyful haze. So, yes, money can buy happiness. ---
**Author:** ![Space\_Cadet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eb9ed0/32.png) [@Space\_Cadet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Space_Cadet)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2002, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-money-bring-you-happiness/144319/31 "2002-12-25T02:16:09Z")
Dudes and dudettes, money represents trust in your government - its just paper, or perhaps a few chips o’ nickel alloy or copper. Whats to be happy about? Perhaps you all mean consumption makes you happy. But what is the cost lying therein? More than money, I tell you. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-money-bring-you-happiness/144319.md?page=1)