Assuming you aren’t extremely poor (let’s say you are an adult earning somewhat below the median household or individual income and that you will stay in this financial position for life), what will a higher income “buy” you? Obviously you can consume more in both amounts and in quality (pereived or real) with a higher income, but is there evidence that you live longer, die less painfully, have better behaved or happier kids or marriage, lead a happier life, feel less stressed overall, etc.?
Broad question, but just wondering what the facts are, or at least how better to pose the question or think about the research required to answer it.
With enough money you can choose where to go and what to do. Don’t like hwere you live? Move! Want to go on a year-long excursion around the world? Go for it! As long as you don’t tie yourself down with material objects (which I did, and which I’m trying to remedy), you’re free.
But most people aren’t that rich. What about those with a high income, but who aren’t rich enough for the freedom I’ve described? Well, there are more options for travel. You mayn’t be able to take a year off, but you will probably have the enough time to go virtually anywhere in the world. You’ll likely have better health insurance, which will allow you to prevent some diseases or cure or mediate them sooner than if you didn’t. I’d guess that that would lead to a longer life.
Will you be happier? ‘Money doesn’t buy happiness’; but it can buy distractions from unhappiness. As I’ve said in other threads, I’m not a happy person. No job, mom’s sick, and my fiancée called off the wedding. I think that to be truly happy one needs to share one’s self with a Significant Other. At least, that’s true for me. That ain’t gonna happen. No amount of money will change that. But with money I can indulge myself in flying helicopters (which I love) and filmmaking (which I like nearly as much as flying) and riding my motorcycle and driving my MGB (when it’s finished – and which still requires more money for the restoration). So having more money may not buy happiness, but it can alleviate some unhappiness.
Better marriage? Happier kids? As a bachelour I am a wretched outcast, and therefore unqualified to comment. Still, I think that money would only camouflage a bad marriage or unhappy kids.
Hey there. Thanks for your input. Some helpful thoughts there. HOWEVER, I’m trying to look for research on what it buys you, not just speculation. Although the notion that it buys mobility and more options is clearly part of the mechanics of what it buys you. So you are right about that. Essentially, I’m trying to keep this from sliding into a GD discussion, so any research people know of would be great.
I could buy a larger house, or one closer to my work, or in an area with better schools; the larger house would mean that I could keep my private office when the new baby comes, the closer house would reduce the wear and tear of commuting on me and my car, and better schools would reduce my worries about my kids (who aren’t in school yet (hell, one’s not born yet)).
I could pay people to do my landscaping and home improvements; this would reduce friction between me and my wife, and my house and yard would look better, and I’d have more energy and fewer backaches.
With a LOT more money, I could hire a personal trainer who would chivvy me into exercising when I’m feeling lazy; I’d be healthier and happier.
With more money, my wife wouldn’t have to work, and the whole family would be happier. Hell, with just a tiny bit more money, I can absorb the cost of daycare for the new kid without any decline in household spending – that alone is an achievement.
Best of all, with more money I could keep spending at the existing level, and save more money for a rainy day – worry ceases.
Granted, what most people do with more money is buy more useless crap, but even useless crap has its place.
I don’t think there’s any research that usefully links higher income to measurable indices of quality of life, but I think at least some of the above factors have been so linked.
For some money is a measure of their power. That works, because power is the capacity to do work. If you have enough money, you pay to have the work done. For others money is a measure of security. You pay to have the things that frighten you held at bay from your life. For others money is just a measure of self worth. You got lots of money, you are a better person. The fact is that when asked to list the ten things they find attractive in men, most women list things that can be paid for with money, or money itself. Of course, if you pin your own self worth on the measure of money, every financial transaction threatens you very self.
Whatever money can get, more money can get more of it. Whether you need, or even want more is a personal evaluation.
For a few, money is a measure of success on a whole different level. Warren Buffett says that money is a direct measure of how well he does his job. Since his job is investing his own and other people’s money with the goal of increasing the value of that investment, he has a valid point. He measures his success in dollars. And he is very successful. But he still lives in the house he lived in when he first started running Berkshire Hathaway. His daughters found out their father was a multibillionaire by reading about it in the paper. So, money is a measure for him, but not of him.
Tris
“Write a wise saying and your name will live forever.” ~ Anonymous ~
I’m sorry to be blunt, but it’s a silly question. If I found out my tax dollars were at work researching “what does more money get you,” I’d be pretty pissed.
More money buys you whatever you want. Whatever is important to you, more money can buy more of it.
Will you live longer? Possibly, since you could afford more expensive diagnostics, drugs and treatments than the run-of-the-mill HMO would provide - but the availability of these treatments will not always prolong your life. And the bus that hits you in an intersection doesn’t care how much is in your wallet.
Will you die less painfully? Again, this depends on circumstances. If you are diagnosed with a painful, terminal disease and you have Big Money, you can afford the drugs and palliative care to make your last days a little more bearable, or even the sympathetic euthanasia specialist who can help you go gently into that good night. But the bus…
Better behaved kids? Happier kids? Well, sometimes the behaviour and happiness of children - superficially - can be proportional to the range, extent and immediacy of the things they get, and those things usually cost you money. But of course, this is also the path to spoiled, whiny behaviour, so a judicious application of monetary relief may be called for.
A happier marriage? Money will buy you the trappings - the house, the car, the vacations in Aruba - that can be “dissatisfiers” if they are not present, but having these things cannot be a guarantee of marital bliss, just a possible means of avoiding discord. So maybe “a less unhappy marriage” might be more appropriate phraseology.
Feel less stressed overall? Now here’s the paydirt! So many of our stresses are money-related - working in a job you hate, working for a boss you loathe, driving a car you can’t afford to fix or replace, having to live in a neighborhood you feel is unsafe. Money can help a lot in reducing stress in our everyday lives. And if you have enough of it, you don’t even have to worry about managing it, or acquiring more of it - you can hire someone to worry on your behalf!
Just finished reading The Working Poor by David Shipler. You didn’t ask about the poor, but the conclusions are still relevant, just not quite as much. More money gives you the ability to recover from a crisis, to not be completely felled by relatively small issues.
Will you have happier children? Probably. You can afford to take a parenting class. You can pay a babysitter and take a night off to recharge your batteries. You can live in a neighborhood with parks. You can pay to provide the right food and enough of it. You may be able to afford tutors/therapists/doctors etc if a child requires special attention. You can pay to put them in a better school. etc.
Will you be happier? Quite possibly. You can take in a few more movies, travel. You can start putting money away for retirement, and have something for your later years. You can afford treatment for physical and psychological conditions. etc.
You can save and have a safety cushion. One of the many tearjerking stories is of a woman who lives who in a not-so-great old apartment. Her child develops asthma. She has to call for an ambulance when he stops breathing. She can’t afford the the ambulance bill. Her credit rating is destroyed. Her credit card payments go up. She can’t afford a decent car, has to buy a junker. The junker breaks down. She doesn’t get to work, gets fired. Etc… the point being that any small thing can set off a chain of events that just keeps getting worse. Money gives you a safety net that can intercede.
It’s not a stupid question, but I don’t have the time or motivation to explain science to you.
“Buy more of it” is one thing I mentioned in my post, but it is not the point of the question, which is why I mentioned it, to clarify this.
Hopefully, a social or public health scientist will be along to save this thread, otherwise…it appears doomed. Sorry if I didn’t write more clearly, or provide enough background to the question…
Sorry, dude, but you get what you pay for. Another case where more money would make you happier.
Try googling for “increased income increased happiness”. Among other things, you’ll find this study that sez that after a certain point ($50K or so), money doesn’t make you happier. I guess the theory is that after you get the basics, toys can only help so much.
Me, I’m dubious, because “happiness” is a pretty tough thing to measure. Having enough money in the bank to weather layoffs and catastrophic house repairs would certainly buy one lots of peace of mind.
drhess: I think part of the problem is that part of your question is subjective. What is happiness? How much pain really is there when you die? Are better-behaved kids happier kids? Would respondents to a survey on happiness answer truthfully; or would they lie because they do not want to be seen as unhappy?
So that leaves us with this: Do people with higher incomes tend to live longer than people with lower incomes? I think you will be able to find statistical evidence about that question that is not subjective.
I think I get what you’re trying to ask, which is “Are there any measurable health, lifestyle, etc effects of being ‘better off’”.
The first problem you have is that most of those things (happiness, etc) may not be easily measured.
Second you’re not accounting for how people made their money, person A may make more money than Person B and therefore be happier, healthier, whatever. Or maybe they make more money because they were happier, healthier, whatever in the first place.
So all in all, a sensible, reliable study would be difficult and expensive to do, I’m not sure what use the knowledge would be.
Perhaps if you tell us why you want to know this it’ll shed some light on the sort of study that might help.
This is perhaps more philosophical than drhess was seeking, and perhaps more so than a GQ answer ought to be. But my perspective on it is that money facilitates goals.
Like this: What the Declaration of Independence says that our inalienable rights include are: “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” Not happiness, but its pursuit.
People differ in what their personal goals and aspirations are. But everyone is entitled to pursue what his or hers are, subject to the constraints of the law. (If your goals are sociopathic, like a practicing pedophile or a for-kicks shoplifeter, there’s a problem – but in general you’re entitled to pursue happiness for yourself as you choose.
Money is an enablement to allow you to more effectively seek those goals. If you derive pleasure from winning computer games, money enables you to buy the computer upgrades and the games themselves so that you can play and win them. If your goal is to have a complete collection of Elbonian provincial gewgaws, you can go on eBay and outbid others to get that rare 18th century Transwampanian gewgaw. If your goal is to help others, you have the funds to perform practical help for them. If it’s to live a simple quiet life contemplating the whichness of what, you can afford to have a place to do it, the food and shelter to keep yourself alive while doing it, to protect yourself from those who would interfere from you doing it, etc.
Money cannot buy happiness. But it can indeed make it possible to pursue it with fewer distractions.
While doing your research, you should checkout behavioral economics (google Richard Thaler) which might have some interesting results.
You might look for statistics correlating longevity with income, and perhaps divorce rates. I think I’ve read that money is the number one area of conflict in a marriage. More money might not remove all conflicts, but it might reduce some.
I know the best correlator for school test scores is the percentage of kids getting free or subsidized lunch programs. Kids from higher income families just do better, for a variety of reasons. That information should be fairly easy to get.
I think diet is correlated to income to some extent, with poorer people being relatively more overweight by eating cheaper more starchy foods. It might be worth checking.
*“Life is like a shit sandwich. The more bread you have the less shit you have to eat.” * -(don’t remember who said that)
IIRC Ted Turner once opined inthe late 90’s that once you have $60 million (I think it was $60 million) more money gets you nothing. In his view, at that point, you can pretty much do whatever you please and not worry about money. Ok, maybe you can’t build the biggest yacht in the world and have a private 747 to cruise around in but on the whole you can have multiple houses, eat where you like, travel when you wish, get whatever medical care you want, send your kids to any school, etc…
Hardly statistical research I know but Mr. Turner is pretty rich and it seems reasonable enough.
Bollocks. I make more than 50K, and having an extra 10K-20K/year would certainly increase my happiness (as it is, I need to restrict my spending on “toys” when significant, but not catastrophic, expenses such as fixing the car come up; with a bit more money, I’d rarely be in that situation.
