Money is Meant to Make You Happy!

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Money is Meant to Make You Happy!

Greg Campbell - [email protected]

Written October 18, 2022

INTRO

Money is meant to make you happy via some combination of short-term and long-term happiness.? After all, purposely paying for something so that you and yours will be less happy seems like nonsense, and companies that want to stay in business should take the notion of “customer satisfaction” - how pleased paying people are - seriously!

??? I came to this conclusion after years of trying to understand what people meant by their belief that, “Money doesn’t make you happy,” or “Money can’t buy happiness,” or “The love of money is the root of all evil.”? I agree that there are factors affecting human happiness in addition to cash flow or how much money you have.? For example, your friends, family, interests, beliefs, relaxation level, spiritual life, and self-perception are factors that - among others - directly affect your happiness to varying degrees.

??? I agree that happiness isn’t something that can be bought or traded directly like a car or a banquet.? It doesn’t have a specific color, texture, scent, weight, or other easily quantifiable physical properties - except perhaps smiles, laughter, a positive attitude, or relaxed and excited behavior.? Common side-effects of happiness include but aren’t limited to hope, patience, and generosity.

??? However, I strongly suspect that some of the most directly-related factors to your happiness level are your beliefs about money and your perceived current or short-term financial situation.

??? Imagine this hypothetical scenario:? Half your monetary net worth was suddenly lost in an instant.? This means you just lost half of all your savings, money stored in a drawer, the value in your bank account, and the value of your investments like stocks, bonds, cryptocurrency, real estate, and any businesses you own.? How do you react?? The answer probably involves stress, pain, defensiveness, and wanting many satisfactory answers - quickly!

Imagine this other hypothetical scenario:? Your financial net worth suddenly increased by 25%.? How do you react?? Most likely, your reaction is some combination of, “That was pleasant,” “Finally something good happens to me!”, and “Alleluia!”? (If, somehow, your reaction to each of these scenarios was identical, I strongly suspect you either didn’t understand the questions or you didn’t take them seriously.)

YOUR 6 TYPES OF INTERACTIONS WITH MONEY

Let’s consider the counterpoint to the premise of this document.? For those who sternly believe that money can’t buy happiness nor make you happy, my counterargument is this:? You’re most likely focusing on the wrong aspect(s) of money, and most likely overemphasizing 1 or 2 types of interactions with money listed below, or you’re trying to solve certain problems with money that should instead be solved some other way like using something you already have instead of buying more, or improving your skills to be able to do something yourself instead of paying others to do it for you.

??? I don’t claim that money can do all things:? For example, to my present understanding, money alone can’t raise the dead.? Yet.? However, I agree with the Bible passage in Ecclesiastes 10:19 that says, “...money answers all things.”? Thus, money is likely a consideration - such as how much you plan to use or get - in many or most real world circumstances.? How much of a correct answer money it is depends on details.

-You can GAIN money and, thus, increase your financial value.

-You can LOSE money:? Your financial value goes down without getting something tangible in return for the loss.

-You can HOLD or SAVE money:? Some money is kept in a bank account, drawer, pocket or other place - usually for a specific purpose or duration of time - but is meant to be easily accessible.? Money kept this way might accrue interest if kept in a bank, but this interaction with money doesn’t focus on using it to gain money and it’s available fairly quickly instead of needing to cash out an investment or sell an item or service.

-You can INVEST money:? Money handled this way is intended to grow with minimal personal intervention by putting it into a financial investment vehicle such as a stock, bond, real estate property, commodity (oil, precious gems, etc.), business venture, or an ETF.? Debatably, investing in education or other goods or services to be able to later generate more money - like the phrase, “Invest in yourself!” - may also count as a financial investment for this definition.

-You can USE or SPEND money:? This monetary interaction means you trade some money for goods or services in the short-term but without the expectation of directly using these to generate more money for your business or you.? For example, you could buy a new outfit to take home today from the store, order a new stapler online to arrive in 3 to 5 business days, or enroll in an educational course that starts next year.

-Finally, you can GIVE or DONATE money:? Doing so means you lose money in the short-term to no immediate financial gain.? It may make you feel better, and it’ll very likely make whoever receives your monetary contribution feel better.? There may be some other benefit to giving money in this way, like the receiver hugging you or repaying the favor at a later time, but these aren’t the main purpose.

??? Note that for purposes of this definition, I don’t count giving money to a person, organization, or cause in a transactional style to be giving - such as, “I give you X with the expectation of Y benefit,” or “I give you A, but what benefit should I expect at this contribution level?”.? These are investing or spending money.

??? For example, you may feel uncomfortable about the amount of time and effort involved with getting you a certain income level.? Maybe a 40 hour per week employment position turned into a 50+ hour a week obligation that now means you have no personal time after work on most workdays, leaving you exhausted and feeling burnt out.? You can still enjoy having, spending, investing, and giving the money you get despite questioning whether this arrangement for getting money is worthwhile.? Also, if you had enough money to be financially independent, you could stop working so much and instead allocate your time toward enjoying your money and your life!

Sometimes, it’s spending money on seemingly minor things that matters most in the moment.? For example, buying a meal with white meat instead of red meat or white meat instead of another sugary snack is the best choice - or it’s buying dessert to boost your mood after avoiding sweets for long times.? Maybe you’ll feel notably happier having groceries delivered and saving 30-60 minutes compared to getting them in person.

??? Maybe happiness regarding money means rewarding yourself with a shopping trip, or skipping buying something when the better solution is to be more attentive toward your friends, your family, and your favorite hobbies.? Maybe financial peace for you comes from understanding your cash flow - your sources of income (AKA assets) and expenditures (AKA liabilities).

??? In short, money is quite a broad subject and a “one size fits all” approach isn’t wise.? Instead, wisdom, personal discretion, and self-control are vital to understanding and properly handling money!? Improper money handling often leads to stress, unhappiness, regret, and desperation, and these may have been the feelings which prompted someone to believe that “Money can’t buy happiness.”? Whoever said this was persuasive considering how old the phrase is and how many have repeated it without understanding it.

EVERYTHING IS MONEY

Another point for those who try to separate money and happiness is that, in the right context, everything has financial value.? It’s just a matter of determining if the cost and effort involved in trading something for this monetary value is worthwhile.? In short, Everything is Money !

??? For example, if your car needs a new engine, is it worthwhile to you to try to fix the car when you may be better off getting a new one?? Your time has some monetary value, and getting your car examined and damage appraised takes time which could be put to other purposes like making money.? Things take even more time if you want multiple opinions regarding the likely problems and best solutions, or/and if you price check a variety of body shops.

For another example, your nose boogers have whatever financial value someone else is willing and able to pay for them, which is most likely “none,” but with the right persuasion - whatever that is - said boogers will be traded for money.? Just don’t depend on people being eager to buy your snot.

For a third example, what is the monetary value of an experience?? Maybe you get to meet a childhood hero, travel to a place you’ve wanted to visit, participate on a game show (regardless of what you win), eat at a restaurant you’ve passed many times, present at a conference, or do something else you want that’s meaningful and special to you.? The price of offering or paying for this is more difficult to determine than, say, comparing expected costs and benefits for cars, computers, cell phones, or college educations, but methods for determining proper price still exist!

For a final example of this section, seriously consider and answer this question, if only for yourself:? How much time - or how much more time - do you want to need to work to be able to pay for everything - or at least the most important things - that you want in this life?? Most likely, the answer is a short amount of time or no time.? Why?? Because work has had a strong connotation of being unpleasant and making someone else far richer than you because you’re part of an organization they made and you joined later.? To a very large degree, your financial education and how you use it - like how you read someone’s financial statement and how you invest - matters very much to determine your financial well-being in this life!

SUCCESS IS MONEY

Money is a byproduct of and a symbol of success.? To some degree, money is also a byproduct of and a symbol of financial education and not merely any sort of education, but others like Rich Dad have far more to say on this subject of financial education which is its own industry.

??? In the adult world, many competitions have cash prizes for winners.? For those well-familiar with the Jeopardy! game show, correctly answering questions gets points which are translated 1:1 into dollars but only for the winner.? (Second and third place each get a small, preset cash prize amount with second place getting more than third.)? James Holzhauer broke the Jeopardy! system by taking large bets on Daily Doubles and Final Jeopardy, making him the highest-grossing winner per game yet!

??? Regardless of whether you plan to compete in these competitions, the essence of this financial advice of ‘money equals success in this world’ is evident throughout the world’s economy.? In every career field, the general assumption is that whoever makes the most money while requiring the least time or/and effort to do so - and preferably legally and morally - wins.? And just like with Jeopardy!, capitalism is a game that can be lost and won by those in it.

??? To give a practical example, based entirely on the criteria presented in this paragraph, who is the most successful - someone who’s paid $50,000 per year or someone who’s paid $55,000 per year?? Maybe the difference is too small.? How do things change if we use the numbers of $65,000 per year and $529,000 per year?? What about $70,000 per year working 40-60 hours per week versus $50,000 per year while working 5-10 hours per week?

Based entirely on the reward of money for a unit of input (time or/and effort), we can strongly infer that larger money payouts go to people who have succeeded more at this game of business - and to some degree, also this game of life - which makes them more desirable to want to be and learn from!? Instinctively, we almost certainly don’t want to be the person making less in the comparison, regardless of what that means in practice.

??? For example, if you got an extra $20,000,000 per year starting tomorrow, maybe you’d be unsure of how to spend all of it.? Maybe.? But people who have money often find ways to spend it all or in part in an instant when they feel inspired to do so.? Just remember:? You don’t need to spend it all on you and yours!? Donating money to worthy causes is also a valid option!

I put forth all this to further reinforce my point:? Money, which is a symbol and byproduct of success and to some degree also financial education, is meant to inspire you to want to act wisely with it to make you happy in the short-term and long-term.? Those who come against this philosophy in earnest simply don’t understand what they say, or they do understand what they say and are on a slanderous campaign against your success and happiness!