The question of whether money really makes people happy has been asked for centuries.
A study published in the “Journal of Personality and Social Psychology”, which surveyed 136,000 people from 132 countries, came to the conclusion that money plays almost no role in everyday feelings of happiness such as joy, love and surprise. However, it does play a role in how happy people consider their entire life to be.
The study found almost no unhappy people among the rich people surveyed. The participants surveyed had to tick a box on a scale from 1 (worst possible life) to 10 (best possible life). The higher the people’s income, the higher the value they entered on the happiness scale. However, according to the study, from a monthly income of around €5,000 net, the perceived happiness can hardly be noticeably increased by an increase in income.
Another study by Canadian psychologist Kostadin Kushlev comes to the conclusion that money does not make you happy, but it does make you less sad!
Elizabeth W. Dunn from the University of British Columbia adds: “If money doesn’t make you happy, you’re probably not spending it properly!”
Beyond the studies, the fact is that money can either completely solve most of the problems you face on a daily basis or, in any case, significantly alleviate them:
You no longer have to expose yourself to daily stress
Getting up early in the morning, rushing to work, exposing yourself to the whims of your boss for a mediocre salary and spending 1/3 of your life on an activity that is only more or less fun-> You can escape this system if you have enough money on the side.
Leading an unhealthy life
Due to our stressful lives and limited money, it is difficult for the average person to eat healthy AND tasty food, exercise and do something good for their soul. Even in cases of illness, money gets you better medical care.
Personal development and self-realization
Who doesn’t want to develop themselves? Learning a language or an instrument, practicing yoga, furthering your education, doing more sport, experiencing culture. Our limited income often prevents us from taking care of things that would help us personally and that we would really enjoy.
More time for friends and family
We usually work 8 hours a day, sleep another 7 hours and spend an average of 2 hours managing our lives such as shopping, tidying up, cleaning and much more. This doesn’t leave much time to spend with people who mean something to us.
Improving the lives of our descendants
It is logical that with a higher income you can give your children a better life: Better nutrition, higher education and much more improve their offspring’s lives enormously.
Material desires
Surrounding yourself with beauty, wearing great clothes, a better car, a nicer and bigger apartment, longer and nicer vacations: all this is possible with a higher income.
Doing good
Even if you can’t do much with material things, there are many good things you can do with money. You can help those in need, get socially involved and make the world a little better. Money doesn’t always have to be self-centered; you can also use it to help others.
Conclusion: Money is certainly not the most important thing in life, but it helps us to live a generally happier life and can minimize many problems or negative things in our lives.