Is it more important to be rich or to be happy?
Sometimes we in the United States forget how privileged we are. Because of our relative wealth, we can make claims like “it’s more important to be happy than it is to be rich”. Though this post has been heavily edited, keep in mind that English is not Saravanan’s native language.
Sometimes I think I know just what it means to have money more than Americans do. I have seen people here in India struggle to earn two to three dollars a day working for more than 12 hours. It’s hard, but still people do it. If we were to ask these people whether they are happy, they would say they are, but are they really? They assume they’re happy and move on with the life. For them happiness is merely having their bread and butter.
If you are poor, you yearn for food and nothing else — money matters more than happiness because without the minimum of money, you don’t eat. After you are rich, you tend to say that happiness is more important because your basics are already met. In fact, perhaps most rich people cannot even imagine a life in which the basics may be out of reach on any given day.
Many people argue that being rich is not as important as being happy. I just have two questions for people who say this:
- When you are in hunger, can you think of being happy?
- When you can’t keep yourself warm during winter, can you think of being happy?
Until you satisfy your basic needs, you can’t think of happiness. Forget about being happy. Once your basic necessities are met and you start living (not surviving), only then does happiness surface.
When you are struggling financially, you don’t worry whether you’re happy or sad. All that matters is financial security. Once you lose the financial security, you can’t be happy as a normal human being whose needs are met. Because of this, I feel that being rich is more important than being happy.
So why then do people say “It’s more important to be happy than it is to be rich”? I believe we struggle hard to make ourselves rich. The path is difficult. We work hard and maybe we eventually do become rich. All this while we don’t give money the extra importance. We value our selves more than money.
After becoming rich, we value money more than our selves. We keep thinking only about money: how to save it, what to do with it. This all relates to money and not to our selves. We feel stressed out and begin to think of being happy again, that happiness we had when we were not rich.
The truth is: we are giving more importance to money than our selves, which causes pressure and makes us unhappy. Whether you or rich or poor, try not to give money too much importance. Then you can be happy no matter what.
This article is written by Saravanan P of Engineer’s Finance. Saravanan touches on some interesting topics here, including the notion of relative happiness. And what exactly does it mean to be “rich” anyhow? I’m reminded of studies that I’ve seen that demonstrate the very rich and the very poor are both unhappy, but that everybody else in between shares a similar level of happiness, regardless of financial circumstances. Photo by Rita Banerji.
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There are 54 comments to "Is it more important to be rich or to be happy?".
I think there comes a point of diminishing returns. When you reach a certain point, more money doesn’t contribute to your happiness.
“People with ten million dollars are no happier than people with nine million.”
Money doesn’t buy happiness, but it certainly can buy comfort, which is a great starting off point.
>>When you are in hunger, can you think of being happy?
Only rich people not hungry?
The main question is what is ENOUGH to be not hungry and be happy. I don’t think Bill Gates is the happiest man on the planet.
Here are my own thoughts on this subject…
While those in extreme poverty do not have choice between wealth and happiness, there are others who do have make this choice. Some people are able to do what they love and still earn money. (I’m one of those lucky few.) Others are able to pursue happiness without regards to money.
But for others, this is a real choice. In order to obtain wealth and provide for possible future happiness, they give up happiness in the short term. Finding a balance between the present and the future is vital, I think. In fact, I’ll be writing a little about this in the coming week. There’s a concept called “consumption smoothing” that encourages people to just that: balance present and future needs and happiness.
Anyhow…I’m sort of rambling, so I’ll stop… 🙂
usually that question comes from someone with money…
I’ll take money any day, you can always rent happiness.
What this article is referring to (probably without realizing it) is Maslow’s hierarchy of needs: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maslow%27s_hierarchy_of_needs
From the Wikipedia page:
Physiological needs
These are the basic human needs for such things as food, warmth, water, and other bodily needs. If a person is hungry or thirsty or their body is chemically unbalanced, all of their energies turn toward remedying these deficiencies and other needs remain inactive. Maslow explains that, “Anyone who attempts to make an emergency picture into a typical one and who will measure all of man’s goals and desires by his[her] behavior during extreme physiological deprivation, is certainly blind to many things. It is quite true that man [people] live(s) by bread alone – when there is no bread”.
-Erica
Why is this question almost always couched as an either/or proposition? I prefer it as and/both. It seems to me the first concedes too much.
I like what Tim Ferriss wrote in The 4-Hour Workweek: “Happiness can be purchased for the price of a bottle of wine” (I’m paraphrasing). He contended that achieving happiness is no longer a problem but really what people want is to avoid boredom.
Regardless of your answer, it’s a wonderful question to ask yourself from time to time. If you’re reading the article at all, it’s probably a given that your basic needs are met, so it’s simply a cogent reminder to question the value of money in your life.
As for me, I feel like a doorknob for whining about not having anything good to eat for breakfast this morning. I know I don’t need to beat myself up over this, but it’s nice to put it in a larger context: I’m fortunate to have that problem at all.
Read Matthew 4. The Word of God touches on these very subjects. Our joy should not be in our money nor should it be in our food. A life without God will always be joyless. I’m not going to claim to understand what it is like to be without the basics. Yes, I grew up a poor American, but I’m also well aware that a poor American often has a better life than kings of long ago. I also am not going to pretend like I know what it’s like to be monetarily rich, because I am not and have never been.
I can only say this. I know what life is like without Jesus Christ and I know what life is like with Him. No one will ever know true happiness without Jesus Christ as their savior.
He is more important than money, He is more important than “the basics” of which the author speaks. He is also more important than happiness (read Job).
Many, many people will claim that I am an ignorant and foolish man. I would have done the same before the Lord opened my eyes to His saving grace. Christianity is so poorly portrayed in America. What most people see is not Christianity but rather someone’s warped and misguided invention.
I would rather be starving with my Savior than wealthy and without Him.
-Brandon
I deliberated a long time before approving Brandon’s comment (#10). As you know, GRS generally steers clear of religion and politics. I disagree with Brandon completely. “A life without God will always be joyless”? This is demonstrably false.
However, his viewpoint is representative of many GRS readers, so I approved the comment.
I am not interested in turning this thread into a religious debate. If things wander too far afield or if a flame-war begins, I’ll simply nuke the comments.
I don’t think that’ll be necessary, though. You guys almost always keep your wits about you.
“A table, a chair, a bowl of fruit and a violin; what else does a man need to be happy?”
By Albert Einstein
See http://www.myfamousquotes.com/?aid=3269
Why are happiness and money seen as mutually exclusive things?
There many poor and miserable people; there are many rich and happy folks.
The important thing here is to find balance in our lives.
Once you have your basic needs met (e.g. food, shelter, etc.) you need to find balance in the things you choose to do.
Personally my goal is to be able to earn $10,000 a month from my web business.
Once I have reached this goal I will be free to use my time as I wish.
With my time I would like to learn several languages (e.g. Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic, and Russian) and serving others.
For me, as long as my familiy’s basic needs are met, food, shelter, clothing (and I do know we’re rich by world’s standards, not necessarily U.S.)…I’ll take happiness any day over a dollar.
I know this is highly personal and very subjective to me, but I went through a massive depression and was at times suicidal. After going through that and surviving, nothing matters so much to me.
Yeah, we save for retirement and I don’t go on spending sprees to make myself feel good, but all in perspective, happiness, happiness, happiness….I won’t ever put money first.
Thanks, very interesting subject!
That Jesus comment took away all your credibility…
“Read Matthew 4. The Word of God touches on these very subjects. Our joy should not be in our money nor should it be in our food. A life without God will always be joyless.”
Bullpuckey. I’m as Godless as Mao himself. And I am full of Joy. Your superstition is not the root of Joy.
On topic, having food to eat, air to breathe and a place to sleep…these are prerequisites for Happiness. Beyond that, happiness and wealth are infrequent competitors.
I agree with Saravanan… At my current point in life, I am more worried about having a place to live, a job, and enough money for food. The question of choosing between happiness and money doesn’t really come up. I need money before I can even think about happiness. The question for me is: when can I consider myself financially secure?
I think this posts brings up a lot of good points and at the risk of sounding overly academic; this reminds me a lot of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs (where you need to satisfy basic physiological needs before you can start to satisfy higher level psychological needs).
Hi JD,
Thank you so much for posting my article. I am so happy. This is the first thing I saw in the morning and you don’t know how happy I am. I appreciate your patience and the editing of my article.
Great Job. Thanks once again. 🙂
Saravanan
Living in a third world country (Philippines) I kinda agree with Saravanan’s post. You can never be happy unless the very basic needs are met.
Great Article!
I think this is a question we as individuals in “wealthy” nations should continuously be asking.
It may really help to stop from time to time and make a course correction if we have to.
I feel that this article doesn’t really say which one is more important. It couldn’t, because you cannot really compare money and happiness.
What is says is: you need a at least certain amount to be happy.
So if you do want to put a value to them, happiness is more important yet requires money.
I wonder if there would ever be a formula for calculating how much one should earn/acquire/save/amass to be ‘happy’ (before, for example, one takes that cruise holiday to the Bahamas!)
It would be interesting to see what that break-even point would be! $5,999 per month? $880,373 per year? Taking inflationary pressures and the threat of a world war into account of course!
Just a thought…
I think both “rich” and “happy” are relative terms and mean different things to different people.
I consider myself rich when I am debt-free (including mortgage) with 2 year’s worth of living expenses in easily accessible formats and a skill set that has good market value (software engineer for example). I say 2 year’s instead of 3 or 6 months because when you are debt free the living expenses go way down.
I consider myself to be happy when I see my family (including me) in good health.
money makes happiness easier to purse because you have the power to make it happen. being poor makes it harder to find that power that brings you happniess
Rich is important because it gives you the resources to help other people, which indirectly makes them happy, and this in turn makes you happy.
Happy is important because it puts you in the state wherein you can become rich. Through the process of getting in the ‘flow’, enjoying a close community of kinship with family and friends, being accepting of ourselves and developing gratitude for everything we encounter, we get in the flow of happiness. And this flow in turn leads to rich.
This post is a reminder of why practitioners of voluntary simplicity stress the “voluntary” part of the equation. To be able to choose to save money, reduce possessions, and focus on happiness rather than income is the privilege of people who have already met their basic physiological and safety needs. Living in want is neither voluntary nor simple….
@Erica: You beat me to it!
It is very simple: You can’t afford the time/energy/effort to be “happy” if you can’t eat/be warm/sleep safe.
Still, heavy things to contemplate, from my fat american seat. Just how much at each level do i need, before i can go on to worry about the next? I must be careful not to be caught up with the needs of each given level, else it prevents me from moving on to the next.
“Until you satisfy your basic needs, you can’t think of happiness…. Once you lose the financial security, you can’t be happy as a normal human being whose needs are met. Because of this, I feel that being rich is more important than being happy.”
The saying is, “It is better to be happy than to be rich.” Since when does “satisfy[ing] your basic needs” = “rich”? Seems to me that “rich” would be above and beyond meeting your basic needs. It seems to me that the author is confusing these terms. After a certain point, chasing after money doesn’t mean as much and doesn’t have much lasting value. It is better to put your time and energy into family, helping others and giving back to the world around us than chase after things you cannot take with you.
When I was making $40K a year my needs were met. When I starting making beyond that, my happiness has not changed. But I do have more toys and a different standard of living.
As you said once your needs are met, you begin living, so everything else is pretty much keeping score
From my experience:
Money != happiness. However, lack of money can lead to misery, and making money the center of life can lead to misery. It’s not news that extremes usually lead to misery of some kind. Balance is good.
Money = buffer to make risky choices and relief from day-to-day financial worries.
For me, financial security helps with happiness because I don’t have to worry excessively about core needs (food, shelter, clothing). I also don’t need to worry about most risks outside my control (abrupt job loss, loss of property, illness, etc.). We have enough money and insurance to weather most medium-term (3-5 years) problems.
Financial security also gives us the flexibility to make choices we could not make if our financial circumstances required us to expend all our energies to make (or not make) our day-to-day expenses. We are buffered from day-to-day financial risk, so we can make choices that enhance our happiness or more often (single paycheck family, interesting/flexible job at layoff-prone employer/industry, etc.).
Hey all,
I read a great post on a forum a few years ago and since nothing on the net ever disappears, I was able to dig it up. Someone asked the same question, “wealth or happiness”? It was an anti-establishment discussion on a very liberal forum so there were a lot of money-haters.
Many of the people posting seemed to agree that “money is the root of all evil” which I find absurd. My favorite response was the following…
“HaHaHa…Money and happiness, the age old question. I live a life of poverty, of fairly deep poverty, in regards to, financial, matters anyway. I think that if money could buy my little girl a pair of shoes for school, or some new clothes, not hand me downs that are already needing mending, I would say that it could make me VERY happy. If Money could keep my house stocked in nutritional meals, so that I would NEVER have to tell her, “mommy will get you something to eat as soon as she figures out where she will find food” I would say that it could make me VERY happy. If having money meant that I could get christmas presents for my family, and not have to tell them yet again, “sorry, I just couldn’t afford it this year” I would say that it could make me VERY happy. If money were to enable me to buy my mom a house, so she wouldn’t have to live in a run down potential fire trap that she pays 600.00 a month for, I would say it would make me VERY happy. If money could buy me a little security, and peace of mind in this riotous world, then DAMMIT I’d be EXTREMELY happy. Yes folks, I live in the good old U.S.ofA I work my butt off at a menial job, my husband works his butt off at a menial, (although, very neat job) and we STILL have to rely on organizations to give us food donations, clothes donations, and they sponser our holiday dinners with expired food stuffs(not their fault, they can only work with what they got). If it weren’t for these groups, we wouldn’t make it, unless we didn’t pay bills, or rent. So I suggest putting your money where your mouth is, If you think money is such an EVIL… Give all yours away, and live like me. We would soon see how fast you might change your minds. If your money doesn’t make you happy give it to someone like me who could REALLY appreciate it. And then you yourself can experience the joys of learning to cook with only some macaroini, a can of tuna, some lima beans, and maybe a bit of cheese, (if you’re lucky, and it is still salvagable after you cut the mold off), (hey it’s basically mold anyway right?) Join our ranks with no health insurance,drive beat up cars that we need desperatley so we can get to our crappy but needed jobs. Don’t forget how those self same cars break down every other day, and need repairs that we really can’t afford but have to get. Try to go into places in shabby clothes, and get treated like a sub-human, no matter what your inteligence level. Try just once going to court to get evicted,five days before christmas, just because you were three days late on your rent, to a greedy slumlord who won’t fix anything, and see how much respect you get from the judge just because you look poor , and your landlord looks like a respectable buisness man. If your money can’t buy you happiness, it sure could buy me some.”
I didn’t post this to convey a message, it’s just an entertaining response that I thought some of the community here would enjoy. I actually don’t think it’s an Either/Or proposition, you can have both wealth and happiness if you work hard at it.
This was a great guest post and a fun read, Saravanan, hope to see you back on JD’s blog again.
Odd Lot
http://blog.Money-and-Investing.com
Three dollars a day is enough to get your basic needs met in India. I think the author is wrong in this regard and should differentiate between the cost of living in India vs the US. Also, Indian society doesn’t place a heavy emphasis on material wealth (except for maybe textiles). I think it is much easier for an Indian person to attain happiness than someone in the United States. But now India is following the route of the US. As the wealth increases, there will be a pursuit of material goods which could ultimately make Indian society less happy than it is now.
There should be a distinction between being rich and having your needs met. I think after having your needs met which is a much smaller sum than being rich, you can attain happiness very easily. If you have children or a spouse that wants a lot of material possessions, they are the ones making you unhappy. As it stands, most people in United States can have their needs met everyday. However our society is built around decadence and achieving material wealth. Therefore, people are honed to believe they are unhappy if they do not acquire many material goods which although may be nice, are gratuitous.
“People who say money can’t buy happiness don’t f__king have any.” – Jim Young, “Boiler Room”
That said, I think a core principle here at GRS and at related sites like Unclutterer is that there’s a significant correlation between happiness and wealth as a person builds toward financial stability, but then there comes a point after which further wealth is diminishing returns. It’s entirely possible to be happy knowing that you have “ENOUGH.” For my part, ever since J.D. opened on his mantra of “Stop Buying Junk,” I have found myself happier and happier the more I sell off my clutter, hobby items, collectibles, and other “time-sink” possessions. I wonder why I wasted so much money on that crap back when I had so little money to go around, during the difficult times.
I echo the earlier post that having $9 million in the bank is not qualitatively worse than having $10 million. That doesn’t mean if I had the ten I’d just flush a mil down the “terlet,” but will say I’d feel like I was wasting a lot of potential positive outcomes by not taking that extra million and seeding a start-up with it. A million in cap can provide good jobs for a good number of people and leave the operation stable enough to treat them decently during the critical early stages. Once again, capitalism offers the most moral option for all concerned.
As for Brandon, I credit you for your sincerity — just keep in mind that what is a sacred belief to you may be a valueless superstition to another person. I’m not going to suggest that you stop believing what makes you happy. Just be sure you have no illusions about what you’re offering with your testimony.
Maabsta – JD posting the religious comment does not make him lose his credibility. It shows that he welcomes readers from all walks of life and does not discriminate.
Brandon – I love your comment. Amen.
JD, keep up the good work.
To All: I believe that happiness is defined by the individual. I have seen more happy people in third world countries than in the USA. That is because it does not take much to be happy. I grew up in a third world country. What made me happy was all my friendships, family and experiences such as travel. Here in the US, it seems that we always want more and therefore never satisfied. We have lost touch with traditions.
This article misses the point of the happy/rich debate. In any argument you can take extreme sides of the spectrum and this is done here.
Try this,
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1822787,00.html?xid=feed-yahoo-world
It is not true that extreme poverty does not exist in this country. You don’t have to “leave the U.S.” to find that. People who are in such a horrible situation they have no choices financially. This article also plays on stereotypes about people outside the West and in the third world which are false.
As far as hunger and need. My father grew up a migrant laborer and spent many nights without food and was like a skeleton in his early years. The few photos are disturbing and he remarks more than anyone I’ve ever met he remarks that happiness is a state of mind.
I’m sorry but this article preys upon stereotypes… very Victorian, congrats.
I bet if you turn off the TV you’ll feel a lot happier.
Marketing/advertising is designed to create desires to buy, buy, buy, to be happy.
I know, because I helped create that desire in a past, well-paying, but souless job.
Once you stop comparing yourself to an actor on the screen you probably won’t have the desire to waste your life doing anything as sad and pointless as camping out for a new iPhone.
What about Cosmopolitan then? 😉
It’s wonderful to see so much interest in this subject! It fills me with confidence having left a lucrative financial management career to become an educator in happiness/well-being, work/life balance,over-consumption, and voluntary simplicity.
Though it seems trite, Bill is correct. Disconnecting from the “advertising machine” is critical not only to your happiness, but also your financial health.
It’s a tragedy that the “new consumers” in the developing world are basing their sense of self-worth on what they see presented on television and the internet (i.e. the western world’s glamorization of over-consumption). We have much to learn from those who went from starving to having their needs met. If only we could live in a world where everyone stopped there. The resource depletion that results from consuming beyond one’s needs is not only unsustainable but, as the author indicates, does not lead to greater levels of happiness. This has been proven scientifically.
Money has to buy me happiness — I’m on a pricey little cocktail of meds for severe, crippling depression. They cost as much as my rent without patient/indigent assistance programs.
Saravanan provides an easily overlooked but essential perspective here. And with the rising price of food and energy, I think more people will appreciate what he’s saying more, to whatever extent.
Be grateful for what you have.
I just read “Why We Buy” (a fine little book, by the way), and he describes how he cried in the supermarket when he realized he could buy anything there, if he wanted to. That’s basically my financial goal, and where money, in my mind, equals happiness.
When you are struggling to finance your basic needs, money matters more than anything else…This whole question of ‘does money buy you happiness’ is only applicable for people who have some money…
As a Christian, I was very dismayed by Brandon’s response. While I do believe that Jesus came to save the world and that spirituality is essential to happiness I think the narrowness of Brandon’s post is just a turn-off. What I mean is that Buddhists, Jews, Hindus, animists and atheists etc. can all be happy if they have a faith that there is something greater and more important than what is merely material. Atheists often put their faith in human progress and morality and while I may not entirely share their views I know many atheists are entirely material-oriented and are vy concerned with human wellbeing. And not all Christians are exempt from being caught up in materialism. In fact the idea of prosperity Christianity, preached at a lot of mega churches and on TV is to me a false distortion of Christ’s teachings. And yes I agree with Maslow and other posts – until the basic needs are met, especially security, people cannot be happy. If food, shelter and security are met it’s no guarantee that happiness will follow but those things are a prerequisite to happiness.
In my earlier post, I omitted an important word. I meant to say that i do know that many eithers are NOT entirely materially oriented. My intention was to point out that many athiests are very concerned with human well being – not just material goods.
rich:happy::apples:oranges. Perhaps? Empirically speaking, your happiness goes up sharply as you move towards the point at which you can satisfy your basic needs. After that, it starts to level off (or possibly even go down). In my mind, that says that happiness has nothing to do with money and everything to do with (basic, universal) survival.
Great post!
Interesting post
Yes you need to fullfill your basic needs, and happiness it is not about how rich you’re but how you feel with your life, family, country.
This reminds me of the measure of happiness in the world per country. Obviously, people feel happier when they cover the basic needs, but amazingly people in some rich countries are in the list under some countries considered as less developed: Maybe countries where you fullfill the needs but you have a richest life, a net of friends, family, ect.
Here is a link; interesting. I will save to visit the first 20 countries on the list…they must know something other countries cant catch.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/11/061113093726.htm
other link
http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/lif_hap_net-lifestyle-happiness-net
Great post.
I think ‘Happiness’ is the consequence of hardly(and smartly)earned money and more importantly of spending it wisely.
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You can definitely be happy without being rich because having your friends and family around you is a wonderful thing.
However you can have all that and have money as well which gives you more options and enables you to support your family and make them happy as well.
Happiness is about self-fulfillment. it’s about doing whatever gives you that. We all know money doesn’t make you happy but it can enable you to become self fulfilled.
I recentlly started a web forum about the ‘deeds’ that i try to do an a daily basis to help with my self fulfillment. http://www.adailydeed.com is about doing things to others to enable that self-fulfillment. Please do not take this a a shameless advert because i do firmly believe that in helpling others you will become fulfilled and that fulfillment WILL help you become wealthy.
Yes, I agree that being rich can bring one freedom. But true happiness comes from with-in ones self whether if you are rich or poor.
Fulfilling ones basic needs will also bring about happiness because one don’t have to worry just about trying to survive.
Most people are about as happy as they make up their minds to be-Abraham Lincoln
Happiness is an inside job. Yes the basics needs have to be met. What matters most about success is how it is attained.
well I think money can’t buy your happy but it can contribute for better life ,better healthcare,better education etc.
Because they are not anything they are just a key for a bit pace.
Don’t leave yourself in povetry ,but don’t leave yourself in free wealthy too because the money can causes more problems than anything else.
Man makes money as much as money makes man.
It’s an integral part of society, one that no one can function without. But like with many other important aspects of life, money must be well understood, well studied, and well valued. I think perhaps that the correlation between money and happiness hinges on this understanding and perceptions.
“He is richest who is content with the least, for content is Nature’s wisdom.” Socrates
Money can’t buy happiness but it can buy food which is basically the same thing.