
Money = Happiness, but when it buys experiences - robg
http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2009/02/08/money-happiness-but-theres-a-catch/
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TomOfTTB
This article really annoyed me.

Yes experiences can produce happiness in people who crave experiences but what
of people who don't?

For what my opinion is worth here is the story behind Money and Happiness:
Money does buy happiness but only if you really think through what your end
goal is. So the guy who buys a bunch of stuff with his money and isn't happy
didn't realize he was buying the stuff to get respect and that the stuff
wouldn't actually get him that result. So he ends up not happy. But that
doesn't mean he would be happy if he'd traveled Europe instead.

Happiness is an individual pursuit. I'll give you an example from my own life
(if I might be so bold as to hold myself up as a template for happiness)

I think I've done pretty well for a guy in his 20s (I have a few hundred
thousand dollars to my name). That money makes me very happy. But you know
what I buy with it? Nothing. Zip. Nada. What I wanted out of life was the
freedom to do what I want. I love to program and I wanted to spend my time
trying to help the world. That money allows me to take a job where I make way
less than I could elsewhere and still be confident that I won't starve and
that I can retire someday if I want to.

Not an experience, not a possession but it makes me very happy because I
focused on what I wanted from my money and found a way to get that out of it.
That, to me, is how money buys happiness. There's not hard set rule like
"spend on experiences" it's just a matter of honestly asking yourself what you
really want and then logically finding a way to go after it.

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vaksel
Money can buy happiness, but I think a few hundred K is not enough. The money
needs to give you a complete freedom, so to me at least that means being able
to at least retire right away w/o having to work an extra hour of my life

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TomOfTTB
Not meant as an insult but I can't help but think you'll never be happy. The
person who scoffs at a few hundred k is usually the person who ends up
scoffing at a few million when they get that and so on.

Happiness is accepting the good luck you get and not letting yourself become
fixated on the great luck you didn't.

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vaksel
I'm not scoffing at a few hundred K, I'm just saying that if someone uses the
whole money=happiness equation, then they'll want more than the basic things.

But if you think about it, your basic necessities are more or less taken care
off once you hit middle class. Pretty much the only difference after that is
the size of someone's house, the car you drive and the vacations you take.
Everything else is more or less equal.

50K = Honda + Decent house + 1 vacation costing $3K

100K = BMW + Slightly better house + 1 vacation costing $6K

1mm = Ferrari + BMW, Big Mansion + 1 vacation costing $15K + maybe a yacht

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tomjen
It is more socially acceptable to have a nice holiday in Europe than it is to
seem rich (by having _lots_ of stuff), and I can't seem to find the place
where they talk about that so I am pretty skeptical of their claim.

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asciilifeform
Money == happiness when it buys me more time to spend on creative pursuits.

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gaius
You can trade money for time. But for that to make you happy, you have to know
what you want and yet not have time to do it.

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zandorg
I think that if you make enough money, you get to mix in circles with people
who can make you happy. But I could be wrong.

~~~
numair
Actually, you get to mix in circles with people who can make you miserable.
But that's a whole 'nother story ;)

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kingkongrevenge
You have to consider chance personal disasters and look at the expected value
calculation. Measure net potential misery, not "happiness." Rich people can
much better deal with setbacks that would destroy a normal person's life.

Consider getting the best possible medical care for cancer. Or dealing with a
long forced unemployment. Or raising young children after the death of a
spouse. Poor people can be ruined by these things, whereas a rich person can
likely continue to enjoy life.

