Personal Growth Strategy

Money Can’t Buy Happiness —It Can Buy Something Even More Valuable

No, Money can’t buy happiness.

Money can't buy happiness - a girl with eyes closed enjoying the sun
Photo by Eli DeFaria on Unsplash

The saying that “Money can’t buy happiness” presents us with a deeper meaning —

“True happiness comes from within”.

Numerous memes and jokes have been developed to counter this adage. One notable one is — “It’s more comfortable to cry in a Mercedes than on the street.”

But that doesn’t make much sense as those who have been through a rough patch know how difficult life seems during those periods. All the benefits we have access to seem useless. I firmly stand with the belief that true happiness comes from within. Outside factors can influence happiness to some extent but for a limited period of time.

The inherent problem with the thought of purchasing happiness

The moment we start thinking about purchasing happiness, we miss half the plot.

Happiness is not an item on sale.

We can’t just flash our credit cards and get that. Happiness is a mental state — and we can call ourselves happy when we go through that mental state for a sustained period of time.

However, any purchase comes with a temporary spike of dopamine. We feel good but temporarily. After a while, no matter how big the purchase is, we become immune to the feel-good factor of it. Then we put our mind to purchasing the next thing. And it goes on. Life becomes an endless pursuit of happiness or procuring more stuff.

In the recent-hit TV show Squid Games, one of the characters said —

Those who are with too much or too little money have something in common, they don’t know how to enjoy life.

The show uncovered this deep truth that after a certain amount, money becomes useless. In today’s world, that certain amount is still quite high. Businesses keep the consumers interested with new models and products every year — so that consumers don’t feel that they have enough and can do with their money. But in most cases, these purchases don’t improve their standard of living.

If Money can’t buy happiness, how do we get to happiness?

Let’s say it again, happiness starts from within.

That means we need to understand what makes us happy. For some, it can be about excelling at work or studies. For some other groups, it’s about family. For many others, it’s about traveling or eating food or playing video games, or watching TV shows. Many of us don’t know what we want and that’s the problem. We chase what society has conditioned us to chase. That leads to emptiness and eventual bitterness.

It starts with a delicate balance

Once we know what makes us happy, we may want to load every part of our day with activities that we love. But without balance happiness can’t be sustained. A videogame player may love eating pizza and playing games. But they can’t do that continuously without falling sick. To enjoy life, we need to stay fit and healthy, have a balance of indoor and outdoor, mix communication with others and me-time, have a comfortable home, and have access to stuff that makes us happy. Most importantly, we need time to do what we love.

Once we know what makes up our perfect (as close as possible) day, we can then use the money to enable that day for us. For example, we may want to jog for 30 minutes in the morning but we don’t want to go to the park or the gym. We can purchase a treadmill if we can afford it.

Money can’t buy happiness, but what it gives us is even better

Some things are obvious — If you like traveling, you’d need money to do that. That remains the same for most things in life. But on top of that, money can do something even more magical. It can buy time for you.

I am sure Warren Buffet would disagree. In fact, if you ask a wealthy person who is over 50, they’d disagree with what I just mentioned. This tip is more applicable to a younger audience. The moment you understand your perfect day and what you need to do to get there, money can open timeslots for you to do that. The sooner you can start doing that the better for you.

For example, you know that you have to do dishes, drive and maintain your car, go to work and stay there for a minimum of 8 hours, etc. All of these are taking up valuable time from your life. With enough money, you can hire help to do your chores and maintain your properties. You can stop working for a company and work according to your schedule. All of these start with your understanding of what you want at an early age. If you do this exercise later in your life, you may not have the physical capacity to do a lot of the stuff you love.

Ultimately, financial freedom is nothing but a way to buy time. The sooner you get there, the more time you will hopefully have. The more time you’ll have, the more you’ll be able to do what makes you happy.

To summarize

Money is important — but to a certain extent.

Beyond that point, it’s better not to pursue it any further. Instead, pursue what makes you happy and use the money to clear the time for you to do those activities.