Wealth

Does Wealth equal Happiness?
A Happy CorrelationThe popular idea on the relation between wealth and happiness stands that money cannot buy happiness. However, to a certain extent, there exists a correlation between the two. Money is used to reach basic needs, but how one spends his/her excess money can determine the level of happiness felt. Money can be used to improve security, comfortability, and social relations which generates life contentment (happiness).
It is believed spending money on oneself only brings only temporarily happiness, while spending money on others can add a substantially greater preserved level of joy. If a person searching for happiness were to spend money on social experiences rather than material wants, then he/she would be more fulfilled within. Data links spending money to satisfy material wants to social isolation. It is human nature to seek out other human relations, without a meaningful relationship, one’s life would be filled with depression.
There is difficulty believing that money can relate to happiness when seeing the various people who have won the lottery and ending up more miserable than before. Lottery winners normally seek out to buy themselves what they have always had a material want for, and shortly after they receive their fortune, they are in debt and are swarmed with masses of friends and family who wish them to “share the wealth”. The selfish nature of these “friends” leads to poor social relationships causing the lottery winner to have trust issues and experience social misery. Their misguided expenditures of money fail to achieve them any long term happiness.
Humans find a meaning to life when they strive to meet their goals based on what others have achieved. It happens to be that what they possess is inferior to what they could possess, and all wants can never fully be obtained. In High School, a student works hard to be accepted and earn a scholarship to his/her college of choice. Once in college The student continues to work hard in order to achieve a degree to qualify him/her for a specific profession. At that profession, he/she works up the ladder to achieve the highest position possible. Inevitably, there is always something greater to be achieved.
Higher incomes give way to higher aspirations. Humans are very sensitive to change as when given a raise there is temporarily fulfillment, but quickly one will adjust to the new lifestyle attached to the new salary and no changes in happiness can be made without more change. With high paying jobs there is more to lose causing more stress to be put on that individual. Once a goal is met, one expects to maintain the status and everything else appears mediocre.
“One man’s trash is another man’s treasure”, what is considered a luxury to one man is never given a second thought by another and is accepted as routine. Take water for example, in some parts of the world, fresh water is scarce while in other parts of the world, such as California, even during a drought gallons of fresh water are poured down the drain to meet the standards of life. This links to the nature of human adaptability, once a former luxury becomes in high supply, the demand is low and it simply fades and blends into one’s life.
Money itself does not buy happiness, but the money frees up time which can allow one to pursue happiness. One homeowner spends five hours a week to maintain the house’s appearance, in the meantime, his neighbor has hired a maid and gardener to maintain everything for him. The neighbor now has twenty more hours a month to spend as he pleases as the other man is still mowing his lawn. It is common to be paid by the hour as an employee’s time spent working is worth money. With more money one can have more time to experience life and pursue his/her happiness.
Studies have shown that when someone spends money on another person rather than themselves, he/she experiences happiness, while the person experiences no major behavioral changes. Teams that had more expenditures on other teammates experience more success than those who spend only on themselves. This links social relationships to money and happiness.
Without enough money humans cannot provide proper food and shelter for their families. If one’s salary is not enough to meet the costs of living then that person is faced with more difficulties and stress, therefore they cannot experience happiness as elaborate as one with a sufficient income. So money may not directly buy happiness but it definitely can make life easier.
Altogether, money can indirectly buy happiness as long as the money is being spent in the right way with the right motives. Money spent on experiential wants rather than material wants helps one to obtain meaningful and personal happiness. Wealth does not equal happiness, but having wealth can help to simplify a life to open up the path to reach happiness.