Money and Happiness: An Enriching Relationship?

It is difficult to imagine our today’s life without money. We need it to buy living essentials, such as clothes and food products. And we also can’t imagine our life without happiness. Happiness is a complicated concept which depends on things that surround the person. These things can be both material and spiritual. And the theme of money and happiness is always relevant in our time. And most likely everyone at least once in their life asked the question "can I buy happiness?".

All of us have long been accustomed to the saying "happiness is not in the money", but often do not think about whether this is actually true. Many studies show that money plays an important role in making people feel happy. And happiness to some extent can simply be bought. But some people may disagree with this opinion. Therefore, different opinions about this topic make this issue very debatable.

The first argument proves that money can buy happiness is that money can be the reason for a comfortable as a person and loved one.

Get quality help now

Dr. Karlyna PhD

Verified writer

Proficient in: Can Money Buy Happiness

4.7 (235)

“ Amazing writer! I am really satisfied with her work. An excellent price as well. ”

+84 relevant experts are online

Hire writer

Money makes us happier because it allows us to live the way we want: take a vacation at any time, meet friends, go shopping. I really like what one man said about the connection between money and happiness: "Money brought me happiness because it helped me realize my wife's dream — she wanted to stay at home and raise our son." (Farrington, 2018, para.2). Money helps to get emotions that lead to positive results.

For example, new clothes often make us more confident. With the help of money acquired self-confidence can help you get the job you want, make a profitable deal, or just add a bit of personal freedom. A few more examples that bring happiness at the expense of money. For the money, you can buy fresh impressions and equipment for your favorite hobby. Thanks to this, a person develops creatively and achieves balance. Money brings to us more confidence, for those who value stability, having money in a bank account helps us gain confidence in the future because we can cover unforeseen expenses, such as car repairs or emergency medical care for a family member. Another example how purchasing some things bring happiness. Buying materialistic things is an instant feeling of happiness. Money nourishes happiness by helping a person to achieve the values that happiness is made of. Shopping for luxury items can bring extra happiness, and your quality of life and level of happiness may fluctuate slightly from the realization that you can do it (Money, 2016). Agree, this is a magical feeling-the realization that you can afford what you want.

Another argument supporting the side that money can buy happiness is that money can buy our experience which helps to develop the qualities of a smart and interesting person. I want to explain a little, what I mean by experience. I mean buying knowledge, whether it's a book, a training course, a seminar, or an individual travel guide, significantly improves the quality of our life. If we are equipped with the knowledge, we make better decisions, thereby reducing stress and enjoying a fuller life. With the help of money, we can develop intellectually by buying the necessary books and getting an education in the best universities (Kozhar, 2019). We can travel, visit any place on the planet, be inspired and develop as we wish. With money, we can hire a yoga coach, for example. Thus, we will better understand all the techniques of this type of physical activity, improve our body, and learn some useful tips from the trainer. Or hire a fitness trainer and tighten all your muscles in tone, develop your body muscles, and always be active and dynamic.

This contributes to your own health will pay off very well, because you not only get your body in order but also improve your health, which will be very useful to you in the future. Also, with the help of money, we can improve our knowledge by learning languages. In order to learn a language very well, we will need a good teacher, who also costs money. But if we think about it, the money we have invested in our own growth will not be a waste. Knowing the language well, we can easily communicate with people who know this language, it will always be a plus for us, even in work, in just developing our brain. And when we really understand that thanks to the money we spend and the language we learn, we can ensure a happy life for ourselves, it is really good.

Another argument that is on the opposite side, that money can buy happiness, it is about that people cannot buy real love, or friends, or even some feelings. Money can help us gain power, but it can't buy for us real friendship and love. Money can certainly attract people who want to communicate with you. However, it is not a fact that they will become real friends. True friends are those who stay close to us in both good and bad periods of life. They don't care what things we have or how much money we have. They care what kind of person we are. We can enjoy the company of friends for free anywhere in nature if we really love each other, we will be happy anywhere. People who can be attracted to us by money alone may even call themselves our friends. Their only goal is to take advantage of us, to become stronger and more secure at your expense. We know, these people can't be called friends.

What about real love, can we buy it? Love is an incredible feeling that can only be achieved through a deep and close bond between two people, forged out of trust, openness, unanimity, and empathy (Cluber, 2019). And we can't buy that with all the money in the world. A person is built in such a way that it is impossible to make him feel specific feelings for another for any material values. Many may answer that love is measured in beautiful homes, designer items, and sports cars. But is it? In fact, it is just providing for the needs of a person, but it is not loved at all. We can buy a person's attention, but we can't hold it. Also, for example, parental love - it is completely unselfish and pure. A child can give nothing to his parents in the first couple of years of his life, but they give him a lot (Vlasenko, 2019). They take care of him, feed him, teach him to stand up and take the first steps, teach him basic things, give him the first ideas about life, and so on. Money can't buy it. And parents do not demand anything in return, because love is unselfish. They are ready to do everything to make the child happy and healthy. Thus, we can sum up that the most important relationships in life do not occur on a material basis. Love can't be bought with money.

In conclusion, having considered two opposite opinions on this topic, we can draw some conclusions. It is very difficult to say for sure whether you can buy happiness or not. This is a very philosophical topic and you can talk for a long time, discuss the pros and cons of money, but in the end, everyone comes to their own opinion of what is right and what is not. But for me personally, there are advantages to money, and money can bring happiness, maybe not always and not with everyone, but still, there are more advantages than disadvantages.

Reference List

Farrington, R. (2017, August 25). Nine reliable ways to buy happiness with money. Forbes life. Retrieved from
https://forbes.kz/life/observation/devyat_nadejnyih_sposobov_kupit_schaste_za_dengi
Unknown Writer. (2016, March 7). Can money buy happiness? Study Moose.
Retrieved from https://studymoose.com/can-money-buy-happiness-essayKozhar, O. (2014, June 11). Can money still buy happiness? Lifehacker. Retrieved
from https://lifehacker.ru/za-dengi-kupit-schaste/
Kozhurin, V. (2019). 16 things that money can't buy (no matter how rich you are).
Club. Retrieved from https://www.cluber.com.ua/lifestyle/obshhestvo/2018/10/16-veshhey-kotoryie-ne-kupish-za-dengi-nevazhno-naskolko-vyi-bogatyi/
Vlasenko, E. (2019). Love can't be bought with money. Intrigue.Dating Magazine.
Retrieved from https://intrigue.dating/otnoshenija/lubov-nelzya-kupit-za-dengi-est-vozmojnost-dokazat-obratnoe/