Money Can Buy Less Unhappiness

Filed in archive Happiness on July 31, 2006

As I've said before, I'm not always the biggest fan of Suze Orman. Truth be told, I'm slightly afraid of her, those big eyes and teeth constantly flashing at me.

Nevertheless, I love her column today, which basically boils down to her belief that, while money can't buy happiness, it can surely buy less unhappiness.

There's a difference there. You can read a million stories of unhappy rich people, or read surveys that say we're all the same in the happy department, but you know who writes those stories? Poor people.

Having money doesn't erase your problems, but if anyone tells you it doesn't make life a little easier, they're lying. I remember driving a third-hand Dodge Charger with no workable doors--I had to climb out of the hatchback. I remember my first apartment with its radiators that spewed so much steam into the air I had the windows wide open in the middle of winter. I remember plenty of other minor and major annoyances when money was super-tight.

Sure, I can look back fondly and talk about these old "war stories", but do you think I want to go back there? No. I had some good times while I was very poor, but I remember the day-to-day crap--wondering if the car would start, sweating the rent until the final due date, etc. When you're in that state, one little mishap sends you into serious despair. I'm happier now and don't mind saying so.

One of the basics of personal finance is retirement planning, right? But you know what? Retirement planning is a luxury. It's easy to get caught up in "the number" you need to retire successfully, but there are plenty of people in this world and in this country that are sweating next week. Retirement doesn't even come into play. Either that or it just means a continuation of hand-to-mouth existence.

Here's why surveys say people with money are no happier than those without money: because people don't want to be unhappy, and they don't want to tell other people they're unhappy even if they are. The expected answer to "how ya doin'" isn't "lousy if you must know."

And happiness is relative. If you're scratching out a living and someone surveys you about whether you're happy, you might think the car started this morning and you have the rent money ready a week in advance so, yeah, what's not to be happy about? In the same way, someone with big money might say they're unhappy because a stock went bad and they lost 1% of their massive holdings. It's not the same, is it?

Money doesn't make life happy, but it makes it easier. Of course it also makes it easier to be unhappy about things you didn't have the luxury to worry about before. But if your choice is having more money and indulging petty problems or having little and barely surviving, which are you going to choose?