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Jonathan Clements on Money and Happiness
By JLP | August 16, 2006
Jonathan Clements’ Getting Going column in today’s Wall Street Journal is titled Money and Happiness: Here’s Why Your Won’t Laugh All the Way to the Bank, which is about the Money and Happiness study that I posted about a couple of weeks ago. In that post, I highlighted the findings of the study in this graphic:
Naturally, the more money you make, the more responsibility you take on, and the more pressed for time you become. This combination can zap the happiness out of most people. I think that is when people must take a step back and decide what their priorities are and to realize that they control their happiness. Clements ends his column by asking “if more money won’t make us much happier, what will?” Good question! He then goes on to list four pointers, which you can read in the article.
Personally, I think happiness is a state of mind. Instead of lamenting the things we don’t have, why not be thankful (or happy) with the things we do have?
Topics: Getting Going, Jonathan Clements, Personal Growth | 4 Comments »
August 16th, 2006 at 2:14 pm
I’d say happiness is an attitude, but at its core is appreciation for what God has given you.
Being “rich” and “happy” are relative terms. Either way, doom-ers and gloom-ers need not apply. I think happiness goes hand in hand with that other attitude, “can-do.”
August 17th, 2006 at 10:54 am
I posed this question to my wife the other day: “Would having more money make us happier?” Our conversation went something like this:
Me: Would having more money make us happier?
Her: Of course it would [read: Why are you asking me such a dumb question]!
Me: Why?
Her: Well, we could buy the things we can’t afford, travel more, and have greater peace of mind.
Me: Okay, let me be more specific. What if it was more money in the form of salary, not NW, and suppose I had to work harder and longer hours, and be on the road more, and be even more stressed out [than my usual stressed out]?
Her: Oh, well, when you put it that way, no, that would not make us happier. We have a pretty good life as it is already. I wouldn’t want to make that sacrifice and we have enough materially as it is. [Note, however, that I already work like a maniac and earn an extraordinarily good living doing so].
Me: Hmmm… I agree, but I think the way these authors are positioning the question is all wrong. Having more money doesn’t necessarily have to equate to more hours or more stress. And it doesn’t have to equate to spending it all.
Her: Sure, if more money didn’t have any strings attached, it would make us happier. We’d save for retirement faster and acquire things (like a full-time maid) that might make our lives easier.
Me: I agree 100%.
So, there you go – my households take on the question.
August 18th, 2006 at 5:21 am
Star Money Articles for the Week of August 14
Here are interesting posts and news this week from the MoneyBlogNetwork members and beyond: AllFinancialMatters discusses money and happiness. MightyBargainHunter lists fifteen easy ways to save fifteen bucks. Five Cent Nickel had a Home Depot applianc…
October 8th, 2006 at 8:38 am
As a very happy guy in the right side of the happiness column, I think that money means a lot. Here’s why: I don’t worry about my wife having sufficient means if I die before her, and she knows that I will have my old age paid for if she dies before me. That’s quite a load of worrry that we don’t have to carry. And anyone who loves their spouse as we love each other should care about their spouse’s future well-being. Having no concerns about future costs is a minor part of life happiness, but it remains important to consider.
We are not: cold, wet, or hungry. Avoidance of all three require some amount of money. Physical pain and suffering are not compatible with happiness, in my experience of long ago when I busted old car batteries on a concrete slab in the middle of a North Dakota winter to make enough money to pay for another quarter of college. The employer sold the lead and discarded the rest. I still have the acid scars.
I can treat my wife very well in terms of a comfortable house, good maintenance of our bodies and our possessions, trips to places, and helping out relatives less fortunate than we. Those things contribute to the complex mix that creates happiness.
We feel the sense of self-esteem that comes from having worked hard and achieved financial security. Perhaps money brings less happiness when it is an unearned gift. We were born very poor and worked our way up. We like ourselves and what we did.
We don’t have to work. Now that we are old, it means a lot to each of us that in the morning when our bones ache and its raining outside, that we can take our time getting up, can take time to have a cup of hot chocolate, and sit at the breakfast table watching the deer outside the windows. We solicit them to come around by throwing apples out the back door. Having enough land to support wild animals is part of the happiness that comes from having sufficient money.
For those who continue to claim that money doesn’t buy happiness, I agree. But money paves the road to happiness and those who follow that road have a better chance of reaching their happiness potential.