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Money CAN buy happiness
Aug. 19th, 2012 08:58 amI ran across this article and it got me thinking: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/stern-advice-money-buy-happiness-165229204--sector.html A Harvard study shows that people with money are more satisfied the more they get, up to about $75,000, which is about the cost of a middle class lifestyle.
Let's be real. All our lives we've heard "Money can't buy happiness," usually as sour grapes from someone with no money saying it about someone with money.
Maslow applies. Maslow ALWAYS applies. Whether the pursuit of happiness or a zombie apocalypse, Maslow is your guide to survival. You must meet the lower level needs before you can progress to the higher level needs.
Money buys your Physiological Needs (food, shelter, warmth). This should be in no dispute. If this need is not met, all the others are moot.
Money buys your Safety Needs (security, stability, freedom from fear). Again, no dispute. Money lets you live in a building with working locks, or in a better neighborhood, or not move every six months, etc.
Money can buy your Belonging Needs by giving you leisure to have friends or join organizations, being able to afford social activities. It cannot make another fall in love, but it can make relationships much smoother if you're not constantly fighting about money. (number one cause of marital fights!)
Money can buy situations where you can fulfill your Self-Esteem Needs. Witness George W Bush buying oil companies, ball teams and the presidency, or just look at vanity presses. It makes you independent and can buy you situations where you can excel. It cannot GIVE you the Self-Esteem, but it can make the achievment or the mastery easier to acquire.
Money buys your Cognitive Needs. It gets you books, teachers, an education and can aid you in your search for meaning. It won't give you meaning, but it does help you find it.
Money definitely buys your Aesthetic Needs. You can SAY that your child's crayon work on the fridge is as good as any Rembrandt, but you know you're lying/deceiving yourself and everyone else knows it too. It's the Sims, really. If you're broke, you settle for a pretty poster, maybe second hand. If you have money, you can buy a really nice sculpture. It can't give you talent, but it can surround you with beautiful things.
Money can only buy some Self-Actualization. You have to figure out who you are. But it helps you seek out peak experiences, by providing leisure time for them, (not easy to have a peak experience when you work 16 hours a day) and the money for them.
Money cannot outright buy Transcendence. But it can put you in a position where you know people (hard to have a social life with a 16 hour work day), have achieved your own self-actualization, and have the time and means to teach and help others.
Let's be real. All our lives we've heard "Money can't buy happiness," usually as sour grapes from someone with no money saying it about someone with money.
Maslow applies. Maslow ALWAYS applies. Whether the pursuit of happiness or a zombie apocalypse, Maslow is your guide to survival. You must meet the lower level needs before you can progress to the higher level needs.
Money buys your Physiological Needs (food, shelter, warmth). This should be in no dispute. If this need is not met, all the others are moot.
Money buys your Safety Needs (security, stability, freedom from fear). Again, no dispute. Money lets you live in a building with working locks, or in a better neighborhood, or not move every six months, etc.
Money can buy your Belonging Needs by giving you leisure to have friends or join organizations, being able to afford social activities. It cannot make another fall in love, but it can make relationships much smoother if you're not constantly fighting about money. (number one cause of marital fights!)
Money can buy situations where you can fulfill your Self-Esteem Needs. Witness George W Bush buying oil companies, ball teams and the presidency, or just look at vanity presses. It makes you independent and can buy you situations where you can excel. It cannot GIVE you the Self-Esteem, but it can make the achievment or the mastery easier to acquire.
Money buys your Cognitive Needs. It gets you books, teachers, an education and can aid you in your search for meaning. It won't give you meaning, but it does help you find it.
Money definitely buys your Aesthetic Needs. You can SAY that your child's crayon work on the fridge is as good as any Rembrandt, but you know you're lying/deceiving yourself and everyone else knows it too. It's the Sims, really. If you're broke, you settle for a pretty poster, maybe second hand. If you have money, you can buy a really nice sculpture. It can't give you talent, but it can surround you with beautiful things.
Money can only buy some Self-Actualization. You have to figure out who you are. But it helps you seek out peak experiences, by providing leisure time for them, (not easy to have a peak experience when you work 16 hours a day) and the money for them.
Money cannot outright buy Transcendence. But it can put you in a position where you know people (hard to have a social life with a 16 hour work day), have achieved your own self-actualization, and have the time and means to teach and help others.
