Poll of the Day > Money doesn't buy happiness is the dumbest platitude humanity has come up with.

(+) Yeah! (+)

People who use this unironically in conversation are either content with their lives financially, or are idiots who are missing the point of money by a country mile. Money doesn't buy happiness technically, but without money there is no opportunity to become happy. You can't travel without money. You can't own your own property without money, you can't drive without money. You cannot function in society without money. So money in a vacuum won't give you happiness, but without money there is no chance you will ever be content with life.

This has been a public service announcement by your friendly neighbor chronoid
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But you can use money to buy food, drugs and sex..
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Some of the happiest people I know are the ones with the least amount of money.

Where's the proof? Who are these people? What do they do all day? I need evidence if you're going to make bold statements like that

And yet so many people do.

Yeah, we have a name for those people. Leeches sucking on the flesh of welfare.
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doesn't do you much good if your ship wrecked on a uninhabited desert island
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Yeah...money may not buy happiness, but lack of it sure can cause unhappiness. When you're struggling to make ends meet, it's taxing on a person.

Chr0noid posted...

without money there is no opportunity to become happy

This is probably the most fallacious statement ever.

Money is an imaginary intermediate in the barter and trade system. Its sole purpose is as a method of control.
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Life satisfaction doesn't improve once you make more than 120k according to studies. As JP said, once you have enough money to stave off misery and the debt collectors, money doesn't make you any happier
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Went on a trip and traveled across the Hawaii islands.

Saw a lot of beautiful stuff. Just wished I had more moolah!

I am fairly certain I would need 10s of millions a year before I got to the point where I would not care about more money, there are plenty of things I would like but just cost far too much. Not that I can't be happy without, but I would definitely be more so with.

Chr0noid posted...

People who use this unironically in conversation are either content with their lives financially, or are idiots who are missing the point of money by a country mile. Money doesn't buy happiness technically, but without money there is no opportunity to become happy. You can't travel without money. You can't own your own property without money, you can't drive without money. You cannot function in society without money. So money in a vacuum won't give you happiness, but without money there is no chance you will ever be content with life.

This has been a public service announcement by your friendly neighbor chronoid

of course it doesnt buy happiness it can sure as hell rent it for awhile though.
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idk, travel isn't needed for happiness. And, technically speaking, you *could* live without ever having money change hands, if you picked someplace without a formal government (or flat-out evaded taxes) where you could live off the land. It's certainly possible to be poor and happy or rich and miserable, just depending on the person.

Zangulus posted...

And yet so many people do.

They have money, it just comes from the government.
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Zangulus posted...

Some of the happiest people I know are the ones with the least amount of money.

But they still have money. Just not a lot.

I agree that money doesn't technically buy you happiness. But like others have said, the lack of it can cause you to become unhappy. And stressed.

Zangulus posted...

You literally can. There are things set up that will help you travel the world, in exchange for working when you get there.

Normally, when you work, you get money. In this case, it's like they skipped the middle man. Instead of working for the money and using it to pay so you can travel, you just work to travel. So, I mean, it's still not free...

BlazeAndBlade posted...

doesn't do you much good if your ship wrecked on a uninhabited desert island

Probably should've use the money to buy a better ship. And equipment that could've helped if you were ever in that situation...

joemodda posted...

Life satisfaction doesn't improve once you make more than 120k according to studies. As JP said, once you have enough money to stave off misery and the debt collectors, money doesn't make you any happier

Yeah. But that's once it gets to that limit. It seems like if you're making way less than that, then a little extra would most likely make most people a little happier. And more would mostly likely make them happier again. Sure, once you're making 120K a year, most people might not be able to become happier with more, but they still needed to get to that amount first... And depending on where you live, and what would make you happy, you could still become happier with more, even after that point. I believe that was probably the average. Plus, everyone is different...
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LinkPizza posted...

Normally, when you work, you get money. In this case, it's like they skipped the middle man. Instead of working for the money and using it to pay so you can travel, you just work to travel. So, I mean, it's still not free...

And more technically, you also get paid while you're there for a lot of those jobs so you have money. Of course, if you really want to get technical about it, many of the jobs that pay for people to fly out are in fields where you need to have gone to college which takes money as well (either upfront or in the form of debt).
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NeoSioType posted...

Went on a trip and traveled across the Hawaii islands.

Saw a lot of beautiful stuff. Just wished I had more moolah!

You only went on that trip because you had money.

Says the person that gives no evidence beyond their own anecdotal.

The burden of proof remains on you, regardless.
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Money doesn't buy happiness is what poor people say to make themselves feel better.
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Zeus posted...

And, technically speaking, you *could* live without ever having money change hands, if you picked someplace without a formal government (or flat-out evaded taxes) where you could live off the land

Mankind might even actually be happiest this way. Like someone else said, money at its root controls us. It's an addiction

I dont believe in money I buy everything with pebbles and beads
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VeeVees posted...

Money doesn't buy happiness is what poor people say to make themselves feel better.

I've seen countless rich folks that aren't happy. Everyone gets used to their standard of living eventually no matter how lavish the lifestyle. Having worked at a bar with a lot of rich customers before, there are a lot of wealthy regulars drowning their sorrows every night and blubbering about their marriages and what not

OhhhJa posted...

Like someone else said, money at its root controls us. It's an addiction

I'm loving how you're agreeing with me while trying to not acknowledge that fact.

SunWuKung420 posted...

Money is an imaginary intermediate in the barter and trade system. Its sole purpose is as a method of control.

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OhhhJa posted...

VeeVees posted...

Money doesn't buy happiness is what poor people say to make themselves feel better.

I've seen countless rich folks that aren't happy. Everyone gets used to their standard of living eventually no matter how lavish the lifestyle. Having worked at a bar with a lot of rich customers before, there are a lot of wealthy regulars drowning their sorrows every night and blubbering about their marriages and what not

And they would be even more unhappy without the money.
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Here's how money can buy happiness: Money gives you options, options give you breathing room, breathing room gives you control and control can offer you a measure of happiness... maybe. ~ George Carlin
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VeeVees posted...

OhhhJa posted...

VeeVees posted...

Money doesn't buy happiness is what poor people say to make themselves feel better.

I've seen countless rich folks that aren't happy. Everyone gets used to their standard of living eventually no matter how lavish the lifestyle. Having worked at a bar with a lot of rich customers before, there are a lot of wealthy regulars drowning their sorrows every night and blubbering about their marriages and what not

And they would be even more unhappy without the money.

Can't say I agree. Someone who does nothing but hang out at a bar all day and spend their money on gambling there can't be too happy. Dude can't even be alone with his thoughts at home

And those problems will totally go away if he has no money, totally. He will definitely be happier if he can't even afford booze to drown out his sorrows.
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VeeVees posted...

And those problems will totally go away if he has no money, totally. He will definitely be happier if he can't even afford booze to drown out his sorrows.

You have no idea how alcoholism works lol. If he couldn't afford booze or gambling money he might actually be better off

joemodda posted...

Life satisfaction doesn't improve once you make more than 120k according to studies. As JP said, once you have enough money to stave off misery and the debt collectors, money doesn't make you any happier

I haven't heard that one before. I've heard 70k and 180k before. Probably same study looking at different endpoints...since I also heard happiness on a scale of 1 to 10 increases by 0.5 every time you double your income once you hit numbers like that.

Mo' money, mo' problems.
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OhhhJa posted...

VeeVees posted...

And those problems will totally go away if he has no money, totally. He will definitely be happier if he can't even afford booze to drown out his sorrows.

You have no idea how alcoholism works lol. If he couldn't afford booze or gambling money he might actually be better off

You have no idea how alcoholism works lol. He'd still be an addict even if he can't afford those things.
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I'd rather be rich and unhappy than broke and miserable.
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All those rich people at the bar, drinking their lives away could toss me some of their pity money and I'll show them how it's done.
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Zazabar posted...

All those rich people at the bar, drinking their lives away could toss me some of their pity money and I'll show them how it's done.

That's why bartenders make good money.
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Zeus posted...

Mo' money, mo' problems.

No money, also problems... Haha.
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Evil Ryu919 posted...

I'd rather be rich and unhappy than broke and miserable.

Yeah, but then you'd lose out on people to blame and have to internalize more of your angst. At least the broke and miserable can point fingers.
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Money doesn't get you happiness. It, however, gets you the physiological and safety needs portion of the Maslow's pyramid, while also enabling you to get catalysts and accessories for the other parts. So it might not directly get you happiness, but it gives you the foundation, as well as some of the tools to reach happiness easier.

There's one catch though. Humans are wired in a way that happiness and depression are generally relative to what you consider "normal" (that's part of Stockholm syndrome happens).

When you're rich, sooner or later, that becomes your "normal", and you're not any happier (or worse) than anyone else. Unfortunately, you now have MUCH more to lose and further down to go. If you lose everything you have, you'll be super unhappy. If you were poor to begin, that was your normal anyway. So richer people stress out a lot about keeping what they have (it's not easy!)

Eg: I was raised very poor. Not always sure I'll get to eat poor. Things changed, and while I'm no Bill Gates, I'm now fairly rich by most standards. If something happened and tomorrow I was to go back to my original life, I very well might contemplate suicide. I'm too used to my current lifestyle now. One screw up, some poor investment decision, something wrong going with my job, and I could lose it all. I have safety funds, but they're not infinite. That's stressful as hell. Stress I didn't used to have when I had nothing to lose. All I used to worry about was food -> housing -> insurance. That's it. Those were simple times.

I assume this thread is purposely inflammatory. I refuse to believe someone is so willingly ignorant.
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I think that pretentious "the Holy Roman Empire is neither Holy, nor Roman, nor an Empire" quote from Voltaire is the worst. People that use it unironically just outed themselves as a massive douchebag.
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Money helps up to a certan point. As long as you have enought for:
Housing
Transportation
Health
Food
Entertaniment

Any aditional money doeant help much to increase happiness
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yourDaddie posted...

Money helps up to a certan point. As long as you have enought for:
Housing
Transportation
Health
Food
Entertaniment

Any aditional money doeant help much to increase happiness

True, I guess. But that's pretty much everything. Since you need Housing, Health, Food. Transportation is definitely helpful. And most things can be placed under Entertainment(games, electronics, extra cars, things you don't need, but want, etc...). That amount of money could be anywhere.
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Chr0noid posted...

People who use this unironically in conversation are either content with their lives financially, or are idiots who are missing the point of money by a country mile. Money doesn't buy happiness technically, but without money there is no opportunity to become happy. You can't travel without money. You can't own your own property without money, you can't drive without money. You cannot function in society without money. So money in a vacuum won't give you happiness, but without money there is no chance you will ever be content with life.

This has been a public service announcement by your friendly neighbor chronoid

I get what youre saying but I disagree. Money cannot ultimately buy happiness. If you cant find joy without a lot of money, a lot of money isnt magically going to change that. That being said, money can solve a lot of problems, thats undeniable.
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ChaoticKnuckles posted...

If you cant find joy without a lot of money, a lot of money isnt magically going to change that.

Maybe, maybe not. It depends on the person, why they don't have money, why they need more, and possibly why they are not happy. Depending on that, money might be able to make them happy...
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You must've never seen a hobo masturbating on a freeway off ramp, pure happiness, ok?
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Zeus posted...

Evil Ryu919 posted...

I'd rather be rich and unhappy than broke and miserable.

Yeah, but then you'd lose out on people to blame and have to internalize more of your angst. At least the broke and miserable can point fingers.

Didnt know that had value.
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joemodda posted...

Life satisfaction doesn't improve once you make more than 120k according to studies. As JP said, once you have enough money to stave off misery and the debt collectors, money doesn't make you any happier

but you are happier than the person who is barely getting by. or who can't pay for vet bills, etc
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"Money doesn't by you happiness. Money buys you options." -- Ice T
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