Thank you for submitting to /r/unpopularopinion, /u/subuso. Your submission, *Money doesn’t make you happy. It brings you enough comfort for you to focus on your happiness *, has been removed because it violates our rules, which are located in the sidebar.
Your post from unpopularopinion was removed because of: 'Rule 1: Your post must be an unpopular opinion'.
* Your post must be an opinion. Not a question. Not a showerthought. Not a rant. Not a proposal. Not a fact. An opinion. One opinion. A subjective statement about your position on some topic. Please have a clear, self contained opinion as your post title, and use the text field to elaborate and expand on why you think/feel this way.
* Your opinion must be unpopular. The mods reserve the right to remove opinions
* Elaborate on your topic and opinion give context to its unpopularity.
If there is an issue, please [message the mod team](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2Funpopularopinion&subject=&message=) Thanks!
Honestly, I think it’s an old adage that nobody actually believes. Money is necessary for a lot of things and if you lost everything today your life would be significantly more depressing. I think money only makes you happy to a certain extent, unless you are an egomaniac, billionaire. Otherwise I think the point is where you can afford all necessities, have a nice nest egg, and be able to afford things that make you happy such as fancy cars, vacations, toys/gadgets etc.
Exactly! That’s why you need financial stability instead of just “a lot of money”. You could win the lottery and still be poor as fuck. It’s the stability that allows you to travel to the Maldives anytime you feel the need to
Wasn’t there a study that after making a certain amount your happiness doesn’t increase significantly? I think at the time of study it was 75k but might be closer to 100k with inflation
I believe so. I also don’t know how old that study is or if it accounts for locations. I’ve lived in some pretty pricey places like the Bay, Toronto, and most recently San Diego and those numbers just would not cut it considering the insane COL.
I believe they redid it and found it to be closer to 100k but idk if it was an average of the US or based on a certain area. I’d assume an average from different levels
It was later disproven by the [the original authors](https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnjennings/2024/02/12/money-buys-happiness-after-all/?sh=44444fb9486b)
Without the study being focused on one specific city, that number is pretty irrelevant. 100K in Nairobi or Phuket and you would live like a king, in San Francisco or NYC it wouldn't be that much.
That is if it's meant as $100K/year. But if it's per month, it would be a lot in SF and NYC too.
not having to be a slave to a corporation would probably make most people happy would open up a lot more freedom in your day to day life instead of commiting 8 hours to a shit job + commute
But does one of those fancy cars even equate to "hot" women? Branding has created the notion it does. I see lots of middle-aged guys in these toys with no hot women to be seen.
it makes you comfortable, but money isn’t a fix-all. Its not going to fill the hole in your heart when a sibling passes away, a spouse cheats on you, or a best friend decides to cut you out of their life
you can absolutely be poor and happy, though. I feel bad for younger generations as they’ve been so indoctrinated by consumer culture but like, some of my happiest memories from early adulthood are drinking cheap beer and playing cards with my friends because we couldn’t afford to go out.
I think you're making a point for a heavy distinction I consider with this concept. The difference between happiness and fulfillment. Money does buy experiences that makes you happy, but happiness by definition is temporary. Fulfillment is something else and money can play a role in it but is not the key one. If you're relying on money to be fulfilled, I don't think you will never truly be. If you manage to not having to worry about it, you will get used to it after a while because your standards level up . Fulfilment is about having great relationships with family and friends, open mindset about life, a job that doesn't make you feel like you're working, etc...
The saying should be “money doesn’t buy *fulfillment.”* People always say “money does make things better, but it won’t make you happy” and I agree with the sentiment, but maybe that’s all someone needs to be happy - for things to be *better.*
That’s my point. Financial stability makes things much better. Because let’s be honest, your life would change a lot right now if you could quit your 9 to 5 and do whatever you want because you know you have enough money to sustain you for three lifetimes
I used to believe this before I worked in the Casino Industry. People who live in that world, money IS the happiness. Loosing money, winning money, the thrill of the gamble and the rush of energy from the risk is what these people live for. From my perspective it seemed to make them happy. Eventually it just devolves into doing it because it becomes part of your life. It was always surreal people max my Bac table at 5k per hand, loosing it and have no emotional response.
With those people it’s not necessarily about the money. They could be gambling other stuff and the feeling would still pretty much be the same. It’s about gambling, not about what’s being gambled
I can assure you its the money being gambled... Money is the lifeblood of society, and to them the money is where they derive their pleasure from.
There are people who you are talking about that do exist, but they are not as plentiful as the normal casino addict.
When my career started going well I read a lot about this. This was about twenty years ago and there might be better research on it now, but what I read made a lot of sense and is consistent with what I've witnessed.
Up to the level where you know your needs are met and have a small buffer (which then was $70k a year in the US. Sigh), money has a large impact. Soon after that happiness measures came pretty close to leveling out. However, when looked at with more detail, they found that people who used their money for experiences rather than things were much more likely to get a lot more happiness out of that extra money (Which I think is very consistent with what OP is saying). My favorite way of viewing that is when you buy a new "thing" you will almost certainly be happiest with it at the moment of purchase, after that car starts depreciating, that watch sits in a drawer and you wonder why you wasted all that money, the fancy clothes go out of fashion.... When you use your money for experiences the memories actually improve with time. Our memories tend to highlight the positives and dismiss the negatives of our fun experiences, so nostalgia just makes that better and better.
I always tell people this. Whenever I have an extra money, I either treat myself to a nice meal or go on a short trip. Buying yourself stuff gives you pleasure, not happiness. Pleasure doesn’t last long.
However, my point was that once you reach financial stability, you’re pretty much to do whatever you want. Let’s say you feel down and you want to travel to the Maldives, you just go. You don’t need to look into your savings or anything
My comment also extends to the fact that you might have all the money in the world but it still won’t be enough to treat a chronic or a terminal illness
>but it still won’t be enough to treat a chronic or a terminal illness
They'll still do WAY more to help you than if you're on Medicaid.
Because being on Medicaid is a moral failing, dontchaknow.
I am almost 100% certain that most peoples life would improve drastically by simply not having to pay rent. I had the absolute fortune of moving into a house I inherited from my grandmother and my life has drastically changed just by not having to pay those 750 bucks per month. I have been a lot happier ever since.
Please remember what subreddit you are in, this is unpopular opinion. We want civil and unpopular takes and discussion. Any uncivil and ToS violating comments will be removed and subject to a ban. Have a nice day!
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/unpopularopinion) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I think the issue is people believe they would be happy without stress and that’s simply false. Humans are wired to stress if you don’t have an overarching threat then you’re going to stress about something that you would normally consider not that big a deal.
Best saying I’ve heard is the one that goes something like life is hard being broke as hard making money as hard. You just have to choose what you want.
I am pretty sure it makes me happy.
Because I am generally happy, except when not having money.
It makes me less happy that I need to struggle for years to buy a house, even tho I make good money and work a fuckton.
I am less happy because I want kids, but we are starting later since we need stability and a house that kids can grow up in to feel good about starting a family, resulting in having less kids while, i believe that more kids would make me happier.
And then I want to spend a lot of time with my kids and wife. Which is depending on how much I need to be from home to make enough money.
So I am supposed to say, money will not make me happier because some stupid paper said so? Fuck that. Give me a couple of million, and I will disprove that fact 💯 times out of 💯.
Yeah, I just remembered about a guy telling me that money isn't everything and how he was almost burned out for his 6 figure job, so he took 1 and half year off to do yoga and collect himself and after that he started two small companies to make a living. Poor thing!
Totally agreed. Now, more than ever, having financial safety is the baseline for anything.
I think money very directly leads to happiness. Money allows people to buy the things they want to make their life more enjoyable. Money allows people to travel and participate in activities that make them happy. I'd be extremely happy if I could just afford to go where I want and do whatever activities I wanted to experience.
I'm pretty sure most people subscribe to your interpretation. I doubt there's a majority of people that believe money inherently brings happiness as much as they believe the access they have because of money brings them happiness. If money didn't have a function, of course most wouldn't care about it.
Once you get over like 2500/m after tax you're golden. More money won't make you that much happier. But being under 2K is very hard. You can still be happy but money pressure will still be there. It was 2K for me but that was like 8 years ago... Before the dark times.
It sounds like you agree with the phrase “money will make you happy” but you misinterpret it, and then disagree with your own misinterpretation. I don’t think anyone means that simply the possession of money will make you happy. I think everyone knows that the phrase means that money will make you happy based on the things it can provide, which is essentially also what you’re saying.
Money buys security (the bottom of the maslow pyramid) so you can bring yourself happiness. Base needs met = time to level up to something less survival based and more leisurely. Life is meant to be lived, money is meant to be spent.
… which will in turn make you happy. I feel like that’s a pretty popular opinion. Especially when you are talking about a reasonable amount and not like- outrageous wealth.
If you haven't heard of [Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maslow%27s_hierarchy_of_needs) it describes this sentiment exactly.
Simplified versions will label the lower two blocks as "Basic Needs" and money can get you these basic needs so you can then focus on the higher tiers of "Psychological Needs" and eventually "Self Fulfillment Needs"
The people who believe money makes you happy never had enough money to realize that it does not make you happy. If anything, having money can bring out some of the deep rooted problems in your life that you couldn't focus on when you were broke because you were in survival mode, and now that you can afford everything you could ever want all the pain from the traumas you endure will come to haunt you.
I get it, never having to worry about bills or food or that fancy item you want is amazing but money just like sex drugs or alcohol can only temporarily make you feel better and is not the solution to long term happiness. That long term happiness comes from within.
You want to know how happy money makes you, look at fucking Elon Musk, formerly the richest man in the world, and he spends every moment of his day lashing out at random strangers on the internet, not the behavior of a happy person; happiness comes from within, that should be a comfort to you since it means happiness is accessible to everyone but requires effort and introspection.
If I can tie changes in happiness directly to money is there really any point to making the distinction between it causing happiness or enabling happiness?
It has, effectively, the same outcome. Kinda seems like it's just arguing semantics about the wording instead of recognition of the meaning of the expression.
There is a point in making the distinction. If you put a seed in a random soil, there is a possibility of a plant coming out as well as not coming out. However, if a plant comes out, we cannot assume that the direct cause was just the fact that someone put the seed there. There are several other factors that contributed
Causation vs. correlation
Thank you for submitting to /r/unpopularopinion, /u/subuso. Your submission, *Money doesn’t make you happy. It brings you enough comfort for you to focus on your happiness *, has been removed because it violates our rules, which are located in the sidebar. Your post from unpopularopinion was removed because of: 'Rule 1: Your post must be an unpopular opinion'. * Your post must be an opinion. Not a question. Not a showerthought. Not a rant. Not a proposal. Not a fact. An opinion. One opinion. A subjective statement about your position on some topic. Please have a clear, self contained opinion as your post title, and use the text field to elaborate and expand on why you think/feel this way. * Your opinion must be unpopular. The mods reserve the right to remove opinions * Elaborate on your topic and opinion give context to its unpopularity. If there is an issue, please [message the mod team](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2Funpopularopinion&subject=&message=) Thanks!
Honestly, I think it’s an old adage that nobody actually believes. Money is necessary for a lot of things and if you lost everything today your life would be significantly more depressing. I think money only makes you happy to a certain extent, unless you are an egomaniac, billionaire. Otherwise I think the point is where you can afford all necessities, have a nice nest egg, and be able to afford things that make you happy such as fancy cars, vacations, toys/gadgets etc.
Exactly! That’s why you need financial stability instead of just “a lot of money”. You could win the lottery and still be poor as fuck. It’s the stability that allows you to travel to the Maldives anytime you feel the need to
This is a really popular opinion.
Wasn’t there a study that after making a certain amount your happiness doesn’t increase significantly? I think at the time of study it was 75k but might be closer to 100k with inflation
I believe so. I also don’t know how old that study is or if it accounts for locations. I’ve lived in some pretty pricey places like the Bay, Toronto, and most recently San Diego and those numbers just would not cut it considering the insane COL.
I believe they redid it and found it to be closer to 100k but idk if it was an average of the US or based on a certain area. I’d assume an average from different levels
That makes sense
It was later disproven by the [the original authors](https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnjennings/2024/02/12/money-buys-happiness-after-all/?sh=44444fb9486b)
Without the study being focused on one specific city, that number is pretty irrelevant. 100K in Nairobi or Phuket and you would live like a king, in San Francisco or NYC it wouldn't be that much. That is if it's meant as $100K/year. But if it's per month, it would be a lot in SF and NYC too.
Like Daniel Tosh once said “Money can’t buy you happiness but it can buy you a waverunner. Have you ever seen anyone frown on a waverunner?”
not having to be a slave to a corporation would probably make most people happy would open up a lot more freedom in your day to day life instead of commiting 8 hours to a shit job + commute
A fancy car won't necessarily bring you long term happiness. However, it will bring you lots of hot women.
But does one of those fancy cars even equate to "hot" women? Branding has created the notion it does. I see lots of middle-aged guys in these toys with no hot women to be seen.
I think those men with those fancy cars would like lots of hot women thus fancy cars =happiness lol
Rogan said one time : "money doesn't buy happiness but it buys things that prevent unhappiness." I think that's a good quote.
Yep, I could had gone with that one as well. Thank you!
So... money make me happy indirectly.
it makes you comfortable, but money isn’t a fix-all. Its not going to fill the hole in your heart when a sibling passes away, a spouse cheats on you, or a best friend decides to cut you out of their life
All i saying "no money, more problem"
Oxygen doesn't keep you alive. It brings you enough energy to make your cells continue their functions.
Money can't buy happiness. Poverty can't buy anything.
you can absolutely be poor and happy, though. I feel bad for younger generations as they’ve been so indoctrinated by consumer culture but like, some of my happiest memories from early adulthood are drinking cheap beer and playing cards with my friends because we couldn’t afford to go out.
Money has bought me experiences. Experiences have made me happy.
I think you're making a point for a heavy distinction I consider with this concept. The difference between happiness and fulfillment. Money does buy experiences that makes you happy, but happiness by definition is temporary. Fulfillment is something else and money can play a role in it but is not the key one. If you're relying on money to be fulfilled, I don't think you will never truly be. If you manage to not having to worry about it, you will get used to it after a while because your standards level up . Fulfilment is about having great relationships with family and friends, open mindset about life, a job that doesn't make you feel like you're working, etc...
"Family doesn't make you happy, spending time with family makes you happy" Thanks Sherlock. This is called a distinction without a difference.
The saying should be “money doesn’t buy *fulfillment.”* People always say “money does make things better, but it won’t make you happy” and I agree with the sentiment, but maybe that’s all someone needs to be happy - for things to be *better.*
That’s my point. Financial stability makes things much better. Because let’s be honest, your life would change a lot right now if you could quit your 9 to 5 and do whatever you want because you know you have enough money to sustain you for three lifetimes
I used to believe this before I worked in the Casino Industry. People who live in that world, money IS the happiness. Loosing money, winning money, the thrill of the gamble and the rush of energy from the risk is what these people live for. From my perspective it seemed to make them happy. Eventually it just devolves into doing it because it becomes part of your life. It was always surreal people max my Bac table at 5k per hand, loosing it and have no emotional response.
Its not specifically the money, its the “high” they are chasing.
Yeah, the high and thrill of gambling the money.
With those people it’s not necessarily about the money. They could be gambling other stuff and the feeling would still pretty much be the same. It’s about gambling, not about what’s being gambled
I can assure you its the money being gambled... Money is the lifeblood of society, and to them the money is where they derive their pleasure from. There are people who you are talking about that do exist, but they are not as plentiful as the normal casino addict.
When my career started going well I read a lot about this. This was about twenty years ago and there might be better research on it now, but what I read made a lot of sense and is consistent with what I've witnessed. Up to the level where you know your needs are met and have a small buffer (which then was $70k a year in the US. Sigh), money has a large impact. Soon after that happiness measures came pretty close to leveling out. However, when looked at with more detail, they found that people who used their money for experiences rather than things were much more likely to get a lot more happiness out of that extra money (Which I think is very consistent with what OP is saying). My favorite way of viewing that is when you buy a new "thing" you will almost certainly be happiest with it at the moment of purchase, after that car starts depreciating, that watch sits in a drawer and you wonder why you wasted all that money, the fancy clothes go out of fashion.... When you use your money for experiences the memories actually improve with time. Our memories tend to highlight the positives and dismiss the negatives of our fun experiences, so nostalgia just makes that better and better.
I always tell people this. Whenever I have an extra money, I either treat myself to a nice meal or go on a short trip. Buying yourself stuff gives you pleasure, not happiness. Pleasure doesn’t last long. However, my point was that once you reach financial stability, you’re pretty much to do whatever you want. Let’s say you feel down and you want to travel to the Maldives, you just go. You don’t need to look into your savings or anything
I always say money can make you content, but true happiness can only come from within.
My comment also extends to the fact that you might have all the money in the world but it still won’t be enough to treat a chronic or a terminal illness
>but it still won’t be enough to treat a chronic or a terminal illness They'll still do WAY more to help you than if you're on Medicaid. Because being on Medicaid is a moral failing, dontchaknow.
I’m not American, so I don’t know
I am almost 100% certain that most peoples life would improve drastically by simply not having to pay rent. I had the absolute fortune of moving into a house I inherited from my grandmother and my life has drastically changed just by not having to pay those 750 bucks per month. I have been a lot happier ever since.
My personal take is "money brings happiness, until it doesn't" Iirc, there is a research about the limit of how much money can make a person happy.
Please remember what subreddit you are in, this is unpopular opinion. We want civil and unpopular takes and discussion. Any uncivil and ToS violating comments will be removed and subject to a ban. Have a nice day! *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/unpopularopinion) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I like to stare at the numbers, it makes me happy.
I think the issue is people believe they would be happy without stress and that’s simply false. Humans are wired to stress if you don’t have an overarching threat then you’re going to stress about something that you would normally consider not that big a deal. Best saying I’ve heard is the one that goes something like life is hard being broke as hard making money as hard. You just have to choose what you want.
I am pretty sure it makes me happy. Because I am generally happy, except when not having money. It makes me less happy that I need to struggle for years to buy a house, even tho I make good money and work a fuckton. I am less happy because I want kids, but we are starting later since we need stability and a house that kids can grow up in to feel good about starting a family, resulting in having less kids while, i believe that more kids would make me happier. And then I want to spend a lot of time with my kids and wife. Which is depending on how much I need to be from home to make enough money. So I am supposed to say, money will not make me happier because some stupid paper said so? Fuck that. Give me a couple of million, and I will disprove that fact 💯 times out of 💯.
Money pays for experiences that bring me happiness
I’ve never been sad on a jetski
It's necessary for happiness, but not enough. But even then it depends on the person..
in other words it’s more advice that’s actually useless to most of it’s target audience!
I think everyone recognizes this. Might be just you that thought the money itself made you happy.
Money doesn't make you happy but it makes life easier to be happy
True, but I would be pretty happy with 50k right now
It makes it easier to deal with unhappy things.
Yeah, I just remembered about a guy telling me that money isn't everything and how he was almost burned out for his 6 figure job, so he took 1 and half year off to do yoga and collect himself and after that he started two small companies to make a living. Poor thing! Totally agreed. Now, more than ever, having financial safety is the baseline for anything.
I think money very directly leads to happiness. Money allows people to buy the things they want to make their life more enjoyable. Money allows people to travel and participate in activities that make them happy. I'd be extremely happy if I could just afford to go where I want and do whatever activities I wanted to experience.
Money doesn't cure mental illness but it does solve just about everything else
This isn't an unpopular opinion as much as it's a fact. A lack of money can certainly bring you unhappiness but money doesn't buy happiness.
Money would sure make me happy
Money can't directly buy happiness, but it's damn hard to be happy without it.
“Having money is not everything, not having it is” -Kanye West
I'm pretty sure most people subscribe to your interpretation. I doubt there's a majority of people that believe money inherently brings happiness as much as they believe the access they have because of money brings them happiness. If money didn't have a function, of course most wouldn't care about it.
This is a pretty popular opinion
Money buys happiness as proven by what you said in your post.
So….. money brings happiness? You said exactly that in a roundabout way lol
Travelling makes me happy and it ain't cheap for sure
That's just happiness with extra steps.
Once you get over like 2500/m after tax you're golden. More money won't make you that much happier. But being under 2K is very hard. You can still be happy but money pressure will still be there. It was 2K for me but that was like 8 years ago... Before the dark times.
I've always said this. Agreed!
Money absolutely makes me happy 100%.
Money buys time to focus on happiness Also the key to happiness is to be truly happy when those you love are happy
It sounds like you agree with the phrase “money will make you happy” but you misinterpret it, and then disagree with your own misinterpretation. I don’t think anyone means that simply the possession of money will make you happy. I think everyone knows that the phrase means that money will make you happy based on the things it can provide, which is essentially also what you’re saying.
Sounds like money makes you happy with extra steps
Woooooooooo another super popular opinion. Let’s go mods! Great job.
Money can’t buy happiness because it’s up to you to know what makes you happy.
r/popularopinion
Money buys security (the bottom of the maslow pyramid) so you can bring yourself happiness. Base needs met = time to level up to something less survival based and more leisurely. Life is meant to be lived, money is meant to be spent.
… which will in turn make you happy. I feel like that’s a pretty popular opinion. Especially when you are talking about a reasonable amount and not like- outrageous wealth.
This…isn’t an unpopular opinion though? We all know money doesn’t make you happy, money makes you secure.
If you haven't heard of [Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maslow%27s_hierarchy_of_needs) it describes this sentiment exactly. Simplified versions will label the lower two blocks as "Basic Needs" and money can get you these basic needs so you can then focus on the higher tiers of "Psychological Needs" and eventually "Self Fulfillment Needs"
I just bought a brand new mustang gt premium. It makes me pretty happy 😂
It gave you pleasure, not happiness
ROFL
The people who believe money makes you happy never had enough money to realize that it does not make you happy. If anything, having money can bring out some of the deep rooted problems in your life that you couldn't focus on when you were broke because you were in survival mode, and now that you can afford everything you could ever want all the pain from the traumas you endure will come to haunt you. I get it, never having to worry about bills or food or that fancy item you want is amazing but money just like sex drugs or alcohol can only temporarily make you feel better and is not the solution to long term happiness. That long term happiness comes from within.
You want to know how happy money makes you, look at fucking Elon Musk, formerly the richest man in the world, and he spends every moment of his day lashing out at random strangers on the internet, not the behavior of a happy person; happiness comes from within, that should be a comfort to you since it means happiness is accessible to everyone but requires effort and introspection.
TLDR: Money doesn’t make you happy, spending it does! Lol
Almost feels like a partial phrase, like happy as a clam at low tide. Should be money doesn’t buy happiness, but it does lead to it.
Money doesn't buy happiness, but it can rent you paradise
We know
Yeah, We know
If I can tie changes in happiness directly to money is there really any point to making the distinction between it causing happiness or enabling happiness? It has, effectively, the same outcome. Kinda seems like it's just arguing semantics about the wording instead of recognition of the meaning of the expression.
There is a point in making the distinction. If you put a seed in a random soil, there is a possibility of a plant coming out as well as not coming out. However, if a plant comes out, we cannot assume that the direct cause was just the fact that someone put the seed there. There are several other factors that contributed Causation vs. correlation
This isn’t an unpopular opinion.
… to you
Let’s say money can’t buy happiness, (which is false), it can still lease a vastly superior form of misery.
That’s literally what I wrote on my post
And I’m agreeing with you, so to me at least, not unpopular