Some people believe that money could buy happiness and they believe people who consider that money cannot buy happiness because they don't know how to spend money.
Let us begin with defining happiness, what is happiness, and could we buy it with money? The definition of happiness is wide and it is different in each culture or country, we define happiness depending on the individual, some people define happiness as luck, positive fate, and fortune. Some people describe happiness as satisfaction, harmony/balance, and positive emotions and states. Others describe happiness as an inner state feeling to attitude, in which other categories were collectively categorized as "contextual definitions" because they were related to particular life domains and circumstances. The contextual categories include family, interpersonal relationships, health, everyday life, the standard of living, and job. But the meaning of happiness did not help us to understand that could money buys happiness.
The data analysis in 2015 from the Office for National Statistics' Wealth and Assets Survey illustrated that there is a clear link between household wealth and happiness, life satisfaction and personal sense of worth among Britons aged 16 and over. Conversely, after the creator of Minecraft, Markus Persson, sold his gaming company to Microsoft in 2014 for £2.5billion, it seems that it did not give huge happiness as he has posted a tweet in August 2015 showed: "Hanging out in Ibiza with a bunch of friends and partying with famous people, able to do whatever I want, and I’ve never felt more isolated". Furthermore, the founder of Pones4U, billionaire John Caudwell admitted on a BBC program that there are times when he would rate his happiness level as 1 or 2 out of 10.
Furthermore, some might contend that since individual pleasure is determined by entirely distinct standards, the influence of money, whatever it may be, can only ever be minimal. The author of 'How of Happiness' and psychology professor Sonja Lyubomirsky estimates that our innate baseline happiness level accounts for around 50% of our overall happiness. To put it another way, some people are just cheerful by nature. Life circumstances, which would include income levels, on the other hand, only account for 10% of our overall stated satisfaction. However, we all need enough money but not much as Bill Gates to pay for shelter, food, good education, and healthcare bills.
My experience
In the past, my family was not very wealthy compared to now, but we are a happy family. My family spent a lot of time together and both of my parents have only one small family business. We have a lot of time together and went to a lot of places together, such as we have sweets or dinner outside once a week, we went to different cities every weekend and every holiday we went abroad to nearby countries. We will have meals together every morning and dinner. That were the wonderful memories that I have had with my family in the past.
However, after a few years, my dad decided to start another business and it's growing bigger, with more employees, more partnerships, and more income but we started to have less time together as a family. My parents would work from 8 am until 7 pm every day even on the weekend and nearly every day that we do not have a meal together. More money means working more and it needs to change with having less time for your family. Having more money does not always make you happier.
On the other hand, having a lot of money could be a slice of happiness because money helps us to live a better life and it gives us opportunities to go to better doctors and better hospitals. Furthermore, money helps us to cover all of our needs such as shelter, food, good education, and healthcare bills. Thus, we also could go to better and more wonderful places for a holiday and buy something we want.
So could money make us happier? The answer to this question would be yes and no. People need enough money to meet our fundamental necessities, and rising pay may have an impact on our well-being, but we must also keep in mind the benefits of kindness and fostering connections. Maybe we should pay more attention to how we spend our money rather than how much of it we have. Furthermore, it depends on how individuals identify their happiness, for me if I need to choose between family and money, I would choose family because they are people who give us love and support, which are my happiness because I feel happy and enjoy when I spent time with them. Moreover, money just gives temporary happiness and just enough money to cover all of my needs.
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