Does more money really equal happiness?

I hear people make comments all the time, such as “if I only had more money,”  “if I just got that raise or had a job that paid a little more,” “if I could just pay off this or that debt,” and so on. People are constantly in search of that last piece of the puzzle to be absolutely happy in life, the equivalent of a magic pill. But, does it really exist? Think back 2, 3, or even 5 years ago about what “if” statements you were making back then. Have some of those “ifs” become reality? In working with people to meet their financial goals, I’ve seen people check one or two “ifs” off their list. But, satisfaction does not always follow. Why is that?

By nature, I think many people are ambitious and goal-oriented and it is human nature to want more. This is not a bad thing. But, when you pack your life with so many goals and activities (as many of us do), you can feel so busy and even overwhelmed that have no time to really enjoy your successes or even keep track of them. So, you easily forget them and move on to the next goal. I think this frantic pace along with the need of a lot of people to “Keep of with the Joneses” more than anything is where the sense of dissatisfaction comes from.

This is true of one’s financial goals too. Recently, my college roommate and I were chatting about the times when we lived together and she said, “I really miss those days when we lived in our little apartment on _____  and our lives were so happy and simple. Now, everything is so complicated.” I think about this ALL the time. It is so true. I think about how content we were back then even though we were students with NO money and I worked a part-time job earning just a little more than minimum wage just to cover basics. We never really ate out, sat in front of the TV, and stayed up late studying a whole lot. But, we were so “happy.” Back then, we had one goal – to finish school and get a job. We focused on that one goal and that was it. All we wanted was to live independently and not have to take out any more student loans. It wasn’t even about buying a home or wanting to buy anything fancy really. It was just about being financially independent and moving on. So, what changed?

Fast forward to today, X number of years later, and we have those jobs we dreamed about (or something close to it). We are, for the most part, financially independent. And yet, financial independence, at least the way that we dreamed of it, does not always bring the joy and contentment that we imagined it would. Why is that? Were these just stupid goals, or have we just changed?

Of course, as you get older, some responsibilities become inevitable (home, mortgage, maybe children, etc). But, others, like that nice car or more home, than you actually need, that expensive purse… those are often just status symbols to show that “you have made it.” But, when you buy those things or you get that job, it does not always bring you the happiness or contentment that you thought it would. So, you buy more things or set more goals in constant search of that “magic happy pill.”

When people are caught in this trap of doing more and spending more but not getting more out of it (more happiness, at least), I always try to take them back to why they are doing certain things, trying to figure out what actually makes them happy, and work with them to align their actions with the things that make them happy. Sometimes, a little awareness is a better route to happiness (and often a much less expensive one!).