Money!

Money, money, money, moooooooooney. Mooooooooooooooooooooooooney!

It’s been called every name under the sun and everyone wants it. It has many definitions, such as:.

It is just a physical representation of the abstract concept of effort

or

It is an abstract representation of barter.

or

It is a medium of exchange through which all men damn their souls to the pits of hell!!!!.

… If you’re feeling dramatic.

What ever it is, it’s very important to most of us. So important we spent the vast majority of our lives in the pursuit of it. Yet those who have it caution us that having it will not make us happy. I for one call horse shit on that logic. Look at this picture for a minute:

My observation is that the people talking about how money doesn’t buy happiness are usually playing around in the top two sections of this triangle. They have been there so long they don’t recall what it felt like to be at the bottom(if they were ever there).

Another problem is survivor bias. We as a people tend to look up to the successful among us and take what they say as gold. “Oh, he made a gazillion dollars and says money can’t make you happy, so he must be right!”
Bull! While a gazillion dollars will not make you happy-ier,  having 0 dollars will definitely make you sad. That’s because of that bottom section.

Humans are like video games, they require a basic level of… stuff… before they function. When you provide just the basic required… stuff… they will function, but not to the level they were created to. If you provide more of that… stuff… their performance will increase accordingly, up to a certain point. THEN and only then will adding more… stuff… not come with an increase in performance. If the people you are talking to are barely surviving, then talking about how money doesn’t buy you happiness is kinda a dick move… in my view.

What is this guy talking about?

There are many views, arguments and counter arguments when it comes to the subject of money, and happiness for that matter. So many in fact that this dinky little post couldn’t possibly hope to contain all of them and many libraries full of books have been written on the subjects. With that in mind I have decided that for the next few weeks, I’m going to take a look at those views and arguments because… I can.

If that is something you think you would be interested in, please activate desktop notifications by clicking that red circle at the bottom right side of your screen, or add your email address to my mailing list. (By the time you read this, it should be in the side bar to the right. I’m right handed, sue me.)

I look forward to seeing you(really Mike?) next time as we start our journey down the rabbit hole.

Image Credits: Money by PIcture's of Money used under Creative Commons
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs by Simply Psychology used under .