Running Head: Money can’t buy happiness

Academic Summery of Money can’t buy happiness

MD ABU SHAMIM, ID-300767739

COMM 171-541

Professor Michelle Buuck

April 01, 2014

Running Head: Money can’t buy happiness

Money can’t buy happiness

Happiness is the psychological condition that results from the achievement of one’s

vales. Values are ends that a person acts to gain and/or keep. (New York: Signet, 1964)

Happiness is basically the satisfaction that comes when a value has been realized.

Someone might be happy to purchase books or grocery, or get his new computer set up

and ready to run. Thus we expect someone to be considerably happier when he has

received college degree, got promotion, or married the love of his life. But the principle

is always the same: achieving and realizing values are what makes us happy. I began

to realize from my life experience that happiness came from those things that are

considered uneventful by the mass media like giving charity, family life and achieving

self-sacrificing goals.

Money can’t buy happiness because the most certain factors which is important in

achieving happiness is satisfaction and it comes through the different reason like love,

power, jobs, relations etc. including money. For example, a movie star feels happiness

every time when his fans cheers for him and follow him like the way star is doing and

living, an infant or a small kid is happy when he/she lies in mother's lap, whereas for old

parents happiness lies in seeing their developed family growing and progressing day by

day and they have love and care for them. So I think it is clear that money can’t buy

happiness alone without the other factors. Reports call for most Americans, job

satisfaction is nearly equivalent to life satisfaction. Among those people who say they

are very happy in their lives, 95 percent are also satisfied with their jobs. Furthermore,

job satisfaction would seem to be causing overall happiness, not the other way around.

(Brooks, 2008).

Its true money can’t buy happiness, but it can buy lots of things that contribute to

happiness. Some people think that rich people have everything they need and they

have nothing to wish for. I think it is not true. The more money one has, the more one

wants and can afford. Besides, there are some things no one can buy like love,

friendship and health. So, a rich person may want to lose some weight and looks like

Running Head: Money can’t buy happiness

some guy from a cover of the magazine or he wants to go out with a girl who is not

interested in him and his money. So if you are unhappy and think money is the answer

to your problem then you should think again. Even if you were going to win the lottery

tomorrow, that pleasure wouldn’t last long.  If someone hit the lottery, it would be

different. He could do all kinds of fulfilling things. Similarly, if your career suddenly took

off in a fantastic way and you earned a great deal of money, you would get much

happier. (Brooks, 2008). Economists’ reports that a rise in income does not always

precipitate a rise in life-satisfaction only testify to the fact that money is not a sufficient

condition for happiness. (Aristotle, 1096a5). That wealthy people can suffer from

“diabetics” underscores the fact that money is not the ultimate philosophy of life. As

Aristotle observed, wealth is not the highest good, since it is sought for the sake of

something else. (New York Times, 2001). Accordingly, we should not expect it to

meaning in people’s lives as if it were the maximum good.

The role of money in happiness is a huge subject to which we could hardly do justice in

a brief essay. In principle, however, happiness is a meaning of success. It comes from

achieving values. Sometimes money can buy happiness but financial wealth alone isn’t

enough. Satisfaction in life is affected by salary and income, but only to a certain level.

But what we've found is that while money may be able to make people lead more

comfortable lives, it won't necessarily contribute to life's pleasant moments that come

from engaging with people and activities rather than from material goods and luxuries."

To increase feelings of happiness, people need to spend time with loved ones and

pursue life experiences that make them feel good. Life satisfaction isn’t only about

buying material goods or investing money to create more money but also about

spending time with family, friends, doing good, fun, and challenging activities.

Running Head: Money can’t buy happiness

References

1. Brooks, A. C. (2008). Why we’re Happy. Gross national Happiness in reader’s

digest. (PP. 1-5).

2. Pett, S. (2009). The Happiness Project. Essay Essentials with Readings: Custom

edition. (PP. 1-3).

3. Brooks A. C. Can Money Buy Happiness? The Journal of the American

Enterprise Institute. 2008. Retrieved from

http://www.american.com/archive/2008/may-june-magazine-contents/can-money-

bye-happiness.

4. Both characterizations are from Ayn Rand, “The Objectivist Ethics,” The Virtue of

Selfishness (New York: Signet, 1964) 31, 16.

5. Aristotle, Book I, chapter 5, 1096a5. Aristotle’s method in evaluating candidates

for highest good was subjective, based on the ways that most people treated

these things, but his conclusion about money happened to be correct.

6. Such studies are reported in Frank, 6, 65; Robert E. Lane, “Does Money Buy

Happiness?” The Public Interest (no. 113, Fall 1993): 56-65; David Leonhardt, “If

Richer Isn’t Happier, What Is?” New York Times May 15, 2001, national edition:

A15 & 17.