Jana Aranguren 1.

A 

Is money going to make us happy ? 

In today’s world everyone wants a happy and fulfilling life. So what does make people
happy ? The people around us, the society which we belong and even media tells us
daily that the only way to reach a happy and fulfilling life is to have a higher income.
But, is it true? For years, a great amount of researches have been done to answer this
question. In this investigation, while some of researchers are supporting that
attaining wealth and possessions is good for us, other people believe that it is not
true at all.

It is a popular belief that money can’t buy happiness, but isn’t it better to cry in a
Ferrari rather than on a bicycle? If you love travelling the world, of course you need
money and yes, traveling would make you happy. Why do you even earn if you can’t
find happiness with its help? True happiness does come from personal relationships
and situations, but research also shows that people who have lower incomes are more
vulnerable to depression.

It is tough to say whether or not money can buy happiness because happiness is
difficult to define. Some would say that money can provide you with basic comforts
(house, food, healthcare) that are essential to obtain happiness. On the other hand,
happiness is a complex emotion that is influenced by intangible factors such as one’s
personality. Though possessing a certain amount of wealth may make it more
statistically likely that one will lead a happy life, it is by no means the sole
determinant of happiness.

Social circles have a substantial effect on what we believe on what we want and need
to be happy. If someone in your social group gets a new car, it is almost certain that
you will feel inferior or not content unless you have a car that is of equal value.
Expectations and desires seem to be a factor that has its greatest effect on happiness
as your income rises. An explanation is that when your income rises, your social
circle naturally rises as well. Because of this natural rise, your expectations will never
fully be met and any feeling of content and superiority will eventually diminish.
 Furthermore, if we look at the richest people in the world, we see that the loneliest
people are these rich people because of money. According to lots of people, money
means high status, greedy and responsibility. With these prejudices, rich people
cannot make friends easily, by this way they can’t be happy.

When workers start to get more profit, it results in higher living standards for
workers as well as cheaper and more plentiful goods and services. And this
improvement leads to a good life for workers.

Until a certain limit it is true because this world which has capitalist system is not
suitable for living without money. Because money provides you necessities.
Furthermore if you have a family, without a good income you can’t imagine a good
life while you are trying to be alive in this world. But when you have enough money
and you are able to supply what you need, after this point money’s importance
suddenly decrease and remains only one way to be happy which is not money, just
our relationships and our health.

An interesting thing happens when we talk about money and friends. Friends are
known as a second family; even for some people they are the first. A friend can help
us in every tough situation, they can back up us in everywhere. So always we want to
have a good friend. If we select and take care of our friends carefully, as well as we
have to be careful to maintain our relationships with them.While we are establishing
a friendship, it mustn’t be based on materialistic values or we mustn’t let money to
interfere our friendship. When money comes, it might hurt our friends and us.

To summarize , if you have enough money for your basic necessities, after that
happiness doesn’t come from money. On the contrary, as long as you have a great
amount of money or try to have more money than you have you can lose your most
important relationships with your friends and family which make you really happy,
furthermore your mental and physical health can be affected very badly because of
dissatisfaction and lack of self control when you have too much money. Briefly
attaining wealth is not essential for our fulfillment even it is against.

Finally, in my opinion, even if you have too much money to spend, as long as you
don’t have friends and family you can’t be happy at all.
Souces:

- https://www.forbes.com/sites/nextavenue/2018/10/09/can-money-buy-happiness-a-n
ew-way-to-measure/
- https://www.quora.com/Is-money-happiness
- https://www.hermoney.com/save/banking/how-to-buy-happiness/
- https://www.cnbc.com/2019/09/05/can-money-buy-happiness-debate-study-on-succe
ss.html
- https://essayshark.com/blog/can-money-buy-happiness-essay-example/
- https://www.ukessays.com/essays/philosophy/the-relationship-between-money-and-h
appiness-philosophy-essay.php
- https://www.enotes.com/homework-help/can-money-buy-happiness-why-why-not-393
344
- https://www.thegreatcoursesdaily.com/does-money-make-people-happy/