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Money money money

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Started by mr self destruct in Chit-Chat

Once you have sufficient money and possessions to cover your basic needs (food, shelter, and clothing), extra money and possessions really don’t increase happiness. You might feel briefly happier if you get more money but you quickly become used to it and want more again. Even lottery winners revert to former levels of happiness after a short while.

Working to achieve purely financial goals is useless as you will always be chasing further goals and therefore never achieve happiness. The way to achieve happiness is to try and be your “authentic” self and engage in activities that encourage a feeling of “flow”, rather than doing things purely for reward and profit.

This is basically the conclusion of my own recent thinking, backed up by lots of research I’ve been reading. Thoughts?

Posted on Sat, 16 February 2008 at 13:53

You’re viewing replies 1–30 of 41 by 12 people

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#1

The Auto Surgeon (Mark) wrote:

I have to ask S/D - What brought this bout of melodramatic philosophy on??

Posted on Sat, 16 February 2008 at 14:50

#2

Lola* wrote:

i totally agree with you on the point that working to achieve purely financial goals. my last job i took because the pay was nearly double what i got in the job before that and i can honestly say that i’ve never been so miserable ever. fine the money was good but i had to move to a horrible place and some of the people i worked with were nasty…some of them were nice and it’s because of those few i didn’t totally crack up…the only good thing that came out of the whole mess was that i learned to drive and bought a car…

Posted on Sat, 16 February 2008 at 14:52

#3

Lola*’s post on Sat, 16 February 2008 at 14:53 was deleted by hoochalobster (Technical issue)

#4

Lola*’s post on Sat, 16 February 2008 at 14:54 was deleted by hoochalobster (Technical issue)

#5

mr self destruct wrote:

The Auto Surgeon wrote:

I have to ask S/D - What brought this bout of melodramatic philosophy on??

I thought it might be more interesting than the usual bollocks that goes on around here…

Posted on Sat, 16 February 2008 at 14:58 in reply to an earlier post

#6

The Auto Surgeon (Mark) wrote:

Fair enough. I must admit I do agree with most of your statement. But I would still like to be a lottery winner, it would take the worry of the next rent payment, loan repayment etc. away. ;-)

Posted on Sat, 16 February 2008 at 15:16

#7

Gimme Back My Brainsaw wrote:

If i had alot of money Id still get a job, but id go for something i like doing without worrrying over the pay, or I’d spend my time chasing my dreams or something, so that way i’d still have something to try and achieve

Posted on Sat, 16 February 2008 at 15:56

#8

Viirkokka wrote:

I like this.. it puts into words what I’ve been thinking and plus you’ve added a bit more I never considered.

What were you reading?

My objective in life is to get rich, but only so that I can do that I want. IE i’ll get “rich” referring to only as much money as I need to do whatever; travel, buy a barge, buy a party house, live in the wilderness for a year, etc.

Posted on Sat, 16 February 2008 at 17:22

#9

mr self destruct wrote:

I found all of these interesting:

The High Price of Materialism by Tim Kasser (I’d see if you can get it form a library as it’s quite a slim volume)
Affluenza by Oliver James

http://www.medialens.org/cogitations/040304_COG_Chains_Illusion.php
http://www.medialens.org/cogitations/040311_COG_Chains_Illusion_2.php
http://www.lifehack.org/articles/lifestyle/how-to-avoid-being-ens … erism.html
http://mattbrundage.com/publications/materialism.php
http://www.biopsychiatry.com/happiness/happycountry.html

Posted on Sat, 16 February 2008 at 18:31

#10

mr self destruct wrote:

In the third link there is coincidentally a quote from Fight Club, which I see you’re a fan of ;)

Posted on Sat, 16 February 2008 at 18:54

#11

mrs h wrote:

What is this bollocks of which you speak? :p

Posted on Sat, 16 February 2008 at 18:59

#12

mr self destruct wrote:

“What are these bollocks of which you speak?” I think is grammatically correct, mrs h ;)

Posted on Sat, 16 February 2008 at 19:05

#13

Taunty Dan wrote:

:eek: Whatever, just put them away man!!

Posted on Sat, 16 February 2008 at 19:07

#14

mr self destruct wrote:

“Lick my balls”

Posted on Sat, 16 February 2008 at 19:09

#15

Gimme Back My Brainsaw wrote:

tasteless.

Posted on Sat, 16 February 2008 at 19:10

#16

mrs h wrote:

You LICKED them?????? :eek:

Posted on Sat, 16 February 2008 at 19:21

#17

Gimme Back My Brainsaw wrote:

hahaha I diddnt realise what I said could have 2 meanings untill I saw your reply.

I just meant this thread had drifted into realms a bit tasteless not that his balls were…

oh never mind.

Posted on Sat, 16 February 2008 at 19:23

#18

mr self destruct wrote:

Get the fuck out of my thread, you’re going off topic!

Posted on Sat, 16 February 2008 at 19:23

#19

mrs h wrote:

I’ve gone off sausages too …

Posted on Sat, 16 February 2008 at 19:25

#20

mr self destruct wrote:

I do not partake of the evil weed, officer.

Posted on Sat, 16 February 2008 at 19:25

#21

Gimme Back My Brainsaw wrote:

I’ve gone off Oranges too.

Posted on Sat, 16 February 2008 at 19:26

#22

mr self destruct wrote:

Oops, I posted that in the wrong thread :)

Posted on Sat, 16 February 2008 at 19:26

#23

mrs h wrote:

That’s why you’re replying in the wrong thread? :p

Posted on Sat, 16 February 2008 at 19:26

#24

mr self destruct wrote:

Purely high spirits, officer. My wife is having a baby.

Posted on Sat, 16 February 2008 at 19:27

#25

Dermot (The Derm) wrote:

I don’t know… I’m looking to move on to the property ladder at the mo, but at the minute I can only realistically afford places where having my kneecaps ventilated remains a distinct possibility ;-)

So, I wouldn’t mind a bit more money for security’s sake. But yeah, I basically agree with your overall point :-)

Posted on Sat, 16 February 2008 at 20:06

#26

mr self destruct wrote:

^ According to a lot of stuff I read, mortgage = slavery. When you get a new house, you’ll always be wanting to do it up or try and get a better house. Where does it end? Plus it’s more difficult to move around and live in different places and experience more of life, not to mention the constant working to pay the mortgage. Constant work = less time to enjoy the real things in life.

Posted on Sat, 16 February 2008 at 21:49

#27

mrs h wrote:

Having a mortgage does mean that you have to constantly work, true, but there are lots of advantages to owning a house. I bought my house 5 years ago and I can’t afford to do it up but i certainly have no intention of moving to a ‘better one’ at any point, let alone ‘always’!

A lot of people want to buy because they recognise that if you pay rent then within a year or 2 you will be paying 2 or 3 times as much in rent as it would cost to buy the same house - the only difference is that if you’re renting then some other person is getting rich off your wage. And it’s true that it would take a lot more organising if you want to go away for a couple of months every year or something, but if you want to actually relocate then you have a hell of a lot more choice as a home owner because you can pick and choose from what’s out there, instead of all the currently vacant vastly over-priced AS (min 6 month) rentals.

Also if you live long enough then the time will come when your house is paid for and you can do what you like with the money.

Good luck Dermot. Just try and research which areas are most likely to be regenerated before you buy, and you could get a real bargain. :)

Posted on Sun, 17 February 2008 at 10:33

#28

Dermot (The Derm) wrote:

That’s the main reason why I’m doing it. I hate the thought that about a quarter of my wages at the mo are going towards paying off someone else’s mortgage - pretty much money down the drain. Yeah, I can live in a nicer area by renting, and I wouldn’t really have any commitment to staying there, but I think I’ve done pretty much all the serious traveling / hardcore partying that I want to, and it’s time to think of the future.

Anyway, I don’t want this thread turning into “Location Location Location” ;-)

Posted on Sun, 17 February 2008 at 10:50

#29

realityfuck (Richard Splash) wrote:

At the moment I live overseas (Spain), but will be returning to Ireland soon. I’ve bought a flat here only because it’s cheaper than renting and I’ll get my money back once I sell the place. My plan is to get a decent job, buy a place at home and have that as a ‘base’ from which I can still go travelling and live my life etc… A mortgage is only slavery if you let it be. We all need a roof over our heads, so it’s just a choice you have to make, live with your parents, rent or buy.

I do agree with the initial sentiment though, enough money to cover the essentials and little left over to give you some breathing space is all a person needs. Constantly chasing wage increases, promotions and so on don’t really provide extra happiness.

Posted on Mon, 18 February 2008 at 07:50

#30

marja (sinner) wrote:

I don’t agree on the mortgage = slavery thing

We descided to build a house, because buying one was even more expensive in the area we live in, and renting a descent place will cost you a bit less than a mortgage payment. There’s this rule for your mortgage payment being 30% of your monthly income, we’re at 37% at the moment, but we still can do whatever we want. 5 years from now, it will be 30% and when I’m 47 and boyfriend 50 the house will be ours —> at least 15 years before retirement with a full income that is (hopefully) a lot higher than what we have now, but not via big raises and promotions and stuff, just from the annual raise we get in the companies we work for. Plus a house that is worth a lottery jackpot(well, the ones we have in Belgium).

I agree with your statement sam, when you’re saying that you have to do something that you like, that you have to get that feeling of “flow”, but you should consider that a lot of people get this feeling by doing their job. I know a lot more people that realy love what they do, than ones that hate it, and are purely in it for the money.

If you mean by enjoying “real things in life” is enjoying time with your family and friends, a lot of the hard working people still achieve that, so I don’t think this work and mortgage thing can not be put this black and white.

Posted on Mon, 18 February 2008 at 09:26

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