4 Reasons Money Can’t Buy Happiness - YouTube

Does money make you happy? Do we need money to be happy?

Are you tired of listening to rich people driving around in their Bentleys and Mercedes

telling you that money won’t make you happy? Well in this video we’re going to get real.

Stick around to the end where I tell you how for many people the answer to this question

can be a matter of life or death. Coming up!

Hey, I’m Dr. Brad Klontz, your financial psychologist! On this channel, we help you

transform your relationship with money, master the psychology of wealth, and live a life

of abundance! So, if you’re new here, please subscribe

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Does money buy happiness? This has been a hotly debated topic with numerous studies

over the years, and, its complicated. In some ways it can, and in some ways it won’t.

Check out this video for the 4 ways that money can make you happier.

But in this video, I’m going to reveal the 4 reasons that money won’t make you happier.

Reason Number 1: The Jones’s Effect Studies have shown that there’s an association

between money and happiness up until a household income of around $75,000 a year, which for

most people covers your basic needs, food, housing, that sort of thing. Above that, there

is no significant correlation. But, the problem with that $75,000 a year

number is that it’s a national average and it doesn’t apply to so many of us – especially

when we live in an area where the average family is making more – or even much more.

When we see our neighbors having stuff we don’t have, or giving their kids experiences

we can’t afford to give ours, this feels terrible! We end up feeling deprived relative

to the people around us – a phenomenon called relative deprivation.

Reason Number 2: The Happiness Treadmill I’ve got a question for you: When it comes

to money, how much is enough? Well, when you ask people who make $25,000,

they say $50,000. When you ask people who make $50,000, they say $100,000. When you

ask people who make a $100,000, they say $200,000, and on and on it goes!

So when do we have “enough” money to make us happy?

Answer? Never! Say what?

Yup its true. Psychologists call it the hedonic treadmill. We think that when we reach a new

goal it will bring happiness. So we work hard to achieve the goal, we save, we sacrifice,

we do what it takes. And when we finally reach the goal, do we

live happily ever after? Of course not! We pick a new goal and climb write back on the

treadmill. The happiness we do feel when we reach a goal

is great, but it’s fleeting, and we quickly slide back down to our baseline level of happiness.

We then move on to chase the next thing we think will eventually make us happy.

Which of course it doesn’t. So please take great joy in your pursuit of

your goals, that’s where the magic is. You will never achieve lasting happiness by achieving

your goals. It just doesn’t work that way…

Reason Number 3: Money Worship Money Scripts There’s a downside to the belief that money

will make you happy, or that money will solve all of your problems.

In our research on money scripts, we call these beliefs Money Worship scripts.

Study after study has shown that the stronger we are attached to these types of beliefs,

the more likely we are to have lower net worth, higher credit card debt, and engage in

self-destructive financial behaviors in an attempt to buy more stuff or otherwise waste

our money trying to make ourselves feel better about ourselves or prop up our moods with

some retail therapy. So the more intensely we believe that money

will make us happier and solve all of our problems, the more likely we are to sabotage ourselves.

Reason Number 4: Our Happiness Set-Point We all have a happiness baseline from which

we don’t stray too far. For some of it is genetically hardwired and for others it’s

conditioned by life experiences, but for most of us it is a combination of the two.

So while we have natural fluctuations in how we are feeling moment to moment and day to

day, based on what is happening in our lives, we tend to drift back to our happiness set-point

So how does money play into this? Now don’t get me wrong, a huge pile of money will make

you very happy in the short term. However, you’re very likely revert right

back to your typical happiness set-point before you know it.

So, I promised you I would end with a discussion on how the belief that money buys happiness

can be a matter of life or death for some people.

I have worked with many clients who have worked hard for years and have achieved the success

they’ve always dreamt of. When these people have been carrying the strong

belief that money and success will make them happy, and they finally achieve it, they quickly

realize that they’re still themselves and it didn’t magically change their family,

their relationships with others, and their feelings about themselves.

In fact, when money and success was their primary goal and they look behind the curtain

and see that it doesn't give them what they truly wanted, many slip into a depression

and struggle to find meaning in their lives, which can put them at risk of wanting to end

it all. So my best advice is to make yourself as happy

as you can right now by paying close attention to the love, the beauty and abundance all around

you. If you can achieve happiness now, in your

current situation, than you’ll be able to make the most of more money when it comes

into your life, and you’ll be able to use it to improve your overall level of happiness.

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