Mo' Money Mo' Problems?

Though this is a cliché phrase, money really cannot buy happiness, and we have statistical proof for it. Based on my praise of Charles Murray’s thought experiments in “What’s so bad about Being Poor?” last week, my satisfaction with David G. Myers’ “The Funds, Friends, and Faith of Happy People” does not come as a surprise. In this piece, Myers (who is a distinguished psychology professor at Hope College) and his department conducted nationwide polls to find out how happy the people of America are and what that happiness could be related to. Most people who took the poll said they consider themselves as “pretty happy”.

This part of the experiment is the most interesting part. When asked whether a little more money would make that person a little happier, they said yes, but they never said it was one of their main dissatisfactions in life. This is surprising, considering many of us often fantasize about living a life of wealth some day. Following this question in the poll, people talked about whether or not they were married, and the strength of faith in their religion and their friendships. The results showed strong correlations between the strength of faith, friendships, and marriages with peoples’ overall happiness.

These results are astounding to me: people aren’t as driven by money as I originally thought. I started thinking about the people in my life and whether I’d choose success over them, then decided to use these results as justification to play Super Smash Brothers with my little brother instead of doing my Calculus homework. Okay maybe Myers’ findings can’t be held true for such a specific instance, but the fact that there is statistical proof correlating happiness to things that money cannot buy is really eye opening, and should act as a notion for us to reconsider the things we prioritize in our lives.
RETHINK THE VALUE OF CASH!!!