The prevailing wisdom holds that money cannot buy happiness.
Despite the fact that most people know this, many still place a high value on money.
The issue is that money isn’t to blame for bad social skills, a lack of self-control, or a lack of purpose in life. You’ll discover that you don’t need to be rich to be happy.
Money has the power to draw the wrong type of attention.
Some people are unhappy because they want attention. Either they want more respect from their peers, they want to show off on social media, or be seen as more desirable. A life of luxury can give the fantasy that someone is living a great life. The problem is you will attract attention for the right and wrong reasons.
Friends and family members get desperate for money favors. Scammers come out of the woodworks for mysterious “business opportunities”. If you travel overseas and you flaunt your wealth, you become a real target for kidnapping.
There are many celebrities that are unable to deal with the attention that comes with fame and go to therapy to deal with this type of stress.
Takeaways:
Be careful what you wish for. Truly powerful people know the value of not drawing attention to themselves. Social validation is not needed to enjoy life and can be the cause for many bad decisions
Money will never be able to make up for a lack of self-discipline.
Lack of financial self-control is another reason why people are unhappy with their money. Many people think becoming rich would mean they wouldn’t have to work hard a single day in their life. Once you obtain an arbitrary amount of money, it just grows from trees or you go on vacations all day.
The issue is that:
- You will always work hard whether rich or poor.
- Even if you become rich, you can easily become poor if you do not develop financial self-control.
Many lottery winners lose millions of dollars and go bankrupt only a few years after winning the lotto. A huge portion of athletes go bankrupt after retiring from the NBA or NFL. They believe they’ve “made it” and then proceed to splurge on all of the luxuries they’ve been missing out on in life. They buy houses, cars, and pay their entire family’s bills while letting the money fly out of their pockets.
If you can’t manage $1k, how can you expect to manage $1 million?
Most people believe that making more money entitles them to luxuries, but they do not create happiness. They’re a quick way to bankruptcies, homelessness, and attracting the wrong kind of attention, all of which can lead to emotional misery.
Takeaways
While having more money is preferable to having less, managing money will always be a necessary skill. The secret to success is learning how to live within your means and embracing a modest lifestyle.
Budget based on your INCOME rather than your bank account.
It may appear to be a difficult task, but the more time you devote to improving your financial literacy, the more it will benefit you in all aspects of your life.
Money cannot compensate for a lack of self-esteem.
If you are already facing depression, low self-esteem, or negative self-image, money will not get rid of these problems. Being rich can become unsatisfying if you don’t think too highly of yourself.
Studies show that earning more than $75,000 does not make you happier, according to modern psychology. You may be “satisfied” that you make a large amount, but gains in your emotional well-being stops seeing improvements beyond $75,000 per year. There are many people who became rich but found that more money did not make them any happier.
Most people who are insecure with their body, their self-image, their social life would gain more addressing the root causes of their insecurity than by using money as a coping mechanism. Any issues that can’t be addressed by diet, exercise, and improving social skills, don’t be afraid to use therapy to address mental roadblocks.
Takeaways
Learn to be confident. Being rich does not get rid of self-esteem issues, it merely gives you the ability to cope with them -good and bad. If you are depressed, seek therapy. If you are insecure about your body, get a nutritionist and personal trainer to work with your body goals. If you are unsatisfied with your social life, learn to develop social skills that will make you more approachable and attractive to improve your social outcomes.
Don’t think getting a high earning job or winning the lotto will get rid of low self-esteem. Part of it also involves having the right network of friends and family around you.
Money can’t give you a feeling of purpose.
Finally, money does not bring purpose in life. It takes a lot of effort to become an entrepreneur. Working a six-figure job that takes 60+ hours a week is difficult. Beyond the money, there must be a strong motivation.
There has to be a bigger purpose for the money. People get dissatisfied because they believe that making lots of money will make them happy.
Money is a means to an end, not an end in and of itself. It’s like trying to live your life collecting hammers rather than the house you construct with them. It is a backwards way to look at life.
It has been proven that having a sense of purpose correlates with happiness. Whether your feeling of purpose stems from a greater calling, a goal, or a charitable organization, it’s important to consider what you may accomplish that isn’t monetary in nature.
Conclusion
Money makes life easier. There’s no way to argue with that.
What we need to figure out is what money is and isn’t.
Money isn’t the same as happiness.
Money is merely a tool that can be used to support our goals. Our pleasure will be determined by how we use that tool. We choose how we will educate ourselves in order to maximize the cards we have been dealt.
Here in Mansa Money, we’ll be concentrating on wealth building, business planing and how we can improve our existing lifestyles. None of this, however, should come at the expense of what matters most: our livelihoods. What is the point to gaining the world if you end up losing your soul?
Take chances. Educate yourself. And put yourself in the proper mindset to make the right choices in life.
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