Hi everyone,
I'm a member of The Dollars for only one month, but I've already read lots of interesting threads that make me think of more things, paradoxically.

I was wondering if people really need money to be happy in life.
I'd like to hear your opinion about it.

Sure most of the people, me too, would say in the first time that we don't need money, because what's really matters is family/friends, being well in our everyday life.
But in the meantime if we don't have money we can't do anything. We can't having a house, travelling around the world or anything else. That's just scared me a little.
The point is, life seems to be constructed around money. You go to school during 20 years to learn things, but the only goal is to find a job to earn money. Then you work harder to get enough money to have a good standing life or to have a nice pension.

Working is part of life, that's not the point, but working just for money, I don't really get it. If we don't need money to be happy, why it takes so much importance in our life?


Thanks for answering, I hope this thread doesn't already exist, I found nothing.


Sorry for my english, I don't speak very well, and i'm a little tired, it's 6 am here.

You might want to move this to the proper section. :/ Might be better suited for personal or random.

>>2 Is this a topic of discussion? It looks like it from my point of view. It belongs here.

It just seems that for most of us, money has this much importance and makes us happy.

The words "need," "money," and "happy," are used to hit a lot of people/situations to make it have some impact to the masses.

The phrase "you don't need money to be happy" is rather quite vague and is intended to be vague to give a reasonable argument. Happiness is both an expression and opinion. In a way, it depends on person to person.

Well, I think e need money, becasue the world runs on money. And we're at fault for that. It's an endless cycle, I think. You can't do anything without money, and if you were working for no money, you'd feel that your work has no value. Without money we could probably live only in the way that we'd do all for basic survival. I mean it's not like they couldn't make other things but how would we, who do things that ould be considered less valued ever be able to get the more valued things? I don't think we could survive without money, we're too dependant on it.

You need money in order to get food and shelter, which you need to live. The majority of dead people aren't happy. You can be poor and happy, but starving and happy is unlikely. That's just how the world works.

Yes. That's why rich people are happy, and I am not.

Money is a means to an end. What that end is, depends on you.
Personally I feel that yes, logically, we need money to buy basic necessities which we would be unhappy without. On the other hand, money isn't a prerequisite for happiness. Some people may associate happiness with money but others might not feel the same way.

I think yes to a point but no as long as you have enough to survive.

I wouldn't be very happy if I couldn't afford rent and had to go without eating but I am happy even though I'm not rich. Personally as long as I can pay for the basics and have a working computer I'm happy enough :D

>>7 I'm going to have to disagree with you there, I may not know much about money but my dad's income is about twice the UK average (according to monster) but he's not happy.

I think >>8 has the right idea however.

I think there's a middle to all of it. We need money to survive because the modern world basically revolves around money. No money, no food, clean water(depending on where you live) and/or shelter. I don't think you need to be a billionaire to be happy. Extra money is always feels like a nice thing but when you spend it on a new car or cloths, what have you accomplished? You'll have those things and enjoy them until they are torn or wrecked. As long as you have enough money to survive, a stress free life, a job you enjoy and the people you love around you i think you'll be happy.

yes

If the things that make you happiest require modern technology, then yes, money is necessary.

If you dream of things that we don't create, then no. Money is not required for happiness - rather it pays for food. It becomes a tool used to survive, and has no impact on happiness (save for comfort level, but I think of that as a separate feeling from happiness.)

Personally, my happiness doesn't require technology. Quite frankly I can get what makes me happy for free - no money involved.

Yes,and no.

While I do find that money is important,it also isnt.If you have no job,you have no money,which in turn means you have no food,a house,clothes,and other neccesities.And no one really wants to befriend a hobo for that reason either.You need money to have all of these important things,these neccesitites.But it is also possible to lead a normal,happy life without all of the luxurys.

Take well, me for example.I've never had alot of money,but enough.I mean,Im 14,too young for a job,but young enough for chores.and not only does having the money make me happy,but theres also the sense of pride knowing that you earned that money.You did all that work.and now its yours.

But you also dont need money for fun or happiness.Honestly,all of my friends are either broke or saving their money.So a social life that calls for the typical mall crawling shoe shopping teenager is out of the question.my friend Lea is even worse with handling her money than me,and we've both gooten the best memories this summer from doing nothing but spending a mere 99 cents on a faygo (a Michigan staple) at the gas station across the street and walking our asses off.Now does that cost money?Yes.But its change that we pretty much rumage around the house for.We get sheer joy from orange faygo and sitting near the river in her backyard.

So yes,I do believe that you need money for happiness,but you need all of the money in the world.You can get sheer happines out nothing but sitting in the backyard on old comfy lawn furniture for 35 minutes talking about nothing.It can go both ways.But thats just my opinion.

Possibly

It really depends on the person and the place they live as to whether or not it's possible.

In my are of America (if not all areas), it's pretty much illegal to be 'homeless.' It's illegal to live in the woods, it's illegal to live in your car, et cetera. You HAVE to go to a homeless shelter, and a lot of shelters have limits on how long you can stay. The country has made it literally impossible to survive without money. However, there are other areas of the world where you can live without paying rent or a mortgage. You can also inherit a house that's already paid off.

Living without money isn't impossible in other areas of the world. But the question is, is surviving happiness? It comes back to the individual. What does the person themself think is happiness? If you're only happy with your cellphone, computer, et cetera, (as Reilyx pointed out), then no, you can't be happy without money unless you're grubbing off of other people who do have money. But if you're happy with just friends and family, then you can live fine and happily without it.

You can get food without money easily. All it takes is a one time investment to make a garden. The things that grow will give you both seeds for new plants and ingredients for food. Fertilizer isn't actually necessary if you know what you're doing. Even if you don't have a garden, there are plenty of edible things that grow naturally all over the world. So the idea that you'll starve without money is entirely incorrect.

In fact, you can build a home without money easily if you know what you're doing and are willing to put the hard work into gathering the supplies. Again, though, it depends on whether or not it's an area that you can live on legally without paying for the land itself.

I, personally, wouldn't mind that kind of life. Sure, I love the internet and videogames, but they're not required for my happiness. For me, surviving IS happiness, as are the little things in life. But for most people, that's not the case.

>>16 When I say, "without paying rent or a mortgage," I mean that you can live on an open settlement. AKA - where it's legal to be, "homeless."

I believe that it depends utterly upon the person. As long as your basic physical needs are taken care of, your true happiness depends mostly on what you consider necessary to be happy, and what your priorities are.
For example, if you need video games to be happy, or internet, or whatever, then you will most probably need money. Unless, of course, you have some rich relative or friend who absolutely loves paying for all of it and giving you free stuff whenever you want it.

Not everybody needs that to be happy, though. Some people are glad to just live with the minimum, and are even happier like that.

Being completely honest, I think that it would be very difficult for me to learn to live a life without all the "Extras", like a computer, or books, even though I know that some things, like friends and family, are more important.

In other words, it depends completely upon the person, and their priorities and opinions.

This world has been depending on money. I believe we do not need money to be happy in life. But think about it. How can we be happy if we do not have enough money to sustain ourselves? We buy clothes and food by money now. Almost everything has a price now.

>>19 Thts true everything has a price now so people think they cant live without money

My short opinion is money shouldn't be the most important in life, but is completly necessary. I said so, because people are bad creatures and they (we) coudn't live, with honesty. The money is only thing that tells us how to live. Some people can live honestly without money I know this, but if there won't be money (i mean at all) others people will do nothing and won't care of anything. I started to think this way after reading Stephenie Meyer's 'Host'

Well, you can't really buy happiness with money. You can buy clothes or whatever that makes you happy....but just for a while. If you keep playing the same game you will soon get bored. Money is necessary, because you buy food and drink with money, also you buy the house where you can live, buy for the journeys and all the other stuffs. I'm not happy to admit it, but yeah, especially in these days..years....even in our whole life money is necessary, and we can't really be happy without necessary things.

I say you don't need it at all. To live in today's society, of course you need money, but just to live, not to be happy. And you can always break free and go live in the forest with no money at all, no one's stopping you.

We don't need money to be happy. I find that money is only a facade to finding happiness. Most people depend on money too much and become too greedy because of it. It's a hassle to live now a days because of it...

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my opinion is that we need to use money to buy the things that make us happy. more like we depend on it. money in and of itself wont make us happy, but when we spend the money wisely and save up for the stuff that does make us happy that is another story. like i am a college student i spend money to live and what not, though i save up to buy the video games that make me happy, like xenoblade chronicles, or tales of graces f. money can corrupt people if you use it and buy things for the wrong reasons. but if you use it properly it doesn't matter how much or how little you can still find happiness.

I certainly need money to be happy.

Money makes the world go round.

Well, certainly we depend on money quite a lot. We depend on it for our very lives these days, it seems. Certainly we buy things that make us happy with money. Like Anime and cakes =)

Still newish. Bump!

It depends on a person's definition of "happiness," as others have said.

Personally, I'm sick of the concept of "live to work, work to live." I don't want a job I won't enjoy just for the sake of having a good paycheck so I can live "happily." I want a job I can enjoy, regardless of the pay (so long, of course, as it can pay for basic necessities such as shelter and food).

What do you enjoy doing? Travelling? Then yes, you'll most likely require money to be happy. If you enjoy simply surviving, and having a decent life with a job you can enjoy day to day, money isn't a concern.

I have a job that I can enjoy well enough. Well, I enjoy the company of the people I work with anyways. I may not have a whole lot of money from it but I'm reasonably happy with my life as it stands. I don't need to pay somebody money to go play my guitar. I may have spent a lot of money on getting extra stuff to make my guitar sound cooler, but you can't take music away. Music is mainly what makes me happy, so unless you kill my ears, I can stay happy.

Do I need money to be happy? No. Does it help to intensify what makes me happy? Sure.

Someone once told me "money can't make me happy but it can make me happier."
The way I see it is like this.Money doesn't make you happy it allows you to survive so that you can pursue happiness.Even if the money is not your own whether it comes from the government,friend,family whom ever.You can not live with out it and if you are not alive you therefor can not be happy.

No, but you need it so that you can purchase necessities to continue living in a modern society. And the more money you have, the less financial strain there is, and financial security means just one less worry.

I'm happy and I don't have money. :)

I've read a lot of these comments. And, to me it's all looking the same.

The thing is, everyone is looking at money green paper or little metal coins in their pockets. But, that's not the only type of money. You have to realize that money can also be, say, a loaf of bread. You give that to someone, and something is returned to you. Now, I'm not talking about a physical trade of two objects, but an emotional one. Even if they don't give you something for that bread, they might think something of it. And, now it's like you've bought a thought from them.

Money can be anything, and money can be nothing. Money is not the center of happiness, but it can help you veer towards it. No one "needs" money, but, unless we all become mindless machines, then it there will always be a form of money.

The real thought that you should be wondering about is, should money be so serious. It can bring happiness. But, it can also bring many more emotions with it. Sadness, for one, can be a big factor from money.

My point is, money is here and there. And, you're happy based on so many other things. Based on what you do with your life, and the money involved.

that would imply that before currency was invented, there was no happiness, which i'm sure is untrue, relating something as wonderful as happiness to mere money is a bit unfair. i think modern society needs to look at the bigger picture, if you see where i'm coming from. if not, nevermind

I get what your saying pillow and that is a very good point.But perhaps the fact that we feel the need to relate money to happiness
speaks for how much the invention of currency influenced society.

Of course you need money to be happy. If you don't have any money how can you buy the things you need to have a happy life like a House, Food, clothes, and other important things? If you don't have money, then you'll be homeless, and probably unhappy.

This is kinda like "Where's Waldo." Except it's actually, "Where's the topics of discussions?" They're hiding among saged shit.

Bump (:

Only if you live in a capatalist society

Like we do...😓