You might be extrapolating from a small subsample. Most Filipinos truly look happy and live a pretty happy life despite their humble financial means. But I appreciate your point of the poor in a society that worships money and preaches that those with wealth are better human beings. It's hard for a poor person to feel excited when there are tons of others around that show off day in day out and make others, of lesser means, feel poorly. So I believe what a society values and treasures also has an impact on happiness. In New Zealand for example, shops close at 5 or 6, many small towns are completely deserted at 6 pm because most families sit at the dinner table at home and celebrate family life. Money to them means a lot less than to the average American. It's what a society values and treasures.
No those are confessions of the wealthy right before they died. There is a book written by a nurse that assisted terminally ill patients and shared conversations she had with them. The biggest regrets most had was that they did not spend more time with loved ones and had worked too hard in life. Not a single one to my memory wished he or she had worked harder to earn more money. Forgot the book title will edit the post when I find the link Edit: https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.th...yle/2012/feb/01/top-five-regrets-of-the-dying
No, that is not what I am on about. I do not think poor people have vanity. They simply have needs that cannot be met easily, and wish they could be. Winning 20 million in a lottery would make them happy. All that pseudoscience about how they will be "spiritually devastated" are made by people who have never lived a day in their life as a homeless person, on the streets of a major city, or in a subway, or have dumpster-dived for food. I have. It sucks. Money brings happiness. Anyone else who says otherwise is rich.
Apples and oranges. Confessions of people who were wealthy already. What about people who were poor? The wealthy can suck it, because they all forget what it meant to be poor, if they ever were. GRUL, man...ugg
There's a problem for a group of people whom when given $20M will handle it in a way that soon reverts them to poverty. That group of people might well be better off not winning $20M in the first place. As for otherwise, it really depends on the country. The US is a shitty place to be poor in (generalizing broadly).
And you know that how? I derived my thoughts from someone who spoke to hundreds if not thousands who looked back at their lives and shared their true thoughts. Have you had the same privilege to derive your impressions from such sample size?
Snusk! Hi there again! Haven't looked at yer journal in a while, hope yer killing it. As for the peeps winning these huge amounts and losing it all? Bleh, I give those reports a grain of salt, man. I've heard them, the stories of newly-minted-multi-millionaires going broke. I don't believe most of them.
Understood, you share a sample size of 1. Well, thanks for sharing your experience. I feel sorry if this is the whole lesson you learned from being poor. For me it's the opposite. I grew up in a pretty wealthy family. My parents house had over 6 floors and more than 25 rooms. They had RVs, boats, we were taken 3 times per year to lavish vacations. Yet my dad did not spend a single day in his life to take me fishing. All I remember was that during frequent weekend outings he had to abandon the rest of the family because work called him back to his clinic. I left home when I was 18, studied at the farthest imaginable place from home and felt free for the first time in my life. I never took a penny from my parents for college or grad school. I worked my butt up from the bottom as I rejected any assistance of my family nor use my dad's influence. Not a single letter of recommendation or other help. I made it completely by myself. When I landed very well paying jobs in trading positions at banks and hedge funds I spent at most 10% of my income on rent and other expenses. Even today I spend a max 5% of my net income on anything other than savings. 10% of my gross goes to tithes and offerings and another 10% to other volunteer and contribution efforts. I despise anything that remotely smells of luxury, no fancy cars, no fancy house (I still rent because I love the freedom and flexibility of being able to move at any time and knowing I can rent for the rest of my life without financial worries, but also because for a majority of my life as employed I was paid housing by my employers and frequently moved between financial centers). I despise any sort of luxury life style, clothing, or anything that reaks of money. It gives me zero satisfaction or happiness. I completely derive my happiness from my faith and friendships and relationships with loved ones, from helping those in need and see them pass on efforts to help others in turn. Am I wealthy? I don't know and I don't care. Neither do I care what others think of me. What I know is that no amount of money in life can buy me happiness. And I work less and less in life (am transitioning from years as employed professional trader, to self employed trader, to now longer and longer holding periods that qualify more as investments than trading positions). I feel sorry for anyone, wealthy or poor, who overvalue the importance of money. My monthly spending is probably on the level of those who earn 50k a year or so. In many ways even less. I don't need more. And I don't want to spend more. Not because I cling onto my savings but because I don't value what more spending could buy. For example, I attach zero value to restaurants and eateries. I have eaten some of the most lavish multi course meals in private clubs and hotel restaurants in the world but prefer the home cooking of my Japanese wife. She is a master at what she cooks, regardless of which ethnic cuisine she puts her hands on. I cannot say whether I would live the same life style now had I not experienced wealth and lavish life styles early on in my life. But I know that money does not buy happiness that is for sure.
If you arent happy before money, chances are you won’t be happy with it. If you are happy before money you may be just as happy with it. That tells you where money lies in the happiness indicator.