by Libbie Reed

Created on: November 19, 2009

Happiness and money would appear to coexist on many levels. There can be little room for doubt that sufficient income brings with it certain benefits that would otherwise remain ellusive. A large income ensures a comfortable lifestyle in the form of luxury material possessions, freedom from financial worries caused by insufficient funds to pay debts, and excitement in the form of a busy social life, extravagant holidays and expensive hobbies.

Affluence can also endow us with more time. Chores which would otherwise take up a considerable amount of our day can be delegated to others, and various labour saving devices can be purchased to take care of those time consuming, laborious jobs in a flash and with little effort.

Money can also bring health benefits in the form of good food, first class health care and the absence of occupational hazards from arduous work. In short it us hard to imagine why money would not bring happiness.

Yet there are instances where no amount of money can bring the kind of happiness we want or where enormous sums of money actually cause misery. No financial rewards can take away feelings of anguish and despair from unrequited love. Nor can it bring a loved one back from the dead or take away the loneliness and sorrow of grieving.

There are some plights which cannot be addressed with a cheque book. The infertile couple for whom there is no treatment will find little solace in their bank accounts when all they want is a family. A husband or wife with terminal cancer would doubtless swap their fortune for an instant cure.

In addition to this, prominent figures with massive fortunes frequently display behaviour indicative of a troubled sole for whom money has brought little in the way of happiness and in some cases their wealth appears to be the very commodity facilitating self destruction.

At the other end of the scale, most would agree that poverty causes a great deal of misery to a great many people and it is reasonable to assume, therefore, that money is the antidote to misery.

Money buys happiness, but only in the absence of cataclysmic misfortunes which money cannot solve. The LOVE of money, however, will bring nothing but torment. It is important to know the difference between the things money can change and the things it cannot and only then can we appreciate how much happiness money buys.

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