Well, my friend, money can't buy happiness, but a lack of money will sure as hell buy you a lot of misery. Have you ever experienced struggle paying for rent and basic medical care (and living in pain, or with someone in pain, while scrambling to afford it)?
As the article says "Money allows people to live longer and
healthier lives, to buffer themselves against worry and harm, to have leisure time to spend with friends and family, and to control the nature of their daily activities". These are very much necessary preconditions to be happy.
> "Money allows people to live longer and healthier lives, to buffer themselves against worry and harm, to have leisure time to spend with friends and family, and to control the nature of their daily activities". These are very much necessary preconditions to be happy.
Yes, but money isn't the only way to achieve them.
There's an apocryphal story about a guy who goes on a fishing trip and tells the guide that he enjoyed it so much that he's going to go home and make a lot of money so he can go fishing every day. The take-away being that the fishing guide is doing just that. (Yes, there's more to being a guide than fishing, but a fishing-bum lifestyle doesn't cost that much.)
"Life" has a burn-rate. Is yours going for things that matter to you?
There is also plenty of research that shows once your rewards are extrinsic instead of intrinsic, you do not enjoy the activity as much. That means once it's a job instead done for the sheer enjoyment, it stops becoming enjoyable.
It's been well known in HR for a long time that money is just a 'hygienic' factor. Pay your employees too little and they'll be bitter, but paying them too much doesn't make them more motivated or more loyal in the absence of other positives.
You pay them enough, and then make sure they have rewarding work, a supportive environment and a boss who understands and empowers them. Money is just the start
As the article says "Money allows people to live longer and healthier lives, to buffer themselves against worry and harm, to have leisure time to spend with friends and family, and to control the nature of their daily activities". These are very much necessary preconditions to be happy.