Can Money Tied to Philanthropy Make a Person Happier?
Recently I have come across a lot of Facebook ads stating that I can become a millionaire or a highly paid consultant by simply taking an online course. I must have clicked on something similar to this and Facebook found its way to sneak into my mind.
I have thought about it: do I want to become so successful that I do not need to think about my financial status anymore? And does a millionaire lifestyle and the money that comes with it truly make one happier?
There are times that I think and care a lot about my financial status, like most people do.
I once followed a course via a talent agency and the thing all participants had in common was that their financial status caused stagnation in their personal growth. And they were unable to pursue the career they really wanted.
We all want to be free and able to do that one thing in life that makes us most happy, without having to worry about financial matters.
If you manage to engineer your life in a way that you do not have to worry about your financial status, life can become more pleasant. Then we have all the freedom and time we desire to do the things in life we really want.
The million dollar question remains: do we really become happier if we have more money?
To answer this question it would be necessary to research the lifestyle of millionaires. In a study conducted by Harvard Business School researchers Grant E. Donnelly and Michael Norton, the following was revealed:
“They found that people with a net worth of $10 million or more are significantly happier than those in the $1 million to $2 million range. The effect is significant, but small, with the very wealthy roughly [0.25 points] happier on a 10-point scale.” Source Wall Street Journal
There are a few important points regarding this research:
- “Not all decamillionaires are equally happy. It depends on whether they make the money themselves instead of inheriting of marrying into it.
- Researchers have found that above a certain point more money does not yield much more happiness, except for millionaires.’’
The interesting part of this research was the following:
“In an ironic twist, the researchers found that there is one thing that decamillionaires can do to get even more happiness — give it away.” Source
This is something we observe in real life. If material success would not bring any good, we would not see all these happy people on social media or even meeting them in real life. Social media may not always be what it appears, but when people in real life are happy with their material success, we can conclude there is something good that comes along with it.
This conclusion can be better derived from the fact that by the pursuit of material goals, the action we actually perform is: creating and setting goals. We create a purposeful life when we set goals.
It is well known that “People who set goals are more successful”. The Science of Goal Setting The Science Behind Setting Goals and Achieving Them
However, a person suffering from an illness will never define that happiness is derived from the material side of life. We all know the expression: “There are some things you can’t buy” and health is truly one of them. No debate on this is even possible.
If we have to believe religious belief systems, happiness derives from humbleness.
If we have to believe alternative beliefs happiness derives from being grateful and the non-believer may express their happiness comes from living today without the concern of the hereafter.
But interesting as well, is when you read an interview of a happy millionaire about “What is happiness?”, they do not exclude humbleness and gratefulness from being rich. Some millionaires take it seriously to not become apathetic, despite the fact that their material success and the money they earn are a contributing factor to their emotional state of happiness.
They understand that to be truly happy we can not feed our ego, because the most defining factor of enjoying material success in the long term is: “In what way does it contribute to our personal growth?”
After reading this research I now understand better why millionaires find great value in the act of philanthropy.
“Because research shows that giving to others leads to greater happiness than spending on oneself, Carnegie was also employing his wealth in a manner likely to maximize his own happiness.
Bill Gates And Warren Buffett are among over 170 other millionaires and billionaires are following in Carnegie’s footsteps. These folks have signed on to “The Giving Pledge, a campaign started in 2010 by Bill Gates and Warren Buffett to encourage the wealthy to contribute a majority of their wealth to philanthropic causes.” Source
Material success will never take away our pain and struggles. It can never replace the friendship of a real human being. To handle life and its pressure sometimes we need more than an expensive watch or a fancy outfit. Humans need each other. Life is about sharing and giving.
Have you ever wanted something so badly and when you got it, you thought “This is it”? You felt like you moved mountains to reach it, and once you got it, you were either left with an illusion, or your personal growth stopped evolving for the better. And the material luxurious life did not look so good anymore.
That is one reason why material success may not provide true happiness, because exclusively chasing the material life will never be enough.
If we take a lesson from a rich lifestyle, we learn that for the truly happy people it comes with much more.
Do you want to become a millionaire? Go for it, but let’s not forget wealth is about our fellow humans as well.
This is often something we can easily forget when we think about material success. But if one would include this as a top priority as well, life can truly be rich in all ways.
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See you next time!
