Can Money Buy Happiness?

Does money buy happiness? This is a highly debated issue as not everyone in this world has the same opinion.

On the one hand, there are people who think that money does bring moments of joy- as a consequence, happiness- for example, it gives us the possibility of taking our family for a journey to another country, visit new places, as well as discovering about its culture. This provides us with a significant amount of self-fulfilment and great satisfaction which could be translated into "happiness".

Winning the lottery is another example of a happy event, and it does not even have to be a huge quantity of money which brings pleasant moments to our lives. For many, it means being able to face a considerable amount of debts or unpaid bills, therefore, it is again a cause of joy.

On the other hand, it is often felt that materialism is not a good thing and that you are not going to get happiness through possesions that you can only get with money. Very rarely do we see happy people who are rich. Let us take Steve Jobs, the founder of Apple, as an example. He was a really wealthy man, yet not even all the money in the world could cure his disease, which was the cause of his unfortunate death.

It is also important to point out that rich people have higher expectations regarding their income and material possesions, so they will constantly be comparing themselves to wealthier people and as a consequence become victims of society, which at the end will probably make them feel miserable.

From my point of view, happiness or a relative happiness is a combination of money, health, good friends, education and a bit of luck. I do not feel that money alone can buy happiness, however, it does help to a certain extent.