Quite often, you will see the question, “can money buy happiness?” So, can it?

Yep, it sure can.

I’m going to share an unpopular opinion and say YES. It can absolutely buy happiness, but there is a limit to that happiness.

Money can buy you health insurance to keep you and your family healthy, it can buy you travel/vacations to regain your creativity, it can buy you a cell phone and Internet connection to keep in touch with friends and family, and it can buy you a jet ski. Because come on, who has had a bad day on a jet ski?

Personally, making more money in my business means that I can give back to others. That would make me happy.

I can help my family pay their medical bills. That would make me happy.

I can give my [future] children a fun-filled life with lots of world exploration. That would make me happy.

Without money, I couldn’t do those things.

Money can’t make you happy based on money itself, but NOT having money can put stress on you, your significant other, and your relationship. Not having money can decrease your health, increase anxiety, and can even create depression.

So, if there are things you can do to increase your cash flow, I say – do it.

And even though I am not a millionaire, – [yet, I have big goals] – I have many friends who are millionaires, and they have shared their insights with me on how money does create happiness, but only until a certain point.

You can think of it like a bell curve. (Remember those from your math & economics classes?)

There is a certain point of income where money CAN buy happiness, and above or below that golden number – your happiness is actually lower.

Little to no liquid, disposable cash can create the negative things in your life that I mentioned above. And LOTS of money usually comes with a lot of extra responsibility, stress, anxiety, and the same things as the low-income group. That “golden number” just differs depending on your individual cost of living, your depreciating assets, and your fixed costs in both your personal and professional life. Most commonly, my mentors over the years have put this “golden number” to be somewhere between $70,000-85,000/year. Obviously, this is also heavily dependent on what geographic area you live in. (Again, this comes back to your cost of living). $75,000/year won’t go as far in Greater Los Angeles or NYC than it does in rural towns in the mid-west, for example.

Live that lifestyle you’ve always wanted to

So, while money itself can’t buy happiness directly, it can give you access to the things to improve (or keep up) your health, add to your family’s hobbies/passions, reduce your stress/anxiety/depression, and it can help you live more of the life that you’ve always wanted to.

Sometimes, I see people taking the question about if money can buy happiness, but many of those same people have the “fixed” mindset instead of the “growth” mindset. (For more on this, I highly suggest you read “Mindset” by Carol Dweck.

Want to read more about the ‘best mindset practices’? Check out that blog post HERE!

Invest in yourself and into your personal development, and invest in your business so that you can work fewer hours and make more money.

There you have it, folks. To the question, “can money buy happiness,” — Money CAN buy happiness.