Can money buy happiness?

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That depends heavily on what makes you happy.

In an ideal world I would live on the coast, work part time from a computer and spend 3 or 4 months a year leisure traveling.

In that sense, money would make me happier. But I already have a satisfying personal and professional situation.

Money buy you love with stripper. For real long time, maybe even full hour. More money, buy more time, more love.

It didn't for this guy.

"His entire life, about the only thing Abraham Shakespeare had going for him was an unforgettable name. To police, he was a druggie and a thief, in and out of trouble with the law. He never had a "career," only odd jobs, sometimes — if he was lucky — paying $8 an hour.

Then one day the Plant City, Fla., man bought a quick-pick Florida lottery ticket. And he won, taking the $17 million cash payout.

Over the next couple of years, though, his rags-to-riches story turned into a nightmare: family members, friends and acquaintances he barely knew all came forward begging for his winnings. Within two years, he was down to just $3.5 million. And then he met Dee Dee Moore.

Hillsborough County detectives and prosecutors say Moore bamboozled Shakespeare under the pretense of writing a book about his life story. Instead, she's accused of finagling Shakespeare to sign over his remaining assets to her and then killing him.

She's on trial now for first-degree murder. Opening statements started this morning in a downtown Tampa courthouse. The once-blond Moore is now brunette and much slimmer, thanks to her jailhouse diet of the past 18 months."

Read more: foxnews.com

Jestie-girl: "But I already have a satisfying personal and professional situation."

Yeah, right. Which is why you are Mister "fuck this! Fuck that! Fuckin' fuck everything!" Got it!

No....

Robert Rodriguez told me not to try to solve my problems with the money hose. He was talking about movie making but I've applied it to life.

And that old hippie Baloo told me all I needed in life was the bare necessities.

Money can't buy happiness, but it can rent it by the hour.

Money is about making resources available. If you have food, healthcare, pleasure (might as simple as a nice beach) - not a big deal.

Money may not but happiness but it will buy just about anything else. Also, what did poverty ever buy anyone.

Maybe money can't buy happiness, but it can buy lap dances than make me happy.

“Money can’t buy happiness – but the lack of it sure will make you miserable”

Yes!!! Every time I'm at the SC in VIP or OTC I'm EXTREMELY happy!!! ;-)

Money can't buy happiness? Poverty can't buy ANYTHING.

No, but it'll buy hookers, and that's close enough.

Money fixes some problems, creates some problems, and has no effect on others. So it depends on what problems you have, and whether you can deal with the problems that come with money.

Money won't buy you happiness. But it will let you show up to your problems in style...

I like to refer to Maslows Hierarchy of Needs when I analyze questions like this (and human behaviors). Money can provide for the low level needs of shelter, physical security, healthcare and food. Then you get into the higher level needs such as affiliation (belonging, love) and money becomes much less relevant. I would also argue that too much money actually interferes, as giving money becomes a substitute for giving of self. Big lottery winners are especially vulnerable to this trap.

Several comments point to money not being the "silver bullet" to happiness. To put the money vs happiness into perspective, I refer to these words from a former coworker: "Life is like a shit sandwich- the more dough you have, the less shit you have to eat."

Big lottery winners are vulnerable because of their situation before they win. Look at the majority of lottery players? Most of the time you're handing a person who has never had $10,000 at one time into a situation where they have $1,000,000's at their fingertips. Though I think I've read it's really about 50/50 how lottery winners end up.

Give a professional making $70,000/year a huge lottery winning and I suspect it will invariably improve their life.

It's no big surprise that alot of mega-lottery winners are either dead or in jail in less than a year after winning. Isn't there a show called "How Winning the Lottery Changed My Life"? For many it's more like "How Winning the Lottery Fucked Up/Ended My Life".

Money can buy you a Ford F150 pick-up nothing else.

Can anyone point to some actual research on these lotteries winners supposedly dying or ending up in jail? Sounds like an urban legend to make the non-winners feel better.

Bob Cost-ass instead of being sorry for the wife and baby blamed the deaths on lack of gun control. A multi millionare can get a gun in any country in the world besides if he didnot have a gun he likely would have beat her to death. The only difference being he would now be in jail instead of ridding us of the trouble. Maybe the NFL players association should ask to provide for all young player to have life counsers. LOrd knows the schools are not and neither are the parents. These kids can barely read and suddenly have hundreds of thousands to play with with the parasites that come out of the wood work to take it.

lol lopaw yeah I've seen that show. It does seem like a abnormally large number of lottery winners really fuck up what should have been an amazingly good life changing event.

Quite a few years ago, the NY Times did an in depth follow up on 10 big lottery winners. At the time, a big win would be less than $5 million. The winners, between 2 and 10 years after striking it rich, were mostly regretful. The biggest negative was loss of relationships with family and friends, as typically they were inundated with requests for money. Only one of the couples interviewed was content. This was not scientific, but it was food for thought.

While money can not buy happiness, it does help us look for it in a lot more interesting places.

the wonders of being a foster child and winning the lotto. No family to give money to, so I don't have to worry about annoying beggers

nytimes.com

“… Can anyone point to some actual research on these lotteries winners supposedly dying or ending up in jail? Sounds like an urban legend to make the non-winners feel better …”

I would think the show being referenced above would only highlight/show examples of people whom have had disasters happen to them post-winning the lottery. I don’t think most people that win the lottery end up like those featured on the show since post-lottery success stories are not the premise of the show. I have though consistently heard that most that get this kind of windfall do end up broke in the next few years after winning (a la professional athletes post retirement).

I remember seeing some show about the "lottery curse." Mostly people who's bad decisions but them in the life before winning and continuing on with those bad decisions after winning.