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Money vs. Happiness: Which Is Important to You?

Money vs. Happiness: Which Is Important to You?
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Many people believe they must have a lot of money to be happy. If they have thousands upon thousands of dollars in the bank, they tell themselves they must be happy. Are they really happy, though?

If you’re struggling financially, you may feel as though those people are happy. You may believe that since they are in a better place with finances they don’t have the worries that you do. They can do whatever they want without having money standing in their way. Money vs. Happiness: Which Is Important to You?

Guess what? That’s not true.

Money and happiness are independent of one another. You can have a lot of money and be miserable. You can have no money and be happy.

How?

It’s all in how you live life.

Many people enter retirement scared. They don’t have as much money coming as they did when they were working, and they don’t have as much saved up in their account. What they start doing is saving as much as they can, and one way to save is to not participate in life. For example, before retirement, they may have played golf every weekend, but once they stopped working, the golf did too.

Some seniors will stop eating as much because they are afraid they are using too much of their money. They may not go out with family and friends as much because again, they would spend money. Not a lot of money, but any amount starts to seem like too much.

As these seniors start to take things out of their life one by one, they start to feel less and less happy. They don’t have the joy they once did because all of the things that gave them joy are gone and they haven’t replaced them with anything else. That’s the problem – there hasn’t been anything that has replaced what they have taken out.

Giving Up on Living Life

Giving up on life because you don’t want to spend too much money, any money, or you don’t have any money is not the answer. It will not make you happy. Living life is what makes you happy. You don’t need any money to be happy. Spending time with friends and family talking is free and guess what? It can make you happy.

Don’t have any family available to chat? Well, there are thousands of people you can be friends with and it doesn’t cost anything to meet them. You can spend time in a park, at a senior center, or at the library. As you frequent these places, you may start to see others there multiple times, and that’s your cue that they are interested in what you are, so they would make a great friend.

You don’t HAVE to be social to be happy either. You can do things that make you happy. Think of the hobbies you’ve had or some new ones you would like to try. If you have to invest some money into it, don’t worry about it too much as long as you have money for your necessities. If you don’t have any money, look for activities you can do for no money. Senior centers are perfect places to find them.

Low cost or free activities are available to you, but don’t be afraid to use your money to make you happy. Life is for living. When you stop living, you stop being happy. Pick your life up and start making it a happy one again. You deserve it.

Need more help with this? Contact Kendall Van Blarcom today. He can help you figure out what you need to be happy and guide you on the path to creating an enjoyable retirement.

Money vs. Happiness: Which Is Important to You?

Please leave a comment below with your answer. What do you think of this blog post and what is most important to you when considering money vs. happiness?

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About the Author

Kendall VanBlarcom

I’m Kendall Van Blarcom, the founder of Van Blarcom Consulting. For over 25 years, I have provided personal consulting and counseling to over 1,000 clients around the world.

I am a licensed marriage and family therapist (MFT) based in California. I have decades of consulting experience and a genuine desire to help my clients.

 

 

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