Join for free
Page 3 of 5 < 1 2 3 4 5 >
Grumblewagon's Avatar
Grumblewagon
Senior Member
Grumblewagon is offline
Aberdeenshire
Joined: Aug 2012
Posts: 2,625
Grumblewagon is male  Grumblewagon has posted at least 25 times and has been a member for 3 months or more 
 
28-10-2014, 09:46 PM
21

Re: Money CAN buy Happiness

I can sympathise with anyone who has children at uni. All my 3 children went to uni and my two daughters also took higher degrees. At least the fees were not so high then and DD1 won a scholarship that covered fees and accomodation for the three years of her PHd. I'm glad I was able to support them so that they didn't start their working lives with debt hanging over them.

Now, I think they're better off than me, so I hope they'll remember their old dad when I'm really crumbly.
TessA
Official Poinker
TessA is offline
UK
Joined: Apr 2013
Posts: 21,857
TessA is female  TessA has posted at least 25 times and has been a member for 3 months or more 
 
28-10-2014, 10:09 PM
22

Re: Money CAN buy Happiness

That's what I'm hoping too! What annoyed me was the rent was put up before she moved into halls and was taken out all in one go, so she had no money left until January! Then the bursary promised seems to have been forgotten about, her kit cost over £600. I stopped getting child benefit and child tax credit so I can't help much, so much for kids from less well off backgrounds being able to get degrees, some are actually leaving because they can't manage.
Grumblewagon's Avatar
Grumblewagon
Senior Member
Grumblewagon is offline
Aberdeenshire
Joined: Aug 2012
Posts: 2,625
Grumblewagon is male  Grumblewagon has posted at least 25 times and has been a member for 3 months or more 
 
29-10-2014, 10:17 AM
23

Re: Money CAN buy Happiness

Back in the 60's you could get grants to cover everything and as my old man had been off ill for some time, I got a full grant. I supplemented this with work for the local council in the summer and as a postie at Christmas. I doubt if this brought my parents happiness, but it certainly would have lifted a financial worry from them.

I think this is point - money may not buy you happiness, but it can remove a lot of worry.
Jeana's Avatar
Jeana
Member
Jeana is offline
Oregon, USA
Joined: Nov 2014
Posts: 45
Jeana is female 
 
01-11-2014, 08:07 PM
24

Re: Money CAN buy Happiness

Originally Posted by Bruce ->
...imagine a "satisfaction ladder" in which the top step represents a respondent's best possible life. Those being polled are then asked where on the ladder they stand (from zero to a maximum of 10), and how much they earn... One never really grows tired of earning more. Is this true in your life?

'One never really grows tired of earning more' is not something I can relate to. My life experience is primarily of financial struggle. If money were not an issue, my life would be very different. I learned early on to be happy by not measuring my happiness by material things, but by the quality of my experiences. However, I also learned in recent years that money provides what we need to expand life experience.

As one example, I live in a small town in a beautiful area of my state. I make the most of it, going for walks in places that give me joy, walking the beach as often as I want, enjoying when the air smells wonderful, sometimes even just let the rain fall on my face, take a picnic to a park, and so on. I will pour a glass of wine from a $12 bottle that I got for $6 on sale, and sip it while watching a sunset from my window. I very much live in the moment, and also believe in savoring the very little things of life. This is how I've always lived, and I'm appreciative of it all.

Then in 2010, at age 53, I had my first ever ride on an airplane. The trip was 3/4 of the way across the country and it was due in large part to a boyfriend's free air miles and his father's help with a rental car. I couldn't stop looking out the window, having finally experienced the dream of flying. The world looked completely different from up there. I was hooked on flying. This was not a vacation, the trip was very hurried, as I accompanied my boyfriend to his family gathering, but I was thrilled to see, however briefly, a big city outside my own state.

Then in 2012 my boyfriend's free air miles needed to be used up, his father offered help with a rental car again, and a friend offered us their vacation condo for an entire week, in a beautiful natural area on the east coast. This was about to be my first ever real vacation! Again, I looked out the window the entire trip, day and night, and when I arrived at the condo I literally ran down the path from the back door, to the beach, and straight into the WARM surf. All I could do was laugh and jump for joy. This set the tone for nearly the whole stay, at the end of which we drove north through an amazing area.

We lived very, very frugally while we were there, but I still dream of that 10-day trip on a daily basis. The place. The joy of experiencing new sights, sounds, textures, scents, tastes. The joy.

A co-worker said that at work I seemed to be walking on air for the next 6 months.

That was a one-in-a-lifetime experience for me. I finally understood what it was like to go on vacation, as well as to experience new things away from home. I came back to work and have worked straight through ever since, watching the people who make more money than I, come and go on 1-2 week vacations out of the state, even out of the country, 2-3 times a year each. While I just get more and more tired and my budget just gets tighter and tighter as my cost of living raises don't match the rising cost of living. My friends at work go out to lunch to their favorite places together, and they just quietly disappear so I won't be embarrassed or maybe not notice--they know I live alone and can't afford lunch out, so I go into a conference room and eat an apple, d crackers & cheese, or something equally inexpensive, then back to work. Every so often I'd love to 'break up' my work day by de-stressing: laughing and enjoying my friends in a nice little restaurant by the ocean, but it's not an option.

And it's not just about me. I am always seeing things I'd love to purchase for a loved one, to brighten their day, but I can't. I see places I'd like to send my nephews and their wives, or things I'd like to help them with. I think of my disabled and destitute brother, whose life I'd like to enhance if only I could. But I can't because it's everything I can do, just to pay my basic bills every month and keep a (rented) roof over my head and keep my independence.

I will never be financially secure enough to retire, and will have to work until I physically cannot do so any longer, and then will have to be 'put' somewhere, if the government can help me. All of this despite having worked full time my entire adult life.

Worrying about myself and people I love, and their quality of life, or lack of it, is very stressful. I don't sleep well and I have little energy from working 8-5 in a hectic job five days a week at nearly 58 years of age, to keep things in my personal life in more order.

The original question was whether one never grows tired of earning more. I would love a raise. If ever I could make enough money to truly afford a higher quality of life, and for the people I care about, I would do it in a heartbeat, over and over.

Ironically, the people I know who are well off and have no financial worries, are the only people who tell me that money can't buy happiness.
Jeana's Avatar
Jeana
Member
Jeana is offline
Oregon, USA
Joined: Nov 2014
Posts: 45
Jeana is female 
 
01-11-2014, 08:50 PM
25

Re: Money CAN buy Happiness

alice76 you are so very right!
Jeana's Avatar
Jeana
Member
Jeana is offline
Oregon, USA
Joined: Nov 2014
Posts: 45
Jeana is female 
 
01-11-2014, 09:26 PM
26

Re: Money CAN buy Happiness

Originally Posted by alice76 ->
...I think it's an ill divided world where some people get paid far too much...and they don't deserve it. Other people knock their pan out for a rubbish wage. It's so wrong on so many levels.
alice76 you are so right!

A co-worker and good friend, and I, were just talking on this subject yesterday. Her Supervisor has been working less and less, while at the same time telling everyone at the company that she is increasingly overworked! She comes in late, leaves early, and in between she plays on social media. The company is now paying an Assistant to put in more hours to 'help' her, and what has happened is she hands all of her work, except one task, to the assistant. The Assistant says this woman is now so good at playing the company, that she works only about 2 hours per day, all the while still collecting her full wage.

In the meantime, I work full time and at a fast pace, and get rave reviews from my Supervisor, but I can't get anything but the across-the-board 2 or 3% cost of living raises because they say they just can't afford to pay e ore. I can't even pay my basic bills, at nearly 58 years old.

I'm sure this woman is telling herself that she's not hurting anyone else, and is just getting what she deserves. I have lost all respect for her. And now I hear that HER supervisor and she actually have become good buddies and have each others' backs on this, and this woman is doing the same thing, herself. In fact, the two of them recently tried to talk the low-paid Assistant into taking on more work for the department. How disappointing to find out that what I suspected is true, and these people care about no one but themselves and how little work they can do and still earn their nice salaries.
spitfire
Chatterbox
spitfire is offline
Warwickshire
Joined: Jul 2012
Posts: 29,878
spitfire is male  spitfire has posted at least 25 times and has been a member for 3 months or more 
 
02-11-2014, 08:48 AM
27

Re: Money CAN buy Happiness

Money can't buy happiness, it can buy choice, if like me you choose to be miserable, money won't change that, counting it for prolonged periods may provide a welcome distraction though. I spent an oblivious hour on Thursday evening counting the small change in my old Quality Street bottle, £31.67p as it happened.
Myra
Chatterbox
Myra is offline
my wee toon
Joined: Jun 2014
Posts: 9,010
Myra is female  Myra has posted at least 25 times and has been a member for 3 months or more 
 
02-11-2014, 11:20 AM
28

Re: Money CAN buy Happiness

Originally Posted by Jeana ->
alice76 you are so right!

A co-worker and good friend, and I, were just talking on this subject yesterday. Her Supervisor has been working less and less, while at the same time telling everyone at the company that she is increasingly overworked! She comes in late, leaves early, and in between she plays on social media. The company is now paying an Assistant to put in more hours to 'help' her, and what has happened is she hands all of her work, except one task, to the assistant. The Assistant says this woman is now so good at playing the company, that she works only about 2 hours per day, all the while still collecting her full wage.

In the meantime, I work full time and at a fast pace, and get rave reviews from my Supervisor, but I can't get anything but the across-the-board 2 or 3% cost of living raises because they say they just can't afford to pay e ore. I can't even pay my basic bills, at nearly 58 years old.

I'm sure this woman is telling herself that she's not hurting anyone else, and is just getting what she deserves. I have lost all respect for her. And now I hear that HER supervisor and she actually have become good buddies and have each others' backs on this, and this woman is doing the same thing, herself. In fact, the two of them recently tried to talk the low-paid Assistant into taking on more work for the department. How disappointing to find out that what I suspected is true, and these people care about no one but themselves and how little work they can do and still earn their nice salaries.
Snap Jeana. I have no respect whatsoever for my boss. Cunning and sly. Yes, its funny how some folk sit back and watch others take most of the workload. Laughing all the way to the bank. Yet again I say, its an I'll divided world. I am more comfortable now than I was, but I appreciate every treat or experience I have,and like you, want my family to savour it too.
Gabi's Avatar
Gabi
Senior Member
Gabi is offline
Lancs,.
Joined: Dec 2011
Posts: 1,282
Gabi is female  Gabi has posted at least 25 times and has been a member for 3 months or more 
 
02-11-2014, 07:59 PM
29

Re: Money CAN buy Happiness

It's not money that makes you happy it's the life you live. You don't need money to go for a walk, visit a friend chat and laugh with your family and friends.


I can't be a#*ed with the poor me attitude because others are getting paid more than them.. get qualifications same as them, spend a few years studying with very little money to live on. Then end up with the lower paid worker moaning about you.
Myra
Chatterbox
Myra is offline
my wee toon
Joined: Jun 2014
Posts: 9,010
Myra is female  Myra has posted at least 25 times and has been a member for 3 months or more 
 
02-11-2014, 08:14 PM
30

Re: Money CAN buy Happiness

I think you have to enjoy life and what it brings. There's so much to be said about going out for a walk, chatting with friends. Just don't try and force your big bucks down folk's throats if you have them.
 
Page 3 of 5 < 1 2 3 4 5 >

Thread Tools


© Copyright 2009, Over50sForum   Contact Us | Over 50s Forum! | Archive | Privacy Statement | Terms of Use | Top

Powered by vBulletin Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.