mr_luc said:
Money is USEFUL, but it doesn't bring ANY happiness in and of itself. It can remove obstacles to happiness, like crippling, frustrating debt . . . but having money doesn't make you happy.
See I was the same way. Happy care free, never thought I would be doing what I do now. I went to college broke but happy, went to Europe and South America after working in a dishroom for years (but still happy cause I was care free).
Soon as I got older and got married it all ended. I started to think about my future as well as my present. I started wanting some things that cost a lot like a house, a car, etc...I started feeling like crap being 25, a college grad but still no direction. I got a job and started making good money and started being able to afford a lot of those thing I wanted with 8 hour a day working world drudgery. I get 2 days off each week and 3 weeks vacation that I try to make the most of.
Now that I think of it, I am not happier than I have ever been, just more stable and well off but I dont think I could ever be happy and feel good about myself again if I were to go back to being dirt poor but I could see myself being far more happy if I didn't have to work 8 hours a day.
See, the difference between you, me, and her is that you are care free and happy but you are poor, whether you decide that you dont want to be poor anymore is up to you but a million dollars buys a lot of vacation and travel. I am less happy but well off, not rich but my lesser happiness is caused by the need to constantly earn and work.
With her, she never has to work, she never has to be poor but she can travel to where ever she wants, buy what she wants, etc...IMO, if she is not happy, then for one it is something other than survival and a job bringing her down. Some emotional problems that the rich must deal with. Though I am not rich, I can see now that the people who told me money wasnt so important, or that it cant buy happiness where people who had to tell themselves that because they weren't rich and that they lied to me...money is one of the most important things in life and the more you have, the better quality of life you CAN have. Even more so if you never had to earn it, just spend it.