As a kid, whenever the topic of money came up in our household, my dad would repeat the phrase, “Money isn’t everything, but it sure beats whatever’s in second place.”
I would then point out that if money beats whatever’s in second place, it would become second on the list. If the quote was supposed to be ironic, as I thought it was, then it should beat whatever’s in first place, thus taking over first spot on the list. Then the quote would read:
“Money isn’t everything, but it sure beats whatever’s in first place.”
Now that’s a quote worth thinking about!
To this day, I’m still not sure what the original quote is supposed to mean. I should ask my dad.
What I do know is that being rich won’t make you happy. You can’t buy your way into internal contentment, no matter how much money you throw at it.
What having generational wealth will do is free up your time. It will allow you to do what you want to do, when you want to do it.
But it won’t make you happy.
In fact, it could indeed make you more miserable.
Let’s see what some of my favorite doers have to say on the topic of wealth and happiness. Here are 5 quotes on why money won't make you happy.
“Riches do not confer happiness! I have lost count of the number of friends, lovers and acquaintances I have told this to, especially when I first passed seven noughts of cash in hand. I don’t bother anymore. The incredulous look on their face is always the same...Still, let me repeat it one more time. Becoming rich does not guarantee happiness. In fact, it is almost certain to impose the opposite condition—if not from the stresses and strains of protecting wealth, then from the guilt that inevitably accompanies its arrival.” - Felix Dennis
“The idea that you’re going to change something in the outside world and that is going to bring you the peace and everlasting joy and the happiness that you deserve, that is a fundamental delusion that we all suffer from, including me. The mistake over and over and over is to say, 'Oh, I’ll be happy when I get that thing, whatever that is.' That’s the fundamental mistake that we all make, including me, 24/7, all day long.” - Naval Ravikant
“Basically, when you get to my age, you'll really measure your success in life by how many of the people you want to have love you actually do love you. I know many people who have a lot of money, and they get testimonial dinners and they get hospital wings named after them. But the truth is that nobody in the world loves them. That's the ultimate test of how you have lived your life. The trouble with love is that you can't buy it. You can buy sex. You can buy testimonial dinners. But the only way to get love is to be lovable. It's very irritating if you have a lot of money. You'd like to think you could write a check: I'll buy a million dollars' worth of love. But it doesn't work that way. The more you give love away, the more you get.” - Warren Buffett
“Money can’t buy happiness, but the absence of money can cause unhappiness. Money buys freedom: intellectual freedom, freedom to choose who you vote for, to choose what you want to do professionally. But having what I call 'f*ck you' money requires a huge amount of discipline. The minute you go a penny over, then you lose your freedom again. If money is the cause of your worry, then you have to restructure your life.” - Nassim Nicholas Taleb
“Money isn't everything, but it sure beats whatever's in second place.” - My dad
