Monday, June 9, 2014

Pondering Time : Is Financial Freedom = Happiness?

Financial Freedom equal Happiness?
Many of us "working" (literally or through some investment vehicles like stocks, business etc.) towards achieving financial freedom. I am sure many of the peer investors-cum-bloggers here have achieved financial freedom and probably many times over.  However, what I like to ponder openly is does financial freedom = happiness?
 
Of course, I am not discounting the importance of financial freedom here. IT IS important element for expending our freedom of choice, which is one source of happiness. What I am saying is financial freedom alone is not equal to happiness. Just take for an example of those second generation rich kid (in China, they are called 富二代), they are born rich and achieved financial freedom by pure "luck" but that does not immediately make them an happy chap, not unless you equate happiness to pure material possession like fast car, big houses etc...
 
Both financial freedom and happiness are rather subjective as they depend very much on your baseline. Just take for an example : if you are used to live with a frugal life, achieving a continuous financial stream of $3,000 per month could be a financial freedom to you but definitely not financial freedom to those living with an high life. On the happiness side, it is even more fluid and relative but one thing is for sure, materialism < > long term happiness.   
 
Hence, my overall view is : 
 
Financial Freedom < > Happiness
 
As I mentioned earlier, it is important to achieve financial freedom, but just don't forget to take care of the other important element in life (read : happiness) along the way too! And for happiness, you don't need to wait till achieving financial freedom to enjoy it.    
 
Just another pondering out loud post. Keep going and keep smiling ;-)
 
Cheers! 

7 comments:

  1. I only know lack of money can't be happy. Been there before.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Uncle 8888, agreed with you on this but it doesn't make have plenty of money automatically = happy though! hehe

    ReplyDelete
  3. The Moral of the Story is do whatever you can to take away as many of those clearly can make us unhappiness.

    We can't control what can really make us happiness but we do know what can make us unhappy.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Uncle 8888, Yet another wise advice from you ;-)

      Delete
  4. 钱不是万能但没钱万万不能。

    ReplyDelete

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