Do you wanna be rich or happy?

Soldato
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I'm neither rich or happy at the moment. and being rich wouldn't make me happy. Money does't mean to much to me so long as i can survive that enough riches for me. There are more things important than £
 
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I'm happy now. I'd much rather be utterly stinking filthy rich though. Hapiness would multiply tenfold with that.

Don't worry Kelly, you'll be fine again in a few days :p
 
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Definitely rich... happiness is a state of mind and there're plenty of ways to get your mind into that state.. most of which are much easier to achieve when you're rich.

Of course if you're happy being poor then I guess there's no problem. But that would depend on being able to be happy without money. I'm not really sure that's possible.

One look at the permanently sullen face of the multi- millionairess Victoria Beckham appears to prove the point.

Of course she's unhappy, the tabloids don't give her a moments peace and perpetually make fun of her and her family. The one thing money can't buy you is a death squad to irradicate tabloid journalists it seems... Shame :(
 
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Wise Guy
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Gilly said:
I'm sure it does, but they're not as bad as the problems encountered when you have no money...
Well, ever found a man with a gun wandering around your house at night? I have. Guess why he was there? It certainly wasn't for my collection of unpaid bills. :) And while it isn't common in the UK (or US), it's not unknown in some places for the rich to be worried about getting their wives or kids kidnapped and held to ransom. Yeah, these are fairly extreme examples, but they illustrate that real wealth has problems, not least of which is security .... and knowing who to trust.

Sure, being borassic and worrying if it's the bailiff every time the doorbell goes isn't exactly a laugh a minute. But neither is finding a bloke with a gun a few yards from your kid's bedrooms. :eek: I'd rather worry about bills than my kids lives.

Having said that, and leaving the melodrama aside, I'd still opt for being rich rather than skint, every single time, without hesitation. Because for all that it isn't a problem-free life (and there's plenty of less dramatic problems too, not least of which can be money) it has many compensations as well (most of which are self-evident).
 
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Well friends, I think this is a very complex issue, in my view, because every person is different ...

For instance, some people in this thread thus far have mentioned that having no money is a problem and would make their lives miserable, unhappy and unfulfillable ... but in my world, where I take every situation and turn it into a positive, this would actually represent a huge satisfying challenge! The challenge of battling the situation, over coming the obstacles, learning things about yourself you never knew you had in you, the trials and tribulations, getting back on ones feet ... Its the challenge I thrive on and the memories of it that I remember ... It's the journey of the challenge that is most fun and satisfying ... the actual achieving the result can, in some cases, be anti-climatic and unsatisfying ... because the challenge has vanished, the objective has been achieved, the obstacles have been conquered and all I have left over is a result ... This is boring ... *tosses into the bin metaphorically*

Its a case of, when I want something I enjoy the challenge of getting it, and once I have it, I no longer want it. Its not always the case that I no longer want it, but quite often in life, I find that things aren't what I thought they might be .. i.e., don't meet my expectations, doesn't do what I had envisaged, doesn't make me feel the way I wanted to feel .....................

I suspect the biggest thrill and happiness of winning the lottery is not the winning, but the sitting there, ticket tightly grasped in your hand, sweating, heart pounding uncontrollably as your numbers are read out .. that creeping anticipation as one after another your numbers are called out .. The peak satisfaction of winning the lottery happens before you've even got the money .. from there on out I suspect its all down hill .. :D

Rainmakers thread was a good example of this ... he was "living the dream" that everyone desired but he himself deep down was not happy with it ... and very few people could appreciate or understand why ... you've got to experience it to understand, I guess.
 
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Kell_ee001 said:
I have money (enough to be comfortable for now anyway)

I'd rather be happy. :(

why arent you happy at the mo? how are you getting on in your new place btw?


im somewhere in between at the mo. i'd be happier if i had less work to do and more time in bed sleeping \o/
 
Soldato
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If it was a case of Rich OR Happy then i'd obviously rather be happy. Fair enough being rich opens doors but if it's a case of either or then why be rich if it doesn't make you happy?
 
Man of Honour
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There's no single answer because at each end there are extremes...having no money and starving or having lots and being sent death threats and harrassed by the tabloids.

But if I had to answer the simple question in a simple manner I'd rather be happy than rich. Because if I'm happy then that means I have enough to live a good life, which is fine by me.
 
Soldato
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I'm happy at the moment, but that's despite my financial woes. If I won the lottery I'd be the happiest man in the world. I could spend 18 hours a day with friends, family and pursuing any hobby I wanted to. I could go anywhere I want to, drive anything I want to, see anything I want to.

Money clearly makes being happy a lot easier, I'm only happy at the moment cos I'm essentially blocking out my money issues.
 
Wise Guy
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Freeman said:
I love these articles which claim they know exactly how millionaires feel.
Maybe they've spoken to millionaires and asked them. :)

Incidentally, a 'millionaire' isn't, in these days of sky-high property prices, exactly "rich" ..... though I guess it depends on your perspective. But 'millionaire' generally conjures up a vision of jet-setting, champagne, yachts and so on, and is used to be the case. Not any more.
 
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Phantom said:
why arent you happy at the mo? how are you getting on in your new place btw?

To answer your first question I'm just a bit stressed and things are generally getting me down. :( Don't want to air everything on the forums but generally things could be better.

As for the second question, I'll let you know in a couple of weeks ;)
 
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i'd rather be happy, then work on getting rich.

much easier than being rich and having to work on being happy.

coz if you're already rich and unhappy, your unlikely to be able to work out how to become happy.
 
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MrWhippy said:
coz if you're already rich and unhappy, your unlikely to be able to work out how to become happy.


See that's the bit I don't get. I'd bet a fortune that the rich idiot who didn't appreciate what he had would be much more unhappy if he just gave the money away.
 
Soldato
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Kell_ee001 said:
To answer your first question I'm just a bit stressed and things are generally getting me down. :( Don't want to air everything on the forums but generally things could be better.

headpat.gif


if you ever want to talk about random stuff, msn in sig :)

As for the second question, I'll let you know in a couple of weeks ;)

ive just moved house - going through the process of updating addresses atm. have to contact about 30 various organisations/banks/club cards...not to mention work and the GP surgery! :eek:
 
Wise Guy
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Beansprout said:
But if I had to answer the simple question in a simple manner I'd rather be happy than rich. Because if I'm happy then that means I have enough to live a good life, which is fine by me.
Yes, quite.

And how much each of us needs to be happy varies.

Wealth certainly doesn't guarantee, let alone buy, happiness but it DOES relieve many ordinary, day to day, humdrum concerns ..... like having to work, or work overtime. But, having said that, many people that are rich are rich because they've earned it and they are often driven people that work hard because it's who they are. Like Old Turkey, I do things for the challenge. I've made enough to be comfortably off years ago, but I'm glad to say that I thoroughly enjoy what I do and while I've scaled back a lot in the last couple of years, I still enjoy the challenge and still keep my hand in, because I want to, and enjoy the challenge.

Old Turkey, as usual, makes a lot of sense.
 
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