Make The Money. Don’t Let The Money Make You.

Money. Some say money makes the world go round. Some feel that the love of money is the root of all evil. And some believe money can actually by happiness…There are all kinds of differing view out there about money, but there are a few things I can tell you for certain:

-When you don’t have enough money it makes life far more challenging.

-When a person has money they are no more or less important than a person without money. God doesn’t value anyone based on the amount of money they have which means we are all going to be judged on an equal playing field. That’s why the title quote by Macklemore is so insightful, “Make The Money. Don’t Let The Money Make You.” Because money can’t make us anything…only our actions can make us something.

-Money can buy you things that make life easier but one thing it cannot buy is happiness. I can’t help chuckle at Zig Ziglar’s theory about this which is, “Money won’t make you happy…but everyone wants to find out for themselves.” 🙂

But interestingly enough, studies have shown that it is not the things we buy that will contribute to our happiness, it is the experiences we have that will.

In a Wall Street Journal article written by Andrew Blackman he shares:

“Ryan Howell was bothered by a conundrum. Numerous studies conducted over the past 10 years have shown that life experiences give us more lasting pleasure than material things, and yet people still often deny themselves experiences and prioritize buying material goods.

So, Prof. Howell, associate professor of psychology at San Francisco State University, decided to look at what’s going on. In a study published earlier this year, he found that people think material purchases offer better value for the money because experiences are fleeting, and material goods last longer. So, although they’ll occasionally splurge on a big vacation or concert tickets, when they’re in more money-conscious mode, they stick to material goods.

But in fact, Prof. Howell found that when people looked back at their purchases, they realized that experiences actually provided better value.

“People think that experiences are only going to provide temporary happiness, but they actually provide both more happiness and more lasting value.” And yet we still keep on buying material things, he says, because they’re tangible and we think we can keep on using them.

Cornell University psychology professor Thomas Gilovich has reached similar conclusions. “People often make a rational calculation: I have a limited amount of money, and I can either go there, or I can have this,” he says. “If I go there, it’ll be great, but it’ll be done in no time. If I buy this thing, at least I’ll always have it. That is factually true, but not psychologically true. We adapt to our material goods.”                 

What it all comes down to is that money is a blessing and we should all work hard to earn it in order to make our lives a little easier. We should never give up our integrity for it and we should never let it become more important than living by our values. And once we have it, we need to remember that the money doesn’t define us, our behavior does.

“The real measure of your wealth is how much you’d be worth if you lost all your money.”

Strive to always be wealthy – money or not…

~Amy Rees Anderson

3 Comments

  • Jane says:

    I have no money – but I am wealthy in every other way. In ways that I can count more gratefully than money. I have to laugh at this quote I heard one day. “Money can’t buy happiness. It just helps you look for it in a lot more places.”

  • C billions says:

    Love this read! Thank youuuu

  • Anonymous says:

    This was just needed bro! Thanks so much!

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