Billions of dollars can buy a lot.
Lavish houses, luxury cars, elegant yachts, expensive clothes, dining extravaganzas in the best restaurants in town. Travel to exotic destinations. Billions can bring power and fame — and opportunities to contribute to the causes of humanity.
But there are three things billions cannot buy.
- Peace of Mind
- Sanity
- Friendship
The Bottom line: Billions can buy many amenities and trophies, the necessary conditions to getting a good life, but they cannot buy peace of mind, sanity, and friendship, the sufficient conditions for maintaining a good life.
3 Things Billions Cannot Buy
http://www.forbes.com/sites/panosmourdoukoutas/2013/03/08/3-things-billions-cannot-buy/
Billions of dollars can buy a lot.
Lavish houses, luxury cars, elegant yachts, expensive clothes, dining extravaganzas in the best restaurants in town. Travel to exotic destinations. Billions can bring power and fame — and opportunities to contribute to the causes of humanity.
But there are three things billions cannot buy.
1. Peace of Mind. According to research by Princeton Professors Daniel Kahneman and Angus Deaton, people need far less than a billion to be happy – in fact, they say the figure is $75,000. Beyond that, the effect of money on happiness depends on how happiness is defined. When happiness is defined as overall satisfaction with life, money continues to raise happiness beyond that threshold. But when happiness is defined as satisfaction from day-to-day life, more money nothing to help people achieve ataraxia, or peace of mind.
More money usually brings more headaches. If you make more money by expanding your small business, for instance, you’ll face a lot of day-to-day problems that must be solved. While billionaires can afford to hire scores of people to manage their affairs, they may still have to make all the important decisions themselves, decisions that could keep them up in the middle of the night.
2. Sanity. The prosperity that comes with more money is not by itself a cure-all against an ill-led life, and may be a source of dangerous foolishness, as Aeschylus warned centuries ago. Money is a necessary but not a sufficient condition for the good life, happiness and wisdom. Hollywood mansions and fancy cars do not immunize against divorce. Elegant yachts and trips to exotic destinations do not keep you off the therapist’s couch.
3. Friendship. While money can certainly buy a lot of goodies, it cannot buy true friendship – the reciprocal attachment that fills the need for affiliation. Friendship cannot be acquired in the market place, but must be nurtured and treasured in relations imbued with trust and amity. No amount of wealth, status, or power can adequately compensate for a life devoid of genuine friends. As Aristotle said, friendship is a relationship in which people come to share the same soul. In the absence of this soul-mate, life lacks energy and meaning.
The Bottom line: Billions can buy many amenities and trophies, the necessary conditions to getting a good life, but they cannot buy peace of mind, sanity, and friendship, the sufficient conditions for maintaining a good life.