Can money buy happiness?

It's the eternal question, isn't it?


Currently, it's being tackled by Tricia over at Blogging Away Debt, though it's been posed by many other a PF blogger, like Crystal over at Brunette on a Budget.


I honestly don't know if there is an answer to the question, because so much depends on the person involved.


If you're unhappy in general -- you feel like you don't have any real friends, your career isn't going how you had hoped, you feel empty, your relationship isn't working out -- then no, money won't buy you happiness.


It will buy you things and people who call themselves your friends. But unless you're the ultimate narcissist, this life seems like it would ring hollow. (If you are a complete narcissist, well then it's all fine, so long as you always have people around willing to flatter you and pretend to like you. Everyone wins.)


I find joy in my life through other people. Perhaps I'm overly attuned to interpersonal relationships because my disability isolates me so often. I don't know.


What I do know, however, is that if I had all the money a gal could want, and no real friends or loved ones to experience it with, I would be bitterly unhappy.


I suppose that sounds cheesy and cliche. Maybe even trite. But I hate operating in a vacuum. (Actually, I hate vacuums, period. That's why Tim got the floors on the chore list.)


I crave interaction. Sure, we all dream about having money and the good times it could bring. But most of those good times probably involve someone alongside you. To me, part of money's allure is that I would be able to splurge on the people I care about.


The fact is, for me "stuff" doesn't cut it. Gadgets are cool and fun. But they're not real companions. Traveling the world would be thrilling, but not without someone to experience it with -- or at least to describe it all to when you get back.


The problem with human need is that it's insatiable. Most of us will probably never quite feel like we have enough money. There could always be a little more in the retirement funds, in the emergency fund, or in your investments. And for people who fill up their lives with gadgetry and luxury, there will always be a new doodad out on the market.


Either way, we'll never be done. Most of us spend our whole lives convinced that if we just {fill in activity here}, we could be happy and content. But there's always going to be another, bigger goal that we could achieve. The trick, cheesy as it sounds, is in finding contentment with what we already have. Anything above that is nice, but not life-making (or breaking).


So, on review, I guess I do have the answer, after all. It seems like I'm actually pretty staunchly against the idea that money can buy happiness.


Make no mistake: It can make life easier and more fun. Those can each be mistaken for happiness. But long-term happiness -- at least, for me -- isn't contained in possessions or experiences. It's in sharing my life with people I care about.


You know, I'm actually a little horrified at how cliche my true feelings are. But, in the end, it doesn't matter. Because I have people who accept me, even when I'm saccharine-y sweet. I'm off to watch something jaded and disillusioning before I start writing cards for Hallmark.