WILMA C. INVENTOR-MIRANDA l May 17, 2022 l Business Mirror
MONEY rules the world as they say and money can make a person happy or unhappy. In this present-day world where everybody has access to social media, people’s wants seem endless—social media can be alluring and tempting—it makes you feel that the wants being promoted are a need—when in fact it is not.
Money in itself is not bad but wanting more stuff than you can afford and you do not really need, is not only bad for your finances but also to your well-being. The truly rich people are not those who have everything but those who know when enough is enough. They know how to be content with what they have.
A person’s wants are insatiable and even if one earns more each year if their wants also increased with the earnings, one’s personal financial value will always depreciate.
Your finances are not the only ones that are depleted as you hunger for more stuff, but also your mental well-being. Being contented and knowing when enough is good enough will not only make you rich financially but also increased your happiness. Tal Ben-Sharar describes it well: “Happiness, not gold or prestige, is the ultimate currency.”
The pandemic has taught us so many lessons about how to handle finances. We realized that the future is uncertain and we must be wise to be good managers of our finances. Our clothes, bags and all our stuff are gathering dust in our closets and opening our eyes that we have too much stuff. We learn how to mix and match the clothes we have so we do not have to buy new ones.
Personally, even before the pandemic I have this great sense of fulfillment when I can make use of the old stuff (clothes, bags, shoes, etc.) and still wear them. The old ones that I no longer use, I gave away. I bought branded bags before the pandemic but my purpose is not to show them off, but because they last for years since they have good quality. In fact, I have to preserve only one or two bags, so I can have something decent to use when I have to go to a formal event or a business meeting. Otherwise, all my bags are really used to the max.
In an interesting writing by JD Roth (“Your Money—the Missing Manual”), shows a “fulfillment curve.” The curve’s peak is luxury and, up to that point, you may be experiencing happiness because your want for luxury is fulfilled but beyond that peak of luxury, you are maybe in the stage of “overconsumption.”
Your material Stuff—spelled in capital S in that reading—is starting to take control of your life. You are not content and you seek more to satisfy your need for fulfillment. Your finances is deflating and so is your happiness and so is the currency’s value because inflation devalues the currency.
This proves what the author JD Roth wants to emphasize that money cannot buy happiness. Contentment is the bigger determinant of happiness. When you know when your peak of want is, when your enough is good enough, you will always feel discontented. No matter how much you earn, if you seek more, your earnings will never be enough and can never catch up with all your wants if you do not know when to stop wanting.
The principle of living below your means can be the best solution to those whose wants are insatiable. When you buy things beyond what is good enough for you, these things become more of depletion of your feelings of fulfillment rather than add to it. Having more actually detracts from the feeling of contentment which is really the secret to finding happiness.
The first ascent to the peak of the Fulfillment Curve shows how money is meeting the survival needs—the basic needs of food, clothing, shelter, etc. The next level is the comforts of life. After the basic needs—you start looking at what gives you comfort—an air-conditioned room, a lounging chair, a big bed, etc. Then after comfort, anything you buy is considered luxuries—moving to a new house, traveling for leisure, vacationing in inexpensive resorts, etc.
However, they still make you happy if you can afford them. But beyond this is already defined as overconsumption. And this is where your contentment and happiness are going down. This level makes you unhappy because it brings about financial problems and a lack of fulfillment since overconsumption detracts from it rather than adds to the feeling of fulfillment.
Thus, the key in all of these is, finding your peak in the Fulfillment Curve – when enough is good enough for you. Each of us has a unique level of having good enough and feeling contentment.
But it all sums up the principle that money cannot buy happiness but “contentment with godliness is great gain” as the Scripture says.
*** Wilma Miranda is the chairman of the ethics committee of the Financial Executives Institute of the Philippines, managing partner of Inventor, Miranda & Associates, CPAs and member of the Board of Directors of KPS Outsourcing Inc.
The views expressed herein do not necessarily reflect the opinion of these institutions and the BusinessMirror. Know more about #FINEXPhils through www.finex.org.ph.