I hate it when people romanticize poverty.

[gottawonder]

People like to say things like money can't buy happiness, or make memes about how having a rich life doesn't require being rich, or they yearn for simpler times before...I don't know what. It just pisses me off

Comments

[gottawonder]

I think it is something people say because if they can't be wealthy, then pretend that wealthy people are miserable and evil.

I haven't even met too many people with money to make a judgement call, but there seem to be all kinds. Some people I met as a kid from Georgia (that came up North to train their bird dogs) were really nice. One wealthy person I knew was a pretty old guy who was really lonely, but also had shitty social skills and drank too much and got handsy. That might not have much to do with money, he probably would have been the same if he were average, but likely got away with his behavior more because he had money.

Poor people aren't somehow virtuous and pure because of poverty. I've known lots who stretched their moral compass pretty hard, often because they had financial pressures and sometimes because they saw no problem screwing over people that had some money, as if they were responsible for their own poverty.

When I lived in a small city, I was pretty darn poor, and I lived in small apartments, no car, and couldn't afford much. I had lots of friends in the same situation, and we were pretty nice, honest people trying to get by. We weren't happier because of lack of money.

Maybe there is something about having reasonably low expectations. I don't need a country club membership or a yacht in a marina to be happy, but for a wealthy person who has become accustomed to that lifestyle, NOT having those things would make them unhappy. If I got wealthy enough to get used to a pretty high standard of living, I wouldn't want to go back to having less either.

Most people these days are accustomed to having running water, somewhere to do laundry other than by hand, a toilet, and regular meals. Take any of those things away and they wouldn't be happy about it. Truly poor people have to live without some of those things, does that make them happier or more virtuous?

I associate wealth with being clean. Everything in your home is working properly so the dishes get done, nothing leaks, you have a vacuum cleaner, you can afford to mentally let go of things you don't use or need or are broken and actually get them out of the house, the linoleum or carpet isn't all torn to shit, there are actual curtains, the windows open and the doors close, holes in the walls get fixed, there are baseboards, and someone is changing the cat litter. The cats are healthy and fixed, so they aren't peeing everywhere, etc. Wealthy people have someone helping with the cleaning, and on some level, they have been taught how to be clean in the first place. Living in a clean environment where everything works well would help with happiness.

This is also likely not true of all wealthy people, I'm sure they aren't all tidy and keep up the maintenance.

Wealthy people likely don't often feel the awful lack of hope that happens when you are poor. Poor people get used to accepting things like ugly glasses, or no way out of a shitty job, or having to work so much that they never see their kids but their kids are getting into trouble. I'm pretty sure wealthy people don't get ground down by things like that. I would say that would make for a happier life.

The things that might make wealthy people less happy are things like not having community the same way that people with less money might have. The need for people to help each other out, but do most poor people have that community? Wealthy people might also end up being so accustomed to having nice things that they lose their meaning. Like, their Porsche might not make them happy if their neighbor drives a brand new hand-built Ferrari.

Probably in EVERY class money has too much importance, but I think that you have to be at least wealthy enough to have your needs met consistently to be happy. After that, maybe being wealthier doesn't keep making you happier. Actual happiness comes from other things, but you need enough money to feel safe and comfortable first.

[tailofkasahara]

Perhaps wealthy people don't think about money because they don't have to, and, because let's face it, the pursuit of money is a bit vulgar. Perhaps the poor are constantly thinking about it in one way or another. I'm generalising.

When I lived in a poorer neighbourhood, I was astonished to see people on welfare squandering their cheques on Wal-Mart fast fashion, junk, and home-delivered fast food. I'd been taught to believe the poor were the salt of the earth and I couldn't understand why they had such poor taste when money came their way. I'd spent childhood in similarly humble surroundings, but had no idea that a lack of affluence brought with it slovenly behaviour. I'm generalising yet again.

I've read somewhere about an experiment in which people were offered $100,000 and asked if it made them happy. They were generally pleased with the gift, and even more pleased if they learned that a group of others around them were to receive $25,000. But they were petulant if someone else were to receive $500,000; their resentment and envy pretty much negated the pleasure in receiving the gift in the first place.

I wouldn't mind having enough material security so that I didn't have to fret and count and plan.