Personal Narrative: Money Doesn T Buy Happiness

Improved Essays
Can money really buy you happiness? I don’t think so!

In this so called life many people believe that money is the reason for everyone’s happiness. People always seem to talk about ways on spending their paychecks or on how they don’t have enough money. Have you ever thought how much money is enough? People tend to be greedy and needy and don’t consider these two questions when it comes to purchasing items; “Is this something I need?” or “Is this something I want?” Do you wake up in the morning giving thanks for having another day to be alive, and having a safe home to sleep, and a meal to eat? Some people do but in most cases most people wake up complaining about the things they don’t have which sometimes it’s not a priority.
When it comes to the term happiness in my eyes I don’t see that as an item you can purchase at a store, it’s a feeling. We discussed this in class and the responses that I got from my classmates was that money can buy happiness and it can buy
…show more content…
I did my research and found an article about a woman named Kia Jarmon, the article was about her spending a lot of time working which caused her to miss out on special moments with her son. According to Kia ‘’while you may still enjoy the finger pop and neck roll that comes after saying my time is money, consider a different perspective. Money gives you the ability to buy things; time gives you the ability to experience priceless moments, cheers to understanding that money can buy things not moments” ( Jarmon, 2015) I couldn’t agree more with her statement. A good example would be if you purchase a Rolex watch it will only have 24 hours a day just like any other knock off brand watch, it will not add another hour to your day or squeeze more time in your life. That’s just how life is we tend to buy expensive things to fill up the empty spaces we have inside of

Related Documents

  • Decent Essays

    James Hamblin, the author of “Buy Experiences, Not Things,” states that happiness, anticipation, and experiential purchase are why people are buying experience. One of the key aspects Hamblin discusses is happiness. “Happiness is in the content of moment-to-moment experiences. Nothing material is intrinsically valuable, except in whatever promise of happiness it carries.” This quotes explains that people want to buy experiences not material objects because it doesn’t bring the same happiness or satisfaction.…

    • 276 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Happiness is a word that is seen in a multitude of different ways by a multitude of different people. Everyone has their own idea of what happiness means to them, but it is a word that has no set definition. The author of “Happiness and Its Discontents”, Daniel Haybron views happiness as an entire emotional spectrum that is affected by several factors such as life satisfaction and being exposed to both pain and pleasure. Whereas Ed Diener and Robert Biswas-Diener the authors of “Can Money Buy Happiness”, describe happiness as the emotion someone feels when they obtain an object they believe will improve their life and can be acquired within their means. An example of this would be the joy someone might feel when they are able to buy a car…

    • 911 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    “Buy Experiences, Not Things,” the article written by James Hamblin tells the reader that the experience of waiting for something is better than buying stuff in three points: the happiness people feel, the anticipation people feel, and the connection people feel. Starting off, the article says that people feel happier when waiting for something to come instead of when it gets there. “…happiness is in the content of moment-to-moment experiences. Nothing material is intrinsically valuable, except in whatever promise of happiness it carries.” (Page 2 Paragraph 2).…

    • 285 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the article “ Buy Experiences, Not Things” by James Hamblin, shows that when you buy experiences you are more happy than if you bought a material item, you are less like to compare your experience, and people do not like to hear about things you have rather than your experiences. When you buy an experience you are more happy than if you bought a material item. “Experiential purchases like trips, concerts, movies, et cetera, tend to trump material purchases because the utility of buying anything really starts accruing before you buy it.” These few lines demonstrate how buying an experience brings forth enjoyment before, during, and after the purchase. As well as bringing happiness to people, buying experiences makes you less likely to…

    • 377 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the article, "Buy Experiences, Not Things" the author, James Hamblin, communicates that experiential purchases can improve one’s well being and happiness; subsequently, it can bring more satisfaction, people are less likely to compare the value of their experiences to others, and it can improve social interaction. First emphasized in the article was that moment-to-moment experiences bring more happiness than owning something. Hamblin conveys, “Satisfaction in owning a thing does not have to come during the moment it’s acquired... they say it’s best to live in anticipation of the experience” (Pg 2, Para 2-3). People often think that a material purchase can offer them all the happiness in the world; when one can gain so much more from making…

    • 261 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    The article “Buy Experiences, Not Things” by James Hamblin describes the different ways people look at material things compared to experiential situations, such as going on a cruise, buying a couch or a computer breakdown. In the article it explains how people feel when they have a choice for an experiential situation. “Would you rather have two weeks vacation, or four weeks? People choose four weeks with little hesitation”.…

    • 219 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the article “Buy Experiences, Not things” James Hamblin, the author, elucidates how experiences bring more happiness than possessions, because utility of buying anything really starts accruing before even buying it, when people are waiting for an actual experience their moods tend to be much more positive, and people tend to be more generous to others when they’ve just thought about an experiential purchase as opposed to a material one. The first point Hamblin emphasizes is utility of buying anything really starts accruing before even buying it. In the article the author states “waiting for an experience apparently elicits more happiness and excitement than waiting for a material good” (3). Waiting for a concert, or vacation would bring a lot more excitement to someone rather than waiting for an Iphone, because although a new phone can be exciting it is only new for so long, but a vacation has memories that last.…

    • 418 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    People place so much esteem on collecting material goods, whether it be clothes and shoes, the latest iPhone, or the nicest car. However, being happy does not depend solely on material goods. Many other factors including mental health and sense of self can also make a difference in one’s…

    • 1193 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Decent Essays

    The Resentment Machines

    • 372 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Furthermore, people are still getting these items due to ads. Even though they are not able to afford such items, the buyer will figure a way to get this product. They notice that others are getting the product and are satisfied. Fredrik deBoer who wrote The Resentment Machine: The Immiseration of the Digital Creative Class states, “Contemporary strivers lack the tools with which people in the past have differentiated themselves from their peers” (84).…

    • 372 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Americans in the 21st century are starting to develop an addiction and obsession of purchasing items that they want, rather than what they need. To the newly developed smartphone, all the way to the brand new Gucci bag that every celebrity owns; we can’t help but being able to own these luxury items to satisfy our needs. Americans feel compelled to buy these useless things just to fit in and stay up to trend with society. This is described as consumerism. Consumerism has been taking over Americans, causing them to become addictive and is affecting our everyday lives.…

    • 1126 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Analysis Of Love Yourz

    • 1262 Words
    • 6 Pages

    If you aren’t happy, what’s the importance of all the money you have? Sure, you can buy the finer things, but what’s the importance of anything if you’re not happy at the end of the day? It’s only the human disease of greed, never being satisfied, and always wanting more that gets in the way of a happy life. Like the idiom, “the grass always seems greener on the other side of the fence” instead of paying so much attention on the other side of the fence, look at and cherish what lies in your very own…

    • 1262 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    At times, the reading could leave one feeling slightly perplexed, and aside from the contradicting encouragements, readers would certainly gain a little more perspective on money from this piece. Whenever someone reads the title, “Yes, Money Can Make You Happy,” they may start reading the article under the impression that its main purpose is shallow and or pointless, only to quickly realize that the article’s true purpose is to exploit money’s misinterpretations and the fact that it can help someone to help themselves, and in more ways than one may expect. Proclaiming that an article such as this one could alone alter an individual’s thought process on how to correctly spend money would be dishonest, but it could unquestionably cause one to reevaluate their…

    • 1227 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Often times we like to believe that it will make us happier to purchase possessions over experiences because those possessions will last longer. The truth is that we are tricking our selves into believing that the more we have the happier we are when the real happiness comes from the anticipation of a purchase. In the article “Buy Experiences, Not Things” James Hamblin uses repetition, relatable language, and emotional imagery to show the connection between anticipation and happiness when it comes to making purchases. It is human nature to assume that buying objects will ultimately make us happier in the long run then purchasing experiences right? It’s a pretty fair assumption considering the things we buy stay with us as long as they still…

    • 1169 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Money is not what makes a person happy; however, but what we perceive it as in society. Imitation. Do what we feel is right; by observation we see how other people exist happily. What do what we think makes us happy and feeling that we have that opportunity is what satisfies the…

    • 906 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    At times customers make purchases with no conscious planning or prior thought. When this occurs, no time is consumed in making the purchase decision. Impulse buying is termed as emotional buying. A consumer forces to make a sensitive connection with a product based on something he/she is fanatical about, and this connection triggers a purchase called impulse purchase. The mere sight of products, like candy, gum, mints, chips or other things obviously displayed, either in the retail outlet or at the checkout aisles, can trigger impulse shoppers to buy those items that were not there in their shopping list.…

    • 979 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Great Essays