Money helps

“Money doesn’t buy happiness.”

It’s one of those phrases that gets tossed around like wisdom. And most often, I hear it from people who’ve never had to wonder how to pay their rent. People who’ve never stared at the end of the month and thought, how am I going to make this work?

And honestly? It makes me furious.

Because the phrasing is all wrong. Of course money doesn’t, in itself, create happiness. You can’t buy joy or love at the store. They say it like it’s wise, or comforting. But to someone who’s actually struggling, it feels cruel. Money won’t fix everything. But money absolutely makes a difference. And to pretend otherwise misses the point.

When you’re really struggling. When you’re worried about paying the rent, or when you’re carefully balancing bills and groceries at the end of the month? Hearing someone casually say “money doesn’t buy happiness” is not just unhelpful. It’s hurtful.

Because the truth is, while money won’t hand you happiness, it can help you get there.

Money buys a kind of freedom.

It creates breathing room.

It gives you the option to leave a difficult job or situation.

It gives you the buffer to take risks, to make mistakes, to grow.

Without that stability, everything else is fragile. You can have a good job, a loving family, all the other ingredients of happiness ... but if you’re always one setback away from financial collapse, it’s like building a life on thin ice.

Lose your job. Get sick for a couple of months. Face a sudden bill you didn’t expect. Suddenly it’s not about happiness anymore. We saw it during the pandemic. People who had been “fine” one month were thrown into crisis the next, simply because they didn’t have that cushion. Without financial stability, all those other pieces of happiness wobble.

That’s why I’d happily erase “money doesn’t buy happiness” from our language altogether. It’s lazy. It skips over the reality of how many lives are lived paycheck to paycheck, one accident or illness away from chaos.

And yes, you can have all the right elements for a good life: the job you love, people you care about, a place that feels like home. But without financial stability, you’re still only one pitfall away from losing your footing.

Because the truth is: money matters. Not because it buys happiness. But because it helps.

It helps you breathe. It helps you plan. It helps you recover when life doesn’t go your way.

So no, money won’t hand you happiness on a silver plate. But it helps. It helps a lot.

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