Can money buy happiness? Yes.

If I gave you $10,000 at this exact moment you would indeed be happy. If you won the Powerball, you would be more than happy. 

Money buys comfort and stability, and in this economy that is happiness. I hear the phrase “money can’t buy happiness” so often that I start to think it’s something people say when they don’t have money. 

I understand what people are trying to say in saying that phrase. Money cannot buy you hard-earned happiness from doing good deeds and overall just being a good person. But it can. 

I’ve also heard that money changes people, and it does. Having enough money to cushion the hard blows of life makes you forget you even had a hard life. “More money, more troubles” is another one I have heard.

I grew up very poor and now I am a poor college student. Money, to me, is happiness. I feel happy when I am able to buy groceries, medicine, an Uber ride and countless other school expenses. 

I know gaining money changes people, it changes their social status and even their personality, but I don’t think that is caused by money. I think greed, selfishness and vanity are traits that are already in a person before gaining wealth. 

I hope that whenever I gain a lot of money, which I will because I am determined to make it out, I don’t become a greedy and selfish person. I know that right now in my current stage of life, I do not have a bone of greed or selfishness in my body.

I say this with full confidence too, because I know my personality and character.

Growing up poor gives you an appreciation for money, it can also make you guard it more. Not me, I am horrible at saving money. This is not because I buy expensive things or waste it recklessly on things, but because I give my money away. 

If my friends are hungry or need something, and I have the funds for it I will buy it for them. I have this friend of mine (she calls herself my “broke best friend”) that I always spot whenever she wants food. 

It’s almost like a symbiotic relationship, she gives me rides and I buy her food. But I’d buy her food whether or not she gives me a ride. I have always been like that. I will watch my bank account drop below $50, get a Chase Bank notification on my phone and still buy whatever for whoever. 

I think I’ve learned this behavior from my parents. They’ve always taught me to give more than what I have to people. This is also very faith-based because they have taught me that in the Bible it says to give, and you will be given. 

2 Corinthians 9:6 says “Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously.” In this verse, the Apostle Paul teaches the Corinthians, and also us, to be generous in our giving and that God will multiply it. 

My parents are pastors so I have spent my entire life helping people in need. And whenever those get on their feet, they almost always find a way to give back. 

I have always been in an environment that has given back to me when I give to it. This became very clear to me when my hometown was hit by a Category 5 hurricane. Every person that I gave a tarp to or a generator or held their house together with my hands, found a way to give back to me. And if they didn’t have anything to give me, I still didn’t care because I felt happy knowing even though I had nothing I still gave them my everything. 

Money can buy happiness if you invest in the right things. Don’t invest it in Bitcoin or stock, invest it in people. Until I leave this Earth, or money stops being a necessary currency and we all live in peaceful bliss, I will continue to give it to anyone other than myself. 

I wish I had all the money in the world, to give it back to the world. Money means nothing to me, in a good way. I love giving it to people who need it more than me, and that feeling alone gives me happiness. Money only accentuates what you already have inside of you.