The simple answer to this question is ‘No’. In most cases money can’t buy true happiness. It seldom if ever makes a bad relationship good, nor can it improve intimacy in a relationship. People with the highest incomes often have to work long hours, and many of them quit these jobs and find work that brings them greater life satisfaction.

Once we adapt to higher incomes, it can soon lose its appeal. After a promotion  and higher salary, a person often feels greater life satisfaction and happiness but in less than about three months, the higher salary can lose its impact on happiness levels.

Once we have a higher income we can take it for granted. As we accumulate more material possessions, our expectations rise. The things we once worked so hard for no longer make us happy. Our marriage and our relationships with our children suffer when our primary focus is making or having more wealth.

Then we work even harder to get to the next level. And the same thing happens – we adapt to the higher level, and then within three months or so our happiness levels drop again. We end up on a treadmill, working harder and searching for more, then adapting to the higher levels.

Happiness is hard to find if we look for it through monetary gain and material possessions. Making money can be like a drug addiction. We need more and more – and then we adapt to the higher levels. It becomes a never-ending cycle.

If we grew up in an emotionally empty home and then succeed later in life, the financial wealth we have today can’t erase our history.The emotional pain and emptiness from our childhood remains. In fact, the more money we have, the more we a vulnerable to feeling the emptiness because of the contrast between our internal and external worlds.

Finding happiness, either within ourselves or in our relationship, does not lie in making more money. It is found within. When money doesn’t improve the quality of your life, there are many other ways to achieve a more fulfilling and happier future. Meeting with a professional therapist for marriage or individual counseling is an effective way to help you sort through your thoughts and feelings during your search for genuine happiness.

Please call me at 949-760-7171 or text 949-244-8572 or email me at jimswaniger@gmail.com with any questions or to schedule an appointment.