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money can bring happiness

Writer's picture: allison chingallison ching


Many of my friends have asked me, “Allison, you have plenty of opportunities to work in many countries in the world after your MBA, why did you choose to remain in Singapore?” 


My immediate response was, “low taxes”. Being a typical money-minded Singaporean, I hate to have a big portion of my salary going to government officials who may be mismanaging my money. Out of the people I had conversations with, 50% fervently agreed that money was a key consideration in choosing a low tax city, and the other 50% were hesitant. This brings us to the eternal conundrum:


Does money bring you happiness?
My answer is, “Abso-fucking-lutely, if you use it right.”  

I always have my doubts when I hear people say, “Money doesn’t bring you happiness”. I really wonder if it’s just a cool statement to make one sound profound. Money’s a great tool and a great enabler. I can see a huge difference in my level of joy back when I was a poor fresh undergrad and now. With money, you can fulfill necessities and buy luxuries for you and family, you can indulge in many pleasures such as memorable holidays, massages, and my personal favourite - martinis, you can be in a much stronger position to accomplish a lot more things. The list goes on. You will definitely feel much happier with money at your disposal than without money. 


So why do so many people have this idea that money doesn’t bring happiness? Motivational speaker T.Harv Eker once said, “Money is extremely important for the functions it serves, and extremely unimportant for the functions it doesn’t serve.” 


I pondered on this quote and came to a few conclusions. 

  1. We are all afraid of death, incurable diseases, aging, loneliness etc. Yet, money cannot buy the things that are most precious which are a new life, health, youth, time, and true affection. With money, we may be able to influence or prolong some of the above, but we cannot control them. When we become fixated on things we cannot control, we can never be truly happy due to our unconscious resentment or fear of the inevitable.


  1. We are behaving in a way that makes people detest or isolate us. Look, if your character and your attitude toward others simply suck, money will never buy you real friends, it just buys you a higher caliber of enemies who pretend to be your friends. The thing is, you will feel it, you will feel their superficiality. To counter that, you tell yourself you need to have more money so you will not risk seeing their true faces. Therefore, money, if used with wrong intentions or actions, will never bring you happiness. 


  1. We never really appreciate or comprehend the comfort and peace-of-mind that money can bring to those people who really need it. Many of us here, especially the younger generations, never knew what it’s like to struggle. Singapore paints a perfect picture of prosperity and security which is why it is sometimes hard to imagine a fellow Singapore living in poverty. If we can appreciate or comprehend the comfort and joy money can bring to these people, we can use money meaningfully to amplify that effect and create many joyful moments not just for ourselves, but for others as well. 


Although it’s only 58 years since independence, Singapore is one of the world's richest country going by GDP per capita. I’m proud to say that this not only indicates our achievements, but also our potential and ability to accomplish a lot more things ahead. What I’m unimpressed about is, despite our achievements and wealth, we are also a country with high unequal income distribution and a country with inadequate social welfare for the old, and for the people with special needs. If you need evidence of that, just go to hawker centers, public toilets, MRT stations and observe who are the people clearing plates, cleaning toilets, and selling tissues.


We are getting better, but we can do so much more. Forging ahead in the early years of nation-building has unwittingly left behind groups of people who are ill-equipped to support themselves. Our pioneers have undergone sacrifices and built a great country that blessed many of us with money, choices, and opportunities. Because of their blood, sweat, and tears, we now have the tool and ability to accomplish greater things for the people in this country. As the current and future generations take over their responsibilities, we must remember:


The way to make Singapore even greater lies beyond building a society that is wealthy in assets; we must build a society that is just as wealthy in compassion– a society that is grateful to the pioneers, many whom are now old, frail, and in need of our help, a society that seeks to alleviate the struggles of the less fortunate through giving and sharing, and a society that is inclusive and tolerant of others who differ in background, culture, and religion. 

A country’s physical wealth may lie in her assets and foreign reserves; but a country’s true wealth lies in the spirit and compassion of her people. Perhaps, when we use our physical wealth as a tool and enabler to generate the true wealth of a country, we will all agree that “money can indeed bring happiness”. 

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Dream Do Deliver - Allison Ching

22 Newton Rd, Singapore 307990

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