Is It True That Money Can't Buy Happiness?

Jet, August 10, 1998

Money, money, money. It seems everybody wants it. Those who have it want more. And those who don't have it wish they did.

But can money buy happiness?

JET contacted a wide range of experts from some of the world's richest entertainers, lottery winners, psychologists, philanthropists and others to determine if it is true that money can't buy happiness.

Dr. Samella B. Abdullah, president of the Association of Black Psychologists, believes that money can not buy one happiness.

"Happiness comes from within," Dr. Abdullah explains. "It is not external; it is internal, so you can not buy it. You have to own it. You have to call it forth from within you, where it is embraced with love for self, knowledge of self and a spiritual connectedness with the Creator."

She observes, "Many people believe that you can buy happiness because we are living in a society that is so rooted in materialism. They are believing in materialism, worshipping materialism and the mighty dollar. But you cannot buy happiness."

Sean "Puffy" Combs, multimillionaire hip hop artist, record executive and entrepreneur is on the top of the world with his award-winning album, No Way Out.

Yet, with all the material trappings that his success affords him, he once told JET that money can not buy happiness.

"No matter how much money you have, one of your friends could die or your grandmother could pass. You could go through different trials and tribulations. Money doesn't buy you happiness. It doesn't make you better than anyone else," Combs believes.

Philanthropist Matel Dawson Jr. has given away more than $900,000 to various organizations, including the United Negro College Fund as well as Louisiana State University in Shreveport for a scholarship in the memory of his parents.

Dawson has another view on money and happiness. He believes money can indeed buy happiness.

"I need money to make me happy," he reveals. "It makes me happy to give money away. It gives me a good feeling."

Dawson has worked for the Ford Motor Company for 58 years and currently operates a fork lift at the company's plant in Dearborn, MI. He invests his money annually so that he can give to worthwhile causes.

"It gives me a good feeling that I have given something back to society," he explains. "I am helping these young kids go to school. If I did not have money, I don't think I would be as happy as I am now. I've been married once. I've had big cars, big homes, so that doesn't excite me anymore. I wear nice clothes because I like to look presentable at all times. But all that material stuff does not excite me."

Famed rapper M.C. Hammer, who filed for bankruptcy two years ago (JET, April 22, 1996), says money can not buy happiness. "I've been to the top of the mountain and I've seen everything life has to offer in terms of finance," Hammer once told EBONY.

Hammer, who now performs gospel music and is an ordained minister, added, "Based on what I've seen, I understand that the most precious things in life are those intimate moments with your kids. When my son runs and jumps on me in the bed, you can't replace that. Going to the movies with my daughters and watching them laugh feels better than 50,000 people at the Tokyo Dome. It's not even a comparison."

Curtis Sharp Jr., the derby-wearing man from Newark, NJ, who won $5 million in the New York Lottery in 1982, does not believe that money equals happiness.

Sharp, perhaps the most famous lottery winner in the last 20 years, is broke today and is training to become a Baptist minister in Tennessee.

"They say a fool and his money are soon parted," Sharp told Newhouse News Service in a stow published in The Times-Picayune. "Easy come, easy go."

Sharp, who made national headlines when he turned in the winning lottery stub with his then-wife on one arm and his girlfriend on the other, was known for his generosity.

He has since learned, "Five million sounds like a lot of money, and it is. But I found out you can't really make people happy with money because you can never give people enough."

Dr. Madge Gill Willis, an assistant professor of psychology at Morehouse College in Atlanta, notes, "Money may give you a good feeling, but it is not real happiness."

She adds, "If you look at some rich people, some of them are sad and lonely. And then you look at people who don't have much money and there is so much joy in their lives. Some rich people are looking at money to bring them happiness, which it doesn't."

Dr. Gill Willis believes that the best things in life are free. "You have to go inside to find the sources of real joy. You can't buy real friends; you can't buy trust. You can't buy love. What you can buy is superficial, and not the real thing."

She describes happiness as "having relationships with people, being satisfied with yourself."

She adds, "People who have solid trust, friendships, love and satisfaction with themselves are happy whether they have money or not."

Dr. Ometha Lewis-Jack, clinical psychologist and assistant professor of psychology at Howard University in Washington, D.C., observes, "I have seen people in all walks of life: rich, poor and in between. I have had people who have lots of money and they are still unhappy. Money did not do it. `There is something missing,' they say. They say, `I have this house, this car, my career, but something else is missing'"