Elizabeth Dunn And Michael Norton's Happy Money

In the article “Money: The Real Truth about Money” by Gregg Easterbrook published In Time Magazine (2005), the author compares two different generation’s attitudes towards money, and how it affects their happiness. The author’s standing qualifies him to write and appeal this issue, he’s a contributing editor of The Atlantic and The Washington Monthly, and he also writes the Tuesday Morning Quarterback column for ESPN.com. Easterbrook’s primary audience appears to be middle class Americans however he draws a wider secondary audience’s attention. The author succeeded in convincing his readers through his rhetorical appeals, credible sources and his clever use of language.

The concepts throughout this book are simple but they test self-control and patience, which in our world is uncommon because of the “want it now” attitude. Ramsey talks about how “personal finance is 80 percent behavior and only 20 percent head knowledge” (ix). This main idea is something Ramsey talks about and references throughout the whole book. Another main idea or as Ramsey calls it a “motto” that’s on each page at the bottom is “If you live like no one else, later you can live like no one else” (5). This is the theme that he refers back to on

Michael Norton, the TED Talk speaker, discussed “How to Buy Happiness.” Norton is a professor of business administration at Harvard Business School; he has also studied psychology. Furthermore, Norton did research on whether spending money on oneself or on others can make a person happy. According to him, people who spend money on others are happier than those who spend money on themselves. He wanted to convince his audience that happiness is in sharing or giving to others. First, he gained the attention of his public by starting his speech with humor. Similarly, he has conducted various surveys on how two groups of people, who felt differently, spend money on others like charity or giving gifts from different countries like Uganda and Canada. Although Norton’s attempts at stablishing credibility were somewhat ineffective, his arguments were mostly effect because of his use of logos and pathos.

Going line by line of the poem MONEY by Dana Gioia. The first stanza, 3 lines are all syllabi for money, all different names that people usually call money. The next stanza are things that you do with money, spending it. You are either spending it or “watching it burn a hole in your pocket, so you are either spending it or itching to spend it. Stanza 3 again is using different names for money. “greenback” is another name for a dollar bill. “double eagles” is another name for a gold coin that is worth twenty dollars and so on.

Growing up in a family where both my parents came from poor immigrant backgrounds always made financial success a priority and when there was no need to be frugal, my parents did seem happier. But did money buy my parents’ happiness or did money lead to their happiness? Ed Diener and Robert Biswas-Diener attempt to answer that question in their excerpt “Can Money Buy Happiness,” where they claim that “[m]oney can be a help in attaining psychological wealth, but it should be considered in the bigger picture of what makes people general genuinely rich (Biswas-Diener 161). Although not explicitly defined by Diener and Biswas-Diener, “psychological wealth” is the overall measure of happiness, beyond just fiscal affluence, including positive ties with other individuals and joyful temperaments (Biswas-Diener 168). By extending Biswas-Diener and Diener’s idea of “psychological wealth” to include the perception of what wealth is and what wealth consists of beyond monetary success, such as achievements or fulfillment, there exist a copious number of ways to view wealth. One can be rich in more than finances and happiness is dependent upon the perception of wealth due to money being one of several paths, including deliberate effort and being positive, to “psychological wealth” which leads to happiness.

Junot Diaz is a professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is very widely known for this writing and his background story. In Junot Diaz’s story, “The Money: Starting Out,” he shares a story from his childhood. The story is about when Diaz and his family had just recently moved to New Jersey from Santo Domingo and they felt as if they were “targeted.” The neighborhood that they were living in was not the top of the line, lots of robberies were taking place. The Diazs’ themselves are a victim of robbery, but in the end, everything turns out to be good. Throughout Diaz’s story the reader can better understand and sympathize with this family because of the many uses of pathos and ethos in the passage.

Many spend hours dreaming of having more money. They believe their quality of life would be better. Everyone has at one point in his or her life thought about how the possession of money would make life worthwhile by generating happiness. However, Benjamin Franklin, a prominent polymath, stated that money in all shapes and forms cannot purchase happiness, an abstract feeling. Franklin believed that the more money an individual possessed the more he or she will want. Although this doctrine has been instilled in the minds of the American people and other cultures for generations, aspects of this philosophy hold to be pragmatic, but viewed from a different perspective, some find this ideology quite absurd.

As Begley “When people buy something they try to pay as little for it as they can” (p. 1). Therefore, I agree that money sometimes can bring happiness while there are a lot of things which people cannot have it with money. The author states that people enjoy when they get something on sale, and they feel happy when they spend less money for. Also, the author mentions how money can affect people who are poor and give them happiness; however, rich people gather money to increase their wealth. Sharon also writes about the survey, which how people consider their happiness.

In the book “All Money in the World” by Laura Vanderkam discusses about ways that people get and spend money in their lives and the relative between money and happiness. Each title, the author shows us different ways to use and earn money like getting, spending and sharing. But in chapter 3, “Rethink Retirement” of getting, Laura Vanderkam shows the creative way to approach retirement. There are three of the ways that the author suggests people can rethink and plan for retirement such as saving, making extra, and using time efficiently.

The subject of this paper is the age-old question, “Does Money Buy Happiness”. On the surface, this question appears to be an easy one. Happiness however, is a subjective item. To better answer this, several points must be analyzed such as, “What is happiness?”, “How is it measured?” etc. To better streamline this process, a research question was developed:

A powerful quote said by pre-socratic philosopher named Democritus says “Happiness resides not in possessions, and not in gold, happiness dwells in the soul”. In other words, happiness does not come from materialism but instead from the things money can’t buy. In the article The Secret of Happiness the author David Myers writes directly to Americans about how he believes we need to obtain a new “American Dream” that emphasizes personal happiness instead of materialistic happiness. Myers also believes happiness resides in the soul and he says people that think money is the key to happiness are actually less content with themselves and he uses various ways to prove this point. With that being said materialistic happiness vs personal happiness is an important issue, and Myers made a strong use of Logos by showing surveys and studies, Ethos by showing credibility in his argument but he could have used more Pathos by using more emotion and enthusiasm in his argument.

How often do you wake up worrying about money? How often do your loved ones worry about money? How often have you heard, “if only I had the money?” How often do you feel that more money would solve all your problems and would make you happy? What if I told you that you were right, to an extent. Author’s across the discussion of happiness have tried to answer the simply stated, yet complicatedly answered question, “Can Money Buy Happiness?” Authors Ed Diener and Robert Biswas-Diner attempt to answer the question in their piece of the same name, by explaining that “Yes, money buys happiness…but it must be considered in the bigger picture of what makes people genuinely rich” (Biswas-Diener 160-161). This idea that fiscal wealth is a path to happiness

In Sunstein’s first argument, he asserts that an experience, such as a vacation, provides a lasting memory which can be reflected upon for years to come; whereas a purchase, such as a new car, evokes a temporary happiness to which we become desensitized very quickly. Secondly, he contends that using money to create special treats, combined with a third argument of delaying gratification, will create an anticipation of the future that allows us to be happier in the present. Further, Sunstein insists that spending money to buy time used to spend with friends a family will enhance our abilities to be happier; lastly, that the act of spending

You get so many more opportunities when you have money. For example when you have money you can go on trips. “A memorable trip takes more luster with the passage of time. Even an unpleasant adventure may produce stories that grow in value as the years pass.

Maurie Backman, finance writer for the Motley Fool argues that money can buy happiness - if the money is spent right. To be more specific, money and savings can be used to purchase free time to enjoy some leisure activities, such as buying a new TV to watch better pixelation and broadcasting, watching a movie with close friends, etc. These leisure activities did make people happier, according to a survey of 6,000 adults, which was conducted by researchers at the University of British Columbia and Harvard Business School in the United States, Canada, and Europe. Backman emphasizes, “....part of the reason [Americans] are so behind on savings is because [Americans] are paying for