IMO the saying is more about how when you eliminate the struggle to acquire wealth, there’s less meaning in your day to day life. I’m sure folks like Musk and Bezos for example are looking for something that makes them feel purposeful, like going into space. Not necessarily trying to enrich the lives of others.
I agree though that not having to worry about bills or putting food on the table is it’s own kind of happiness. I think there’s a healthy balance.
I think it is that and a bit about not letting envy of other people’s wealth/property interfere with your ability to be happy, eg: keeping up with the Jones’s. Obviously you can be wealthy and still not be happy (see Kurt Cobain, Robin Williams, etc) but for the vast majority I think the thing is that money, or specifically the lack of it, is the source of a quite a lot of unhappiness. Now, maybe if I had a million dollars, I’d still be a miserable bastard, but given that most of the problems I have now are either directly money related or significantly impacted by the lack of said money, I kind of doubt it.
IMO the saying is more about how when you eliminate the struggle to acquire wealth, there’s less meaning in your day to day life. I’m sure folks like Musk and Bezos for example are looking for something that makes them feel purposeful, like going into space. Not necessarily trying to enrich the lives of others.
I agree though that not having to worry about bills or putting food on the table is it’s own kind of happiness. I think there’s a healthy balance.
I think it is that and a bit about not letting envy of other people’s wealth/property interfere with your ability to be happy, eg: keeping up with the Jones’s. Obviously you can be wealthy and still not be happy (see Kurt Cobain, Robin Williams, etc) but for the vast majority I think the thing is that money, or specifically the lack of it, is the source of a quite a lot of unhappiness. Now, maybe if I had a million dollars, I’d still be a miserable bastard, but given that most of the problems I have now are either directly money related or significantly impacted by the lack of said money, I kind of doubt it.