Does Control of Your Finances Make You Happier?

I've talked a ton about how money and happiness are/aren't related -- mainly, if there's a relationship between the two and what the extent of that relationship is. Well, here's some new light on the issue from the book The Net Worth Workout: A Powerful Program for a Lifetime of Financial Fitness (see my rating for details):

According to Money magazine, control of your finances plays a bigger role in determining how happy you are than control of your job, health, friendships, or weight.

So maybe it's not having more money that makes you happier, maybe it's having more CONTROL over your money that makes you happier.

Hmmmmm.

I'd personally say that there is some correlation between having control over your money and happiness. I've lived without control of my money and lived with control of my money, and having control is certainly better. I found it miserable having my finances out of control (though my situation wasn't drastic by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, what I call out-of-control, many people today might call in control.) ;-)

That said, I still stand by my original opinion that having more money (up to a certain point) will make people happier. After that point is reached (I'm not sure I can say what it is in monetary terms -- it may be different for every person), more money will not result in much, if any, additional happiness.

Does this make any sense to anyone or am I off my rocker? What do you think about the relationship between money and happiness?

Comments

[bree]

Definitely. Although the reality check of tracking income and expenses and calculating the total amount of debt we have was scary, facing that and making a plan to improve our financial situation has made me less anxious in many ways, and has changed my outlook on life. I find happiness in different things than I used to, I think. I feel happy when I can pay off a big chunk of my credit card bill, for example, or when we eat a meal at home instead of going out. Having set financially responsible goals, I feel rewarded when I do things that I know helps me achieve them. When you don't really have goals, or when your goals are more materialistic, you never feel satisfied - there's always something more to buy or another movie to see.

[Moneymonk]

Control of my finances makes me sleep better at night

[The Financial Ladder]

It has been statistically proven that the more money a person has, the better they sleep at night...

[Rick]

Perhaps we can extend this to married couples. A large percentage of divorces happen because of financial disagreements. Perhaps one spouse leaves because he/she doesn't feel he/she has enough control over what happens with the money their spouse makes. Maybe we can fix that by -- and I've seen this recommended elsewhere -- that each spouse have control over a portion of the household budget (he pays the rent; she buys the food).

[Bill]

Ultimately I think "control" is an illusion. We rarely really control much of anything outside of ourselves. But what control that I do have, i.e. budgeting etc, does give me more peace. I am not very happy, nor do I have much joy when I "feel" out of control with my money. And this happens when I am not doing the discipline of budgeting. So in a sense, controlling or managing the disciplines in my life, like budgeting, does give me joy.

I hope what I just said isn't as clear as mud?