Does having money translate into happiness?

They have money. Loads of it. But does it translate into happiness?

Long time ago, money mattered more than my relationships

There was a time I was so engrossed in growing my business that I gave little time to my personal relationships, family, friends and even my own health. I started burning out at work to a point where I was no longer productive and I needed to take a pause on everything I was doing to bring back balance into my life. It was a reality check as I asked myself what, why and for whom am I doing all this for? Once you have answers to such deep questions, then you have a clear direction on where you are headed.

Money is a measurement tool of how successful I am and it is the success I achieve that makes me happy.

I place my value on relationships simply because it is the one thing you can’t put a monetary value on.  Relationships take decades to build but can be destroyed in a second. I always say that your network determines your net worth.

Trushar Khetia, founder, chairman and CEO of the Tria Group of companies

 

Money can make you depressed

Money does not equal happiness, but it can be a measure of reward from what you are happy doing. It certainly does not make me sad, and it makes things easier, but it is not the end-all be-all. 

I had to grow into knowing that money in itself did not bring me happiness. When I was younger I was passionate about what I did, but I was also very concerned with the money aspect of it until the day I realised it was not making me happy. I realised I had the money but I was really sad. Making a lot of it but very unhappy. It took a big shift in my mindset to find happiness again. Once I changed my thinking, I was able to handle challenges much better. Now I can understand why famous and wealthy people kill themselves. If you focus on money that way, you will get depressed.

Brian Gacari, CEO Property Reality Ltd (PRC)

 

Freedom means more to me than money

I run a profit-driven business so revenues generated are a key indicator of our success. The company’s success is definitely a source of my happiness. 

I understood that money was not a source of my happiness back when I stopped being employed. Overnight, my income dropped by over 70 per cent, and yet I was even happier than I was when I was earning a lot of money. That’s when I realised how much I valued freedom. Freedom to choose where to focus my energy. Freedom to decide where and how to spend my time. I had to make more conscious decisions about where to spend the limited money I had - and yet that did not impact my happiness in any specific way. I made fewer purchases and could go on fewer holidays, but it was actually a very powerful experience because I learned that I don’t need excessive material wealth to determine the quality of my life. Yes - the basics need to be taken care of. Your family needs a home to live in and food on the table. But beyond the basics you really don’t need that many material “things” to create a happy life.

 Wandia Gichuru, CEO of Vivo Activewear

 

True satisfaction comes from things like having a good family; a good wife and good children

 I grew up in the church, and back then, I thought that if I looked for money I would be happy. Later on, I came to realise that it only gives you small comforts in life. Money just helps you acquire material things but it cannot give you the happiness you desire deep inside you. It cannot give you peace. Prayer, family, charitable work and treating others well does that.

 I place my value in family and in God. If you lose a family member for instance, no amount of money can replace that person, but through prayer you can find comfort. Money helps you relax a little because you can pay bills, but no amount of money can cure someone who has an incurable disease. True satisfaction comes from immaterial things like having a good family - a good wife and good children.

 Money is never enough, but the Bible also says that if you do not work, you should not eat. So you are not supposed to be idle and that is why I keep working, which translates into money. Even the wealthiest people never stop working.

 Kevin Muringa, Group CEO of several companies with interests in construction, transport, real estate, import and export of cereals and  large scale farming in Sudan and Angola

 

New money excites, but old money does not

Money can never be a source of true happiness, because when you start making it, there is a point where you reach an equilibrium. At that point, even if you make more money your happiness doesnot increase. New money excites, but old money does not

  Another reason I've observed with other people it does not bring happiness is that thinking about it too much can bring you to a point of desperation, where you try to do things to make sure the flow of cash is continuous, at the expense of what is really important.

What I value most is health and I am a single parent of a teenage daughter so I value her as well. As long as I can finance day to day activities like security, my residence, clothing, nutrition and fuel for the vehicle, everything else is a bonus.

I still work, because a human being is born to thrive, not to survive, so you have to keep working on your dreams.

Steven Mwanga, businessman in the aviation industry, regional director of Jubilee Party of Kenya and board director Lake Basin Development Authority