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Politics : Idea Of The Day -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: IQBAL LATIF who wrote (47795)	2/13/2005 8:04:19 PM
From: IQBAL LATIF	Respond to of 50167

Wealth and happiness are not the same thing By Nick Louth, MSN Money special correspondent Last updated January 28 2005 Although we spend an enormous amount of time trying to become better off, most of us know instinctively that wealth is nothing to do with happiness. Are we merely after a more comfortable misery, or are we applying our wealth-making skills in the wrong way? The misery of the rich is legendary. The late oil billionaire John Paul Getty was notoriously unhappy and lonely for much of his life. Entrepreneur and socialite Howard Hughes became reclusive and paranoid, while the multi-millionaire pop star George Michael revealed in a recent documentary how his wealth and fame had never made him happy. Smaller wealth, arriving suddenly, can still bring destruction. The tales of many UK lottery winners are replete with envy, spite and family break-up. Yet that hasn’t stopped most of us wanting a slice of the action. Many investors, gamblers and those who play the National Lottery don’t just want to safeguard a comfortable level of income for retirement, they want to become rich. Preferably now. Generosity of the poor Yet many of us who have travelled in poor areas have been amazed at the happiness, generosity and friendliness of those who have almost nothing. While travelling through the high pastures of Uzbekistan in 1991, I met a shepherd who welcomed the entire trekking group - all 15 of us - and crammed us into his tiny hut. He then insisted on giving us a meal, sharing out soup from a single bowl and drawing out one unleavened bread after another from the dried goatskin sack that was presumably meant to sustain him through long summer months. Sunny optimism Optimism, even about personal finances, seems to be widely spread among the population of poorer nations. This is particularly true where those nations have fast-growing economies. A BBC poll of 22 nations, timed to coincide with the Davos World Economic Forum in Switzerland this week, shows that it is in China and India that the greatest optimism over personal economic prospects are to be found. Pessimism was concentrated in nations with static economies, such as Italy and Japan, even though the people that live there are wealthy in global terms. This poll seems to tell us that if money does bring satisfaction, it is the expectation of enrichment rather than the absolute level of wealth which is relevant. What if we all owned a Rolls? Professor Andrew Oswald of Warwick University, who specialises in studies of happiness and well-being, has concluded in a survey published this month that it is our desire for rank which drives our urges to become wealthier. Status and rank mean competitiveness and exclusivity too. Driving a Rolls-Royce wouldn’t be half the pleasure if everyone else had one too; there would be no admiring glances or envious comments to be revelled in. Britons no happier than in the 1950s Timeline surveys bear out the relative nature of satisfaction from wealth. For all the undeniable improvements in health, longevity, wealth and living conditions in Britain since the 1950s, we are apparently no happier. Indeed, some might say that the cult of celebrity and wealth as something we can aspire to rather than being confined to another social class has made us less content with our own financial circumstances. The more that is possible, the less we all seem to have done. Freedom is a non-cash pleasure For many of us, clearly, wealth is not just measured in monetary terms. Quality of life and environment, time to enjoy family and friends, holidays, and freedom from stress are vital. Economic growth allows many of us the choice between higher income or the same income for fewer hours worked. The increased life quality doesn’t show up in the statistics as higher wealth, but exists nonetheless. The investing angle Money may not make us happy but not having enough can make us miserable. A lot of saving and investing is about laying to rest some nagging worries: what would happen if we lost our job, how we can expect to put the kids through college or fund our retirement? Putting down money in advance and making it earn its keep is more about avoiding a few well-defined miseries than guaranteeing happiness. Once those worries are settled, many of us feel it may not be worth sacrificing huge amounts of time and effort in a vain bid to become wealthy. But, if we do end up as rich as Getty, we’ll happily take on whatever problems it brings.