Do You Have to be Rich to be Happy?

Many of us feel that we will be happy once we get rich.

But is this really true?

Suppose we had all the money in the world and didn’t have to spend our time earning it.

What would we do with our time? Would we end up happy?

A Means to an End

Financial mentor Todd Tresidder tackles these issues in a recent post on financial freedom.

Todd reveals the secret to happiness, and explains how it has nothing to do with money. He shares much of his personal journey.

For Todd, wealth is not an end in and of itself; it is a means to self-discovery:

When I achieved financial freedom and quit working, the biggest realization I had was that I was the same guy. I had the same hang-ups and personal issues facing the same life I had before.  The only difference was now I had a lot more time to wallow in it, and no distractions or excuses from the presumed work-a-day life script to distract me from seeing the truth about my life.

In a nutshell, when you have the financial ability to arrange your life in any way you want, the one thing you lose is any excuse for aspects of your life that don’t measure up.

Therein lies the key.

For many of us, the daily rat race can really be a way to avoid our personal issues.

This is true for people who chase the big deals as much as it is for people who live week to week. Wealth would really just show us that the jig’s up and it is time to look within and find inner peace.

Todd is providing us with extremely valuable words of wisdom.

Justifying the Face Amount

His perspective also gives us insight into why life insurance companies require financial justification for the face amounts of policies.

Insurance companies want a reasonable standard to be met for the calculation of the benefit. They know the moral hazard of people receiving too much money.

This is especially true when minors are designated as the beneficiaries.

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