If Money doesn’t Make You Happy; Then Your Not Spending It Right Critique Essay

The belief that money lead to ultimate happiness was circulated among mankind and perceived as the essence of life, this can be seen in the quote: â€Å"Money makes the world go round†. Upon reading this quote , one begins to think that money is the everlasting physical material that brings happiness. However, Money is only tangible and can disappear overnight. William Durant, founder of GM and Chevrolet, said â€Å"Money is only leaned to a man. He comes into the world with nothing and leaves with nothing†. This indicates how one spends this tangible curse to pursue the thought of happiness. Throughout Dunn’s writing, the thought that spending money in a diverse manner brings happiness appears in numerous positions and to emphasis this stand it firstly appears in the title , â€Å"If Money Doesn’t Make You Happy, Then You Probably Aren’t Spending It Right†. Happiness-according to Dunn- through money, can be decanted through 8 different â€Å"Principles†: 1) Buy more experiences and fewer material goods. (2) Use ones money to benefit others rather themselves (3) Buy many small pleasures rather than fewer large ones (4) Eschew extended warranties and other forms of overpriced insurance (5)Delay consumption (6) Consider how peripheral features of their purchases may affect their day-to-day lives (7) Beware of comparison shopping (8) Pay close attention to the happiness of others. These are semi accurate ways spending money the right way and I agree with most of them; yet, some of these point I find quite contradicting. Because the nature of mankind does not agree with such perfect attributes and that one must obtain to have a more enjoyable life. Principle 1: Buy more experiences and fewer material goods. This is the utmost correct statement ever known to man when they want to spend money. The point directs us to a human natural instinct: boredom. Once a human is bored or tired of something, then that person will get rid of that object. For example; a plasma TV was bought , and it is an enjoyable device to a certain point. The TV owner would want to replace that TV with something productive and more efficient. This principle is showing that instead of buying something tangible and replaceable, one should consider something more everlasting like a memory of going to the lake fishing. Memories are not forgotten; they riddle and disintegrate over time but immortal as long as one keeps up with these  memories. Principle 2: Use ones money to benefit others rather themselves. In my opinion, this is only achieved with a perfect world containing angles as its citizens. The reality is that money isn’t spent due human nature † greed†. There are still some saints in the world that are willing to give their wealth to the unfortunate but At the end of the day one must put into consideration that bills must be paid at the end of the month and food must be placed on the table at the end of the night. According to CNN Money Network statistics, 28% of all Americans have emergency savings – savings that will last for 6 months. which means when 72% of the population lose their jobs living necessary will be excluded with if they don’t find another job in less than a month. viewing it from a different perspective ; 72% of Americans live from paycheck to paycheck. With whatever there is leftover it is either going to the person or children’s saving account or for a trip for themselves or family. The author indicated the feeling and satisfaction one gets when helping someone for example donating to others as a warm or irreplaceable feeling. Principle 3: Buy many small pleasures rather than fewer large ones . Understanding this means that smaller pleasures last longer or become more embedded into our mines and life styles; due to the fact that, these small pleasures are more frequent and enjoyable. For instance, one might go out with a colleague for coffee every morning just about every day-supposing that one has an innocent crush on the other; it is better than going to that person out of the blue and asking the other for dinner. first, you have made a common ground with that natural frequency of $5 a day for two cups of coffee- so that means that you are less likely to be rejected completely. second, it is cheaper than one impressive dinner that might be in the $80-$90 dollar range. This is true to a certain point; if you have a family trip every year to the most casual tourist traps could be a lot more cheaper than one big one every two years to some where exotic and fun. I have personally performed interviews with people from the upper, middle , and lower classes. surprisingly the upper and lower class citizens both have the same mentality; which was frequent but cheap trips. The reasoning behind this -in my opinion- is to break the cycle of work, and sleep. Even though the middle class is known to everyone of being the hard working class . looking at the middle class, they prefer one big trip every once a year. this  shows that they first must insure themselves and their family before performing any drastic moves. Principle 4: Eschew extended warranties and other forms of overpriced insurance. People must have some kind of insurance to back the citizens up against any miscellanies accidents from heart attacks to explosions. the problem lies within the citizens themselves. as we hear through the media that almost 20% of Americans don’t have insurance; for instance if a family member had a bad illness then all of the member in that family would suffer the consequences of the medical bill. Due to medical prices nowadays, if you’re not insured than get prepared for the worst once an accident happens. Principle 5: Delay consumption. The very straight translation of this is in one quote: â€Å"don’t spend what you don’t have†. Marketing is a technique to lure the innocent and naive to falling prey to these falls advertising from the big monopolies. this point is the second most important point that humans do not realize. debt is something no one should endure and struggle through; it might be a grace if done once or twice for example: car loans, mortgage, credit cards. however, it will be the inferno once a standard Joe does not keep up with his bills because then all of those payments plus the interest on them will engulf that person till he/she is worn out or dead. Principle 6: Consider how peripheral features of their purchases may affect their day-to-day lives Third most important principle -in my opinion; finding the effects of irresponsible spending on someone’s life. this shows that one must know what they’re going to buy before and the effects of that purchase. There is a local quote: â€Å"Do not shop at a grocery store when you’re hungry†. the meaning behind this quote links most of these principles together; if you shop when you’re, most likely:1) you’re going to buy a lot (2) once you buy a lot then you do not know how much your spending, (3) most of that food you bought you will eat but some will be thrown away. Principle 7: Beware of comparison shopping. this principle shows how one of the fallacies come into place: ad hominem. online shopping lets you compare products from different manufactures and compare them together. wondering how ad hominem comes to place; let’s take this example: Joe wants to buy a car but he does not know what to look for; so he goes to an online website that can compare cars together. The first car he looks at is awesome but it has a leading competitor so the car manufactures put the flaws in that leading competitor car, and vice versa.  they both attack each other than using the positive attributes of each car are. it is a psychological brain attraction; by altering the context of the paragraph -by choosing the right words- the customer is in their grasps. Principle 8: Pay close attention to the happiness of others. this simply means that one must consider other people’s opinions before buying a product or service. this is also considered to be an ad hominem and moral equivalence; the reason is because we rely on hearsay not actual facts. it is a way of marketing to discredit an institution of whatever and whomever it is. The essay shows how spending money in certain ways can be effective to one’s life style; bringing about more happiness according to Dunn through 8 Principles. the problem with that is that human nature most of the time cannot be predictable; so generalizing how one should spend their money to achieve happiness is not the way to going about; more like it is how can one achieve happiness at minimal spending.