“He that is of the opinion money will do everything may well be suspected of doing everything for money.” – Benjamin Franklin
I’ve never been one to employ large sweeping generalities. I try to recognize that everyone lives unique lives with unique backgrounds focused on unique passions. We are different in our nationality, our heritage, our gender, our family status, our religion, our culture, and our worldview. But I am becoming increasingly convinced there is one characteristic that unites each of us:
We don’t need more money.
I admit that some have stumbled upon this blog post today who do need money for legitimate survival. But it is probably not you. After all, you clearly have access to the Internet… which doesn’t guarantee you have everything you need for survival, but it sure increases the probability. Add to that the reality that 6 billion people live on less than $13,000/year and Daniel Suelo has survived the past 12 years with no money at all and I’d say chances are pretty good your basic needs are already taken care of.
We don’t really need more money.
But most of us still want it. We’d like more cash in our pocket. We want a bigger paycheck each week. We want a larger balance in our checking account, savings account, or retirement account. And many of us have tied our happiness to this pursuit of money.
Even though our basic needs have been met, our desire for money persists. Far too often, this desire begins to take root as a need inside of us. Before we know it, we forget that we were talking about a want and begin confusing it with a need. But what we need and what we want are rarely the same.
We don’t really need more money. Instead…
- We need to show more spending restraint.
- We need to discover gratitude and contentment.
- We need to practice generosity.
- We need to stop comparing our lives to others.
- We need to change our view of money.
- We need to realize our lives are far more valuable than the amount of money we possess.
Pallav says
Everyone seeking money , because from money we can buy sense gratification sense enjoyment . Everyone want to be the center of attraction .Everyone wants to be master of each other . the feel of self satisfaction should come from inside . One should understand the meaning of life .
Curious says
My husband and I are very content with one another. We don’t go out a lot, and don’t want the coolest and newest gadgets. What we want is to pay off our student loans and to cover rent, food, and utilities. We use coupons, discount grocery stores, cheap recipes, and we only use one room of our apartment (which is already very small) so we only have to heat one room.
Your article smacks of someone who has never really had to go without. Someone who has always been comfortable and could therefore look to reducing their spending. Many people who live on less than $13,000 a year (myself and my husband included) don’t WANT to live on so little. We both work hard every day (and I mean EVERY DAY) to make ends meet. And most people we know feel the same and make as much as we do.
So I applaud the idea of minimalism. We DO need to consume less material, if only from an environmental point of view. But many, many people do without every day and articles like this only serve to make us feel even more disconnected from “The Haves” of society.
Belle says
I typed on my google search ‘I don’t need money’ and this what appeared first… Funny because I only work, maybe 10-20 hrs a week, minimum wage, but contented, fulfilled and very happy. I can work for 40+ every week but that will drain my life and most probably shorten my lifespan. I don’t own a fancy cellular phone, or an expensive laptop.. I don’t even have a car! But seriously, simple life really suits me. I can enjoy a cheap cup of coffee almost every single day, read a book, and watch the world. Yep, I love to look in the skies, the clouds, listen to the birds, etc.
It’s awesome you highlighted the need to change how people view money. Yes we need money to survive, but there are just things in life more worthy than that. What I have is actually more than enough. :)
Betsy says
Go without food for a week and get back with everyone!
Josh Chambers says
I can’t remember where I read it; but I once read that in the 40’s or 50’s if presented with this hypothesis, they would choose option #1:
If your income doubled, would you rather work half the hours? Or work the same and make more money?
People decades ago choose “working half the hours.” People in the past decade chose option two.
Elaina says
Joshua,
Thanks for you’re insightful words of encouragement. I like the point you make towards feeling more gratitude in one’s life. I agree, and its so sad that some folks tend to react with such negativity to a post that is trying to teach us that love, gratitude and family are the main source of happiness, not MORE money..it’s plain to see you are not opposed to making money and providing for yourself and a family, you’re obvious point it to say that more money, leads to more useless stuff, which then leads to being obligated to the stuff- cleaning, looking after and worrying about replacing the stuff when it gets broken, lost stolen etc. Some (not all) people in this society are literally addicted to acquiring things, it helps them numb out, hide behind, and/or keep up with “The Jones” so to speak.. I’m guilty of it from time to time myself:) when what we really need is gratitude, love and a source of passion in our life. Thanks for you’re good work!
Ellen Scott Grable says
Great article Josh. I have been following your blog for a couple of years and I applaud your tackling issues such as the feeling of not having enough money. It is all perspective for those of us with a roof and food. I grow organic food in my tiny garden and prior to that I grew food in containers while living in an apartment. Organic fresh food is far cheaper than angioplasty or diabetes or buying new clothes because we are too fat to fit into our old ones. Restaurant food and fast food and pre-prepared foods cost much more than produce and homemade. I know many families who go fishing after work for that nights’ entree. I often approach homes where there are fruit trees hanging with fruit and ask if I can pick for myself and them. I have never been turned down…creativity is the name of the game not money.
carole says
To do more with less can be a great virtue, no doubt. (Housewives have been doing it for years!) In making my comments, I am not assuming greed or making money to be the focus of our lives, but I am asking the readers to remember we are each tiny economic engines in the greater whole – our collective economy, the fuel of our country, is the sum total of millions of small ones.
If we want our infrastructure to remain vibrant, we must consider that our tax dollars support it.
If we want our schools to remain (become?) the educational bedrock of our future citizens, we must realize our taxes fund it.
If we want to be able to travel across our country, the knowledge that our taxes fund road maintenance and construction cannot escape us.
If we want to be free from the tyranny of other world powers or more local thuggery, we must realize our tax dollars pay for our protection.
If we expect the safety net of social security to be a portion of our support in our pension years, then being able to contribute today is incumbent for tomorrow’s payment.
Tax dollars from property, income and sales fund the good our local, state and federal governments do. Less tax dollars into our coffers equals fewer services out.
No matter your economic situation, we all derive the benefits of those taxpayers before us, and owe it to the next generations to continue to support those missions of our government, despite the fact we may agree or disagree with the administration that happens to be in charge. Currently 49% of Americans pay not federal taxes, yet 63% of us receive some kind of government assistance
Living a life of minimalism can be laudable, especially when excess income is used to support ministries at one’s church or in one’s community or around the world. Striving to do one’s best and deriving an economic benefit from it is not something to shun. We have lost the idea of being good citizens. Citizenship is no longer taught in our schools. The “greatest generation” is now in their late golden years, and there has not been a generation since theirs that has considered duty to country, in all its forms, to be at least as important as duty to themselves.
There are owners of restaurants, small shops, salons, construction companies, car dealerships,producers of luxury goods and other services – all small economic engines themselves – who would love, love, love for people to be spending more money. In doing so taxes are generated and wages can be paid to employees. That is the best road we have to deal with our unemployment issues; it is the best stimulus package. With real unemployment around 23,000,000 people, there are many who could benefit from those of us who can afford to continuing to use the money we have been blessed with to circulate it through the economy.
Nishaa says
Hi Joshua,
I’ve been reading your blog since long, but am commenting for the first time.
Living in India, capital city nonetheless, with two incomes (total still less than 10K $ per annum) and two kids 20 months and 8 months, there is one thing I know, ‘to each his own’.
Yes, our cost of living is less than yours probably, but our culture expects us to maintain a certain standard of living, expects giving within a large joint family and pay for travelling of our parents.Then there’ll be fees and birthday parties for kids (expected socially for important ones like first, fifth and so on). So I’m looking at generating an income of 25K per annum as sufficient. This will not enable us to buy a house or a fancy car but I’ll be happy. I won’t be worrying over fresh fruits for my kids.
So what’s more important is that one should decide a healthy realistic target and than be satisfied with that. pursuit of more and more money will probably be unending.
Thanks,
Nishaa
Nishaa says
Hi Joshua,
I’ve been reading your blog since long, but am commenting for the first time.
Living in India, capital city nonetheless, with two incomes (total still less than 10K $ per annum) and two kids 20 months and 8 months, there is one thing I know, ‘to each his own’.
Yes, our cost of living is less than yours probably, but our culture expects us to maintain a certain standard of living, expects giving within a large joint family and pay for travelling of our parents.Then there’ll be fees and birthday parties for kids (expected socially for important ones like first, fifth and so on). So I’m looking at generating an income of 25K per annum as sufficient. This will not enable us to buy a house or a fancy car but I’ll be happy. I won’t be worrying over fresh fruits for my kids.
So what’s more important is that one should decide a healthy reaistic target and than be satisfied with that. pursuit of more and more money will probably be unending.
Thanks,
Nishaa