"Money is a menace to happiness"

[marketsurfer]

Quote from Gabfly1:

I think the only thing you isolated between these two groups is unhappiness and the need to fill a psychological void with material accumulation. Both are unhappy and will continue to be unhappy because they are aiming at the flames rather than at the source. Happiness will always be just out of reach for them, however far their reach may be. Happy people come in all socioeconomic configurations, as do unhappy people. However, reading about the unhappy rich just gives us more pause because it seems somewhat incongruent and makes us wonder about the source of our own happiness or unhappiness.

And then there is the matter of the unhappy non-rich still having to get out of bed each morning and earn a living to pay their bills and survive. They are forced to live more in the present during such times, and must subordinate their unhappiness for fleeting lengths of time, as they set aside regrets of the past and worries about the future and so on. Whereas the unhappy rich can languish in self-pity more comfortably and devote more time to their unhappiness.

In the end, the people who are genuinely happy, and not just masking the odor of unhappiness, are those who accept themselves and are happy from within. It's all been said before.

Yes, your premise is correct.

However, the rich have more concerns and worries than the poor. Not to mention an entirely different set of needs/wants.

All people are the same, its just different perspectives.

 

[Gabfly1]

Quote from marketsurfer:

...However, the rich have more concerns and worries than the poor...

More? Perhaps. More pressing? That's debatable. The poor worry about the cost of groceries, the cost of their children's education, the cost of medical care, and retiring with dignity and basic comforts like shelter and utilities. By definition, the poor are living on the edge, with the ever present possibility of falling short of life's most basic needs. You know, survival. While the rich don't concern themselves with such base trivialities, they must turn their attention to the latest fashion trends, being invited to the right parties and making X multiples of all the money they will ever need to live their lives in whatever manner they choose. You know, "self-actualizing." Perhaps the rich have more worries because they have more choices. If you try not to make light of the worries of the poor, I'll try not to make light of the worries of the rich.