What is the real value of money and how it relates to Maslow's hierarchy of needs

Some people have an attitude that “money can’t buy happiness”, while other tend to advocate that “building a career and earning a lot of money should be a top priority since fun and leisure will always be there”. I believe that both of them are very wrong.

Let’s first tackle the first group. When we are hungry and we eat, we feel happiness. When we are cold and we put on our warm jacket or go inside our warm home, we feel happiness. When we can enjoy our hobbies (in my case the Argentinian Tango), we feel happiness. When we travel to an interesting destination of our choice, we most usually feel happiness. When we can feed, warm, and educate our child, we most usually feel happiness. These all cost money. Sure, you can’t go into a grocery shop or a pharmacy and buy three kilograms/pounds of happiness, but we most definitely can and do purchase things and services that make ourselves and our loved ones happy.

As per the second group: no, fun and leisure will not always be there. We have a limited time on this planet and we should not spend all or almost all of it chasing careers and money. Moreover, many activities can only be enjoyed at a young and middle age.

Now that we have (hopefully) written off these extremes, let’s talk about where the optimum is. I believe that, if our basic needs are not met, money can bring us much more happiness than if our basic needs are met. If someone who is penniless, homeless, hungry, dirty, sick, and unemployed receives $10,000 – enough to eat, go to a doctor, by a medicine, rent an apartment, take a bath, buy decent clothes, and look for a job – he will feel much more happiness and his life will objectively improve much more than if a millionaire receives a billion dollars. Thus, I would say that the value of money (from our personal point of view) should decrease exponentially with the amount of money that we already have.

I think that my opinion about the value of money is somewhat confirmed by Maslow's hierarchy of needs. The theory argues that until our physiological needs are met, they are our priority. Once/if they are met, our safety needs become a priority, etc.

Of course, it’s not all so black and white and the exact order might depend on the culture, but the underlying idea is widely accepted by the experts. Obviously, money can buy most of our physiological and safety needs, while it can help much less with our love and belonging, esteem, and self-actualization needs.

Thus, I would like to conclude this article with: give earning money a high priority until your physiological and safety needs are decently met, but after that, focus on enjoying life.

Please let me know:

• How much valuable is money for you?
• What are your priorities in life? No lying! : )
• What do you think about Maslow's hierarchy of needs?

If you liked this post, then you would probably also like my recent article: Controlling dreams – how I managed to overcome my repeating nightmares.

Disclaimer: I don't own any rights to the images used in this article. I just found them online and wanted to share them with you.