does money buy happiness

"Does money buy happiness?" 

I was asked this question in May of 2021. This was my answer:

In general, every day I have slightly more money than I did the day before. There may be some days I'm down, but the average trend line is moving up and to the right.

And just so we're clear on definitions here, when I say "money" I'm not talking about earned income. I'm talking about assets, about savings, about real wealth.

Am I happier in general than I was when I was in debt? 

No. 

It's a wash. My baseline hasn't budged. An average day today is hardly any different than an average day when I was struggling.

What about the good days? When things are going great, when the entire world seems to be holding the door for me, the days when I open my fast food bag to find the fries are fresh AND there's a bunch of free ones at the bottom for me... Am I happier then? 

Nope. Not really.

But on those bad days... Those dark days... When the chains of depression clamp down around my neck and demand I deliver a three hundred pound key down an eternal staircase to a forbidden sea of self destruction sealed behind a solid door that begs to be unlocked... Does money make me happy then? 

No. 

But before, on those terrible days, I would have to get out of bed anyway. I would have to leave my house, to go to work, to continue on like nothing was wrong. I couldn't afford not to. 

But now when I'm in that place, I can comfortably stay home. I can turn off my phone. I can do exactly what I want to do on those days without fear. And if anybody asks me why, I can answer honestly and say "I didn't feel like it."

Money hasn't bought me happiness, but it does afford me options. And the option to say "no" when I want to has improved my quality of life far beyond anything I could have ever imagined two letters could. 

That is the most valuable thing money can buy.

Not happiness, but freedom to make your own choices.