18 Key Points About Money & Happiness From The Book “Happy Money”

This book is definitely worth the read!

Photo by Fabian Blank on Unsplash

Ken Honda, one of the most popular Japanese authors gathered all the thoughts and experiences related to money and put them in the book “Happy Money: The Japanese Art of Making Peace with Your Money”.

Money and happiness are very much correlated. But how is it that some people are very happy with whatever they earn (doesn’t matter how little) and some aren’t no matter how big they earn? How is it that some people think money is evil while others might think it’s freedom?

Yes, different people have different interpretations of money and this book teaches a lot about one of the most important things about money: “How to make peace with money”.

Did our parents and grandparents influence how we think about money? Does earning a million dollars a month make us happy? Can happiness be achieved even before money comes in life? Is it better to have rich people’s problems than to face poor people’s problems?

While I’d definitely recommend reading the book to know the answers to these questions, here are some important points from that book that I think are worth mentioning:

• Since most of us don’t have a healthy relationship with money, we spend a lot of our precious time worrying about and resenting money. We don’t pay bills. We don’t count the money in our wallets and we avoid looking at our bank statements. And then our problems, like interest, compound.
• In my experience, the people who have the most fun, feel the most confident, and realize it’s just a game always come out ahead. They may not have the most money in the bank, but they remain unattached to the outcome of “winning” or having “the most” and enjoy the process — the give-and-take. They focus on “feeling” like a winner rather than on actually winning.
• The Myth of Scarcity: We believe that if others have a lot of money, they are automatically depriving us of our money. We attach a lot of negative emotions to money when we think of it this way. The scarcity mindset is a belief that there are limited resources in the world and if we don’t get what we want when want it, someone else will.
• Even if you have all the money in the world, if your mind is not free, you lose the real advantages of that wealth. Unless you are able to find freedom in the present moment, you will always come back to the same emotional states even after you win the lottery or get a huge inheritance. Money can buy things that will make you feel happy temporarily, but without true fulfillment that comes from within, true freedom will escape you.
• It doesn’t matter how much you have or make. It is your feelings about money that determine your wealth. If you don’t have a healthy attitude and you feel negative about money, then no amount of money in the bank is going to change your relationship with money.
• I believe money changes its character according to the places and whose hands it is in. So when you are fearful, you project fear onto money — money is no friend to you. If you are happy, money is more likely a joyful force — It’s always going to be there for you.
• Our purpose as humans is to “be”. It means being present in the moment. So much of our stress, anxiety, and unhappiness about money comes from thinking about our past mistakes or harm done to us and needlessly worrying about all the uncertainty of the future. Our past and future selves rob our present selves of happiness when we allow ourselves to get derailed by these negative thoughts. Happiness, then, truly comes from within.
• To love is to have no fear that something will harm or leave you. Love is unconditional acceptance. It’s a willingness to trust that things will work out. It feels like letting go. Love feels a lot like just “being” in the moment — no anger about the past, no worries about the future.
• Making money means being true to yourself and then being able to share your abilities with the world.
• Studies found out that those who were focused not on accumulating things but rather on experiencing things and being fully alive in the present moment (Zen!) felt the best about how they spent their money.
• A salary of $1 million a month in no way guarantees financial freedom. Our toys just get more and more expensive.
• The reality is that no matter how much your income or assets increase, there really isn’t going to be a time where you can just relax and let it all go.
• When you get into the cycle of wanting more, it takes away your ability to recognize what is truly most important in your life.
• But what if I told you it was possible to feel happy before the money even came to you? What if you could look at all you have and say, “It’s enough”? If you believe it’s enough — I mean, truly believe it — then I guarantee you’ll feel happy.
• Without being conscious of why we do what we do, we can’t change what we do.
• Happiness comes from experiences. Happiness comes from being, which implies being with others or doing things that enhance your life.
• You often hear people say things like, “What does that rich person have to complain about? I wish I had his problems!” Well, no, you don’t. Being perpetually bored, feeling useless, and having no purpose and direction is like being a prisoner who’s serving a life sentence.
• The people who express gratitude often and consistently for what they have are the people who end up taking responsibility for their own happiness.

Thanks for reading!!