“Content makes poor men rich; discontent makes rich men poor.”
–Benjamin Franklin
The degree to which we are content and happy in life has little to do with what we possess. Generally speaking, people with vast sums of money are no happier than those who have only enough money to live comfortably. Those who live in large, expensive houses are no happier than those who live in modest homes. And those who have achieved fame are usually not happier than those who are not known beyond their home community.
Happiness is not dependent upon how much we have or who we are once we reach a level of income that adequately provides for our basic needs. Extreme poverty is a source of unhappiness. If we do not have enough to eat or adequate housing, it is virtually impossible for us to be happy, and we should never be content with such a lifestyle. However, once we attain enough income to pull ourselves beyond the poverty level, additional income plays a smaller and smaller role in our happiness, and when we reach the level of living that most of us would think of as a comfortable lifestyle, additional income probably does not yield much additional happiness.
This is contrary to popular belief. The vast majority of people seem to believe that if only they had just a little more money or a little more status, they would be happier. But when they get that additional income or status, they find that they still feel the need for just a little more. Sociological studies have shown over and over that no matter what our income, most of us believe that we need just a little more in order to be truly happy. A person with an income of $200,000 feels almost as much need for more money as a person with an income of only $20,000.
The basic problem is that when we are unhappy with our lives and feel a need for change, it seems to be almost a universal belief that the change we think we need in order to be happy is to have more money and status. But more money and more status almost never bring the happiness that people believe they will. It has been said that happiness is very much like a butterfly. As long as we continue the chase, it is always just beyond our reach. But if we sit quietly for a moment, it may come to rest on our shoulder.
Happiness is a way of traveling, not the destination itself. One of the great ironies of life is that those people who focus on helping others instead of pursuing their own happiness almost always become happy people, and those people who spend their entire lives focusing on becoming happier by acquiring more wealth almost never find happiness. Wise old Ben Franklin recognized this more than 200 years ago. Why is it that so many of us are still unable to see it?
Think about it.
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Copyright 2026
Allen W. Smith
