Money and Happiness
A  little side-story on the relationship of money to happiness                        

     My friend Mike inherited lots of dough at an early age.  Recently,
he bought his own tropical beach front property.  He built a really neat
house right on his beach, in Panama.  I've yet to see it, but supposedly
it even has two little guest houses--one attached to each side of the
main house's big front porch, via walkways.  Even has his own sunken
ship in shallow water out front on the reef (which would make for great
SCUBA diving right from the beach!)

Unlike Mike, you and I have to forge our own way to our dreams...

Which is actually A.O.K, because if you can stroll through life and pick
out anything you want without having to earn it, you won't appreciate
things near as much.*  

But you knew that.  

* You notice this 'truism' in Mike:  He smokes like a chimney, doesn't ever exercise and generally makes no effort at extending his life or the quality of it; he's not very enthusiastic about just being alive. But he spends his money in an obvious effort to find happiness.  When the Shelby GT Mustang came out--in limited numbers--he was the first to pay the extra $10K over MSRP for the privilege of owning one.  After delivery, same Mike.

What most of us need to be reminded of is that money and the things
that money buys will not make you happy;  Not for long, anyway.  Not
unless you are already happy! 

Isn't that crazy?  But it's true.  You've gotta have a good attitude to
begin with to be able to even 'accept' the spoils of money...much less
expect any boost to your overall happiness.

It's also been shown time and time again that lottery winners are no
happier after the initial euphoria over their windfall wears off,
than before their 'ship came in.' 

          Earned His Wealth And Now He's Happier
               ...because He Was Never Unhappy!

      Contrast the above examples with another friend.  Tim had every
reason to not be happy:  He was booted out of the military for flunking
a urinalysis for pot.  Afterwards, he tried to start his own business but
promptly went bankrupt.  But Tim would not give up and tried to re-
start the same business, also resulting in bankruptcy.  You'd think he'd
try something different, but after his third bankruptcy he was back at
it...

But after starting with no money and no credit, no formal education,
no 'gift of gab' (Tim was no smooth-talker and no public speaker)--he
became another example of why success is 10% inspiration and 90%
perspiration...

Fast forward to 2006 when he recently sold his company for over 30
million bucks!  (I would tell you the name of the company but I want
to protect his privacy.)

I know Tim really well, and he seems a little happier now...more
"satisified," more "contented."  Because he earned it.   But he's
always been basically happy, and no amount of debt and no amount of
money would have, could have changed that.  From his struggling years
to now, same Tim.