What is Financial Happiness?
I saw this quiz about financial health/happiness by an author that I follow. While we all might want to be millionaires, the point that is being made is that we should all work harder at having a healthy relationship with money. A health relationship with money is more important than accumulation.
Let's do a quick 10-question quiz to see if you are happy with your financial situation and whether you have a healthy relationship with money:
- Do I have enough cash on hand to cover any emergencies?
- Do I have enough for a reasonable standard of living in retirement?
- Can I easily afford small luxuries?
- Can I give 2% of my income to charity (excluding church) without trepidation?
- Is my marriage free from fights over money?
- Do my friends think I am a generous person?
- Do I wear clothes I want to wear?
- Do I derive pleasure from using the money I earn to buy material things?
- Am I debt-free, or close to it?
- Do I invest in tax-advantaged retirement accounts to the best of my ability?
I could actually go on, but you get the picture. If you can answer yes to most or all of these questions, then money is your friend. It works for you—you don't work for money.
This is a much better yardstick of success than being a millionaire.
Here is hoping that you can answer yes to most of the questions above. If not, I urge you to connect with a financial planner to help you outline a path so that in the future, you will be able to say that you have a healthy relationship with money.