People say money can’t buy happiness. I don’t think that’s completely true.
Because money can solve money problems. And money problems can make you deeply unhappy.
You see, I’ve spent a lot of my life thinking about money.
Making it
Losing it
Saving it
Investing it
And worrying about it.
But at some point I realized the goal isn’t to have more money.
It’s to ask what you can do with it that actually makes your life better.
And this is what most people with money get wrong.
Now let me be clear:
If you’re struggling to pay your bills, money has a different job entirely.
You need your active income to be greater than your monthly expenses.
This means what you’re making from your job needs to be more than what you’re spending.
And this isn’t just a “nice-to-have”. It’s the first step you need to take toward financial freedom.
Only once you take that first step are there four ways to intentionally use money to create more happiness:
1. Buy experiences.
Spend money on memories, adventures, meals, trips, and moments with people you love.
You’ll forget most of what you bought this year.
But you won’t forget the trip, the dinner, or the weekend you took off to be somewhere that mattered with people who matter.
For 14 years, I have been taking my family to Anaheim Ducks games.
I live 20 minutes from the Honda Center and 20 minutes from Disneyland.
I’ve lived inside this world with my 2 children.
This is us at the game the other week.
(It’s my dream to buy the Anaheim Ducks and position them as America’s hockey team).
We’ve walked through the Disney parks, watched the games on ice, and made memories as a family that will last a lifetime.
2. Buy back your time.
Pay to remove the things you don’t want to do, so you have more time for the people and work you do want.
Now money can’t buy more time, but it can buy back how you spend the time you have.
Let me give you an example.
This could be:
1/ Hiring a bookkeeper so you stop spending Friday nights punching numbers into spreadsheets
2/ Hiring a cleaner so your weekend isn’t spent scrubbing bathrooms
3/ Paying for meal prep or delivery so you can spend that hour with your kids instead of at the grocery store
4/ Hiring an assistant to manage your calendar, inbox, and travel (this changed my life)
3. Buy financial peace.
Save and invest for your future.
There’s a specific kind of calm that comes from knowing one bad month, one unexpected bill, or one sudden change in your life doesn’t turn into a financial crisis.
This peace is worth more than most of what money buys.
It’s this peace most people do not have today.
And one of the best ways I know to create financial peace today is a transition fund.
A transition fund is when you save 6 to 12 months of expenses.
And it helps you answer these questions:
Can you replace your income for 6 to 12 months?
Can you give yourself time to reinvent yourself or even get a new job?
But instead of leaving your transition fund in a bank account, you can do two things:
Put it in a high-yield savings account because it pays more interest, so your money still grows
Invest in stocks so compounding works in your favor, and you still have access
And when you eventually want to retire, your transition fund will become your freedom fund.
So the sooner you start building, the better.
4. Buy someone a better future.
Now this might be my favorite of all four.
Here’s what buying someone a better future could look like:
Help your parents by paying off their bills
Give someone an opportunity they couldn’t get on their own, like buying them a course
Fund a cause you actually believe in
And give without expecting anything back.
Because after 46 years, this is the secret to happiness I’ve learned:
Feeling happy for other people’s success is the fastest way to find happiness and fulfillment.
And buying someone a better future is one of the best ways to help them become successful.
This is why money itself doesn’t make you happy… but what you choose to do with it can.
This is the rule to write down on paper or save in your phone notes:
Spend your money on things money can buy. Spend your time on things money can’t buy.
If you enjoyed this post, I show you why you need to stop trying to get rich if you want to become financially free in this next one:
Stop trying to get rich if you want financial freedom
Rich, wealthy, and financially free are not the same thing.