Comments on: The Things Money Can’t Buy

By: DougR

DougR — Fri, 26 Nov 2010 14:17:23 +0000

Here’s a silly little thing I do every morning. I usually have multiple tabs open on the browser, so I “visit” (via webcam) four or five places around the US, and watch them as the day goes on. I see the sun come up, the midday weather, see the sun go down. Somehow it helps me keep a “big picture” view in mind, and it also helps me feel my place in the world. (The places I visit are the Great Smoky Mountains, Livingston Montana, Jackson Wyoming, and Glacier National Park, but there are lots of webcams all over the world ready to give you a glimpse into an exotic “someplace else,” on an hourly or daily basis.)

By: erskine

erskine — Sat, 24 May 2008 19:18:48 +0000

to gayl: this a universal truth, we are more aware of our existence in the moments when we realize we won’t live forever and we appreciate something or someone in the moment when we’ve lost it. Unfortunately, nowadays people live as if they would never die and die as if they have never lived!

By: love muffin

love muffin — Mon, 05 May 2008 04:37:09 +0000

Love the Simple Dollar….Thank you Trent.
I consider myself an emotionally available/healthy person…So I am going to adapt your list to read:

1. Laugh
2. Think
3. Sweat (do something physical)

every day.

By: Michelle

Michelle — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 05:10:03 +0000

Trent I turn to this site for daily money tips, but I have to admit I love when you switch it up. Thanks for this post — it puts a lot of things in perspective. :)

By: Linda

Linda — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 22:08:48 +0000

I sort of agree with jm #24 about the manic-depressive disorder. I feel like Robert DeNiro in ANALYZE THIS because my emotions are so out of control. I do not think that crying at the drop of a hat is a good thing. I also realize that job or health or family issues beyond our control have emotional repercussions and sorrow is better expressed than denied.

In any event I hope that I will soon be able to not cry every day. It is extremely annoying to me. It is great to see that crying a lot may not be the earmark of a total loser.

Thanks.

By: jm

jm — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 19:38:14 +0000

“You do that seven days a week, you’re going to have something special.”

You do that seven days a week, and you should seriously consider looking into treatment for your manic-depressive disorder.

By: Michelle

Michelle — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 16:13:14 +0000

My fiance and I play a game with each other that every night we tell each other the happiest, funniest, and saddest thing that happened to us each day. It really allows us to connect and makes you think of the little things that are easy to pass up.

By: The Personal Financier

The Personal Financier — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 12:54:41 +0000

I recently read an article in the NY times about how money does indeed buy happiness. It’s more of a relative income sort of thing but it’s still better to be rich and healthy than poor and sick.

I agree there are things money can’t buy. But the lack of money doesn’t make them any more viable. Or does it?

Great post.

By: Writer's Coin

Writer's Coin — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 11:57:47 +0000

I love that video, every time I see it I feel guilty for ever complaining about any of the really insignificant things we all complain about in life.

By: Antishay

Antishay — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 10:21:00 +0000

Thank you for posting that video – I would have never seen it otherwise. I got my cry in for the day!

I’ve been thinking about how much I really embrace life and try to live to the fullest. Some people I know recently decided to tell me that they all admired me for being so open, and so vulnerable to life (after all, I do cry, think and laugh a ton every day) and your post strongly reminded me of that conversation. There’s something to be said for actually LIVING.

Thank you so much for posting all of this. Hopefully some of your readers will take time to start feeling alive again, and take to heart what you’ve said. :D

By: fay

fay — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 05:33:49 +0000

Camilla,

our thoughts are with you, stay strong for your husband and never give up hope

By: Ro

Ro — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 02:39:08 +0000

Camilla: Thoughts and prayers to you and your husband.

Trent: Great post!

By: gr8whyte

gr8whyte — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 21:29:20 +0000

Money isn’t everything. Sooner or later, time will become more valuable than all the money in the world which is mostly why I took early retirement. I saved from habit without intending early retirement but a co-worker suggested that I look into all my options when our organization was privatized in 2006. Thought things through and time won over everything else. I bailed. Since then, I’ve thought a few times about what might have been had I not retired. No regrets whatsoever.

By: Gayle

Gayle — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 20:57:29 +0000

Camilla: My heart and prayers to you both. My partner was diagnosed with leukemia (CML) on 9/11 and it felt like the drama and pain of the nation was being acted out on the private stage of our lives. He was 29, survived to receive a bone marrow transplant, then passed away less than a year later in 2002. 4/24 would have marked his 36th birthday, and I still miss him dearly.

I look back on that time as some of our best. You’re absolutely right, the experience changes you. And you pay more attention to the little things. We had many wonderful, memorable times before he was diagnosed, but those that came after seem so much more powerful if only because we were more aware of our mortality.

By: NED

NED — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 18:54:36 +0000

Camila: My heart goes out to you. I had lost my maternal grandmother to leukemia when I was 10 and sometimes, in the quiet hours of the night, I can recall that deep sense of loss I felt then.

Death truly opens the eyes; It is ironic, but I feel that experiencing a death is the fastest way to know what makes us happy… Now you just have to remember what you have seen and grasp that bit of happiness.

By: NED

NED — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 18:48:16 +0000

7 Things to be done everyday* (A “summary”):
————————————————–
1. Laugh
2. Cry
3. Think
4. Brush your teeth
5. Bathe
6. Sing
7. Read The Simple Dollar

*Disclaimer: You can do some of the above at the same time but attempting to do everything together can result in lockjaw + a speed pass to the nearest Acme Asylum.

By: !wanda

!wanda — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 18:21:23 +0000

I really appreciate my mom and tell her every week. My dad, on the other hand, spent maybe half of my childhood overseas. That’s OK, because I’ve seen how he is with children and decided that I appreciate the fact that graduated from college debt-free with all the extra money he made more than I would have appreciated him living in the same house as me. I don’t think he wants to hear that, though.

By: !wanda

!wanda — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 18:17:48 +0000

““research consistently shows that there is at least some correlation between having money and being satisfied with life.”

That’s only true up to the point that your basic needs are covered. In other words, the middle class is generally happier than those in poverty. After that, there’s not a whole lot of correlation.”

More recent research indicates that Trent’s statement may not be true- that beyond that point, money can make for a happier life. After all, not being stressed about money shouldn’t be bad for you. Anyway, how money influences happiness and how other factors like culture influence that relationship is an active area of economics and social sciences research.

By: Daniel

Daniel — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 17:27:08 +0000

“Tell someone that they inspire you.”

Trent, today, for me, that is you. This comment thread has given me a great idea for a post.

Well, actually I was going to comment back, but once I realized I was gonna be at like 900 words…

Anyway, thanks for the though provoking post!

By: Sandeep Goswami

Sandeep Goswami — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 17:25:51 +0000

Great thought provoking post!