This is an interesting article written by Suze Orman about how money factors into your ability to be happy.

We’ve all heard that “money can’t buy happiness”, and this might well be true; but for those of us who struggle to make ends meet, money surely can make the road to happiness less bumpy and riddled with obstacles and I for one would have no objection to being able to travel on a smoother road as I make my journey to the light.

I don’t think that material things will make me happy, but I do think that the knowledge that I can afford whatever I want is more calming than the opposite. Being at a place in life where you cannot afford to pursue happiness sucks. What having money does is frees you from the worries that plague you month after month so that you can afford time to pursue happiness.

I’ve had people tell me that I can still pursue happiness even when faced with the reality of not knowing if I’ll be able to pay my rent, afford food, keep the utilities running. And considering my own opinion is that we can use our mind to our benefit or detriment by thinking thoughts that uplift and inspire or thinking thoughts that destroy, I won’t argue that it’s not possible to be happy even when life is a daily struggle; but how much more at ease would you be if you didn’t have those financial worries. How much calmer would your mind be? How much more able to relax and enjoy the days of your life? Money might not be able to buy you happiness, but it can buy you the ingredients to help you make happiness. The rest is up to you.

To read Suze Orman’s article click below:
http://finance.yahoo.com/columnist/article/moneymatters/7858

Other articles on the subject of money and happiness

Money can buy happiness
John Silveira

The results are in: money can buy happiness, but it doesn’t come cheap. Not only that, the amount of happiness your money can buy can be measured.

Money ‘can buy you happiness’
BBC News

They say “money can’t buy you happiness” but researchers have proved the opposite.
Winning just £1,000 can be enough to change a person’s outlook on life, suggests the study by researchers at the University of Warwick.

Can money buy happiness?
medicalnewstoday.com

Financially richer people tend to be happier than poorer people, according to sociological researcher Glenn Firebaugh, Pennsylvania State University, and graduate student Laura Tach, Harvard University. Their research is focused on whether the income effect on happiness results largely from the things money can buy (absolute income effect) or from comparing one’s income to the income of others (relative income effect).

Money Can Buy Happiness
theconnection.org

Somewhere along the way, some wise person in your life, probably your mother, told you that money doesn’t buy happiness. And you believed her. Now researchers say that isn’t exactly true; money can in fact buy happiness, sort of.

Maybe Money CAN Buy Happiness
Steve Gillman

Can money buy happiness? It’s easy to say no, and probably correct, but that’s just a way to stop thinking about the tougher issues. What is your relationship to money, for example, and how do you use this most powerful of worldly tools?

Maybe you see that chasing after money for its own sake is destructive, but isn’t it equally damaging to have such a powerful instrument in your hands while pretending it has no importance?