Earn More Money or Save More Money?

If you had the choice of increasing your salary or being able to save a larger percentage of your salary; what would you choose. Which would you rather do? I bet most of you would chose to give yourself a big raise. Everyone wants to make more money, right?
I would choose the opposite. I would like to be able to save more to retire earlier and reach my goal of making one million dollars sooner. I would rather focus and concentrate on the important things in my life than be distracted and obsessed by the latest gadget on the market.
One of the biggest problems people confront is advertising that creates a perfect fictional reality. A reality that can not exist without Hollywood magic, one that causes us to constantly want more, bigger, better, newer things. We are always trying to out do the Joneses (our neighbors and friends) prove to them we are better off, more hip, trendier, whatever you want to call it. We end up buying things that we really don't need in the first place, but we are convinced by advertising that we do.
These things these prized possesions can take up space in our lives and hearts and may crowd out the people and relationships that really matter. Do you really need a cell phone that can - play music, give directions, surf the internet, check email, take pictures, text etc. How did junkies get their fix before the Crackberry? Do you even really need a cell phone (probably, your saying I just need it for emergencies right). How did we survive before the invention. Are the trivial 2 minute conversations even necessary? Are we dumbing down our speech to some sort of diluted short-hand, brb, lol. I digress. Sometimes I wonder if some of the things that we use everyday improve the quality of our lives? Or did we get duped into thinking this new technology improves our life, when it really isolates us or consumes us.

What do you think?

The 4 Hour Work Week?

How Many Hours do you work a week? Tim Ferris thinks you should only be working 4 hrs a week. Check out his book The 4 Hour Work Week to find out why. I work about 45-50 hrs a week and get paid overtime.

Can money buy Happiness?

Question of the day.

I believe money can not buy happiness. Material things can bring us pleasure for a sort time but in the end we still long for something more. What is that something more? How do we avoid falling into the trap of trying to keep up with the illusion that advertisers create? Connecting with real people in person. True friends and family to share life with, to communicate our feelings, fears, goals, etc. We are a social society and many of us want to below to a group and fit in. TV commercials brainwash us to feel inadequate. The commercials teach us to always be wanting, craving, needing more to feel "good". But after buying the products we never truly feel "good", we are not truly complete, rather we feel empty and unsatisfied. What good is all the money in the world if you have no one to share it with? That is the reason that I think money can not buy happiness, sure it can make a lot of things easier, but some of the best parts in life are when we reach deep down inside and struggle to overcome the odds.

What do you think?

Can money buy happiness?