With the holiday season now behind us, many of us have hit the ground running in the new year. I’ve dived back into my full-time Spanish classes, while a friend of mine lamented how he’s swamped with work—just one week into January.
For most, the two or three weeks of holiday vacation probably feel like a blur. As we settle back into our routines, it’s worth asking: how many of us truly had time to enjoy the record-breaking $1.2 trillion spent during 2024’s holiday retail season?
Don’t get me wrong—it’s wonderful to express love and affection through gift-giving. But let’s not forget that some of life’s most meaningful treasures can’t be wrapped up in a box or bought with a credit card. Unlike material gifts, which often bring fleeting joy (if we even have the time to enjoy them), these five things money can’t buy have the power to make a profound and lasting impact on your life and happiness.
1) Money Can’t Buy You The Good Life
One of the biggest misconceptions about money is that it gives you an automatic ticket to the good life. It’s definitely true that money can buy you a lot of things – it should even make your life better. But as you’ll see by the end of this article – it can’t buy you everything.
I can point to countless examples of the shortcomings of money:
There’s my old pal who became an overnight millionaire and seemingly became more isolated and unhappy. Or, many of our darling CEOs, with median earnings of $169,879 – in which about 50-60% of them report having mental health issues. And not to mention those admired athletes and celebrities, many of which who seem to always be embroiled in problems related to legal battles, substance abuse, sexual misdoings, infidelity, and countless other scandals.
We normal people often look up to the rich, aspiring to have their money. Many people even spend their entire lives chasing money – thinking that if they only had more, they will eventually be okay. Then, they get the amount they think they need, and they keep chasing more because the previous amount didn’t truly make their lives better.
Why might this be?
Well, money serves a limited purpose. It buys you a lot of nice things. But as I’ll discuss in the next few sections, there are things that money can’t buy that if we lack, our lives will never be better. Let’s keep moving for a discussion on what those things might be.
2) Money Can’t Buy Lasting Happiness
How much money does it take to buy happiness? It seems the jury is still out. We’ve heard frequently that it’s $75,000. But I’ve seen others mention that it takes half a million dollars. So what gives, what amount do we really need?
All over the world there are people trying to solve the equation – stuck in a cycle of earning and spending – thinking the next item on their list will be the thing that will finally end their quest for lasting happiness. If only they can earn increasingly more money, then maybe they can buy even bigger and better things because the things they previously bought didn’t make them as happy as they thought they would.
Sadly, most of these people don’t know they are riding along the hedonic treadmill – the proven fact that earning more money and buying more things only momentarily increases a person’s happiness before they gradually return to their baseline happiness level. Like hamsters in a wheel, on and on they will go.
Breaking this cycle starts with recognizing that money can’t buy happiness.
Instead of trying to spend our way there, we must cultivate fulfillment primarily from within. Learning to appreciate the good that we already have. Spending time with family. Connecting with nature. And striving to be virtuous in a world full of chaos are all things that can give us the lasting happiness we usually try to purchase with money.
The good news is all of these things are free.
3) Money Can’t Buy Real Love
Lots of people, mostly men, have the misconception that money is the thing that will buy them love. Perhaps if they can earn enough, people will flock to them ready to be swept off their feet, happily ever after.
We’ve even told men that making a lot of money somehow makes them higher value than others, and thus better candidates for real affection.
It’s true, money will certainly bring you more attention. It’ll even make people seem to like you. But genuine love isn’t transactional. All over the world, people with far less wealth experience deep, meaningful love, proving that money is not the currency for true connection.
I’ve put this table to together to compare divorce statistics between the United States and a few rich and poor countries – take a look:
The U.S. , with the highest average salary on the list also has the highest divorce rate creeping above 40%. Meanwhile, the average salary in India is only around $3,500 per year, yet they boasts a divorce rate of just 1%—a fraction of ours.
Similarly, in Vietnam, where the average salary is about $4,000 annually, the divorce rate remains under 3%. And Ethiopia, with an average income of just $900 per year, also has a divorce rate of about 1%.
If nothing else, these examples show that love and long-lasting relationships are often rooted in cultural values and emotional bonds, not the financial wealth that we so intensely focus on above all else.
4) Money Can't Buy True Friendship
I once knew a guy who bought a humongous boat which he thought would garner the admiration of all of his friends and entice them to join him on his boat even though all of his friends also had their own boats which they beloved in spite of being a fraction of the size and far less sophisticated.
This guys mindset was that having the biggest, nicest boat would mean everyone would automatically flock to him. But what he failed to recognize was that all of his friends preferred to be around people who were willing to share time with them based on mutual regard – not boat size.
Contrary to what he thought would happen, most of that guy’s friends started to avoid him once he had the boat because they didn’t want to be around someone who worked so hard to 1-up everyone else.
The moral of that story is that true friendship is created by things that can’t be bought with money such as shared interests and experience, mutual respect, trust, positive regard, and opportunities for growth.
Aristotle once wrote that friendships such as these that are both pleasurable and virtuous.
Like the guy with the boat, I’ve seen people try to circumvent the establishment of real friendship – thinking having or showing off their money can buy them friends. Sadly, the attempt to impress people into liking or respecting them usually repels those looking for genuinely authentic friendships, or they end up with what Aristotle calls friendships of utility – a group of hanger-oners and users who are only there to take advantage of the situation until the benefits run out.
5) Monet Can't Buy Purpose
Imagine for a moment you became rich doing a job you don’t really love—let’s say, as a social media influencer, since it’s such a popular path these days. You spot an opportunity, seize it, and a few years later, you’re raking in millions of dollars per year. Would you feel fulfilled?
Most people might say yes, blinded by the allure of the money. But what’s often overlooked are the tremendous sacrifices you’d have to make—sacrifices in time, energy, attention, and relationships. In other words, wealth always comes at a cost.
Now, consider a different scenario. What if your true dream was to be a chef?
Maybe you always envisioned running a cozy restaurant with your best friend or sibling—something you two used to fantasize about, even sketching out business plans back in the day. Fast forward, and while you’ve become the big-shot influencer, your best friend pursued that dream. They opened the restaurant you once planned together. They’re not rich by your standards, but they’re debt-free, content, and doing what truly gives them purpose.
Whose shoes would you rather be in? For me, the choice is clear…
There’s something far worse than being stuck in a regular job you dislike: being trapped in a lucrative career that everyone else assumes you love, but deep down, you don’t.
True purpose isn’t something money can buy—it’s about doing what you should love, living authentically, and finding meaning in the journey, not just the paycheck.
The Best Thing Money Can Buy Is Time
This post has focused on the things money can’t buy, but what about what money can buy? Beyond the material possessions that come a dime a dozen—cars, TVs, and iPhones—there’s one thing money can buy that’s truly priceless: time.
Most of us spend the bulk of our lives working, often in jobs we don’t enjoy, hoping to one day retire and finally have the time to travel, relax, pursue passions, or be with family. But what many don’t realize is that money, when used wisely, can buy us the time we crave long before retirement.
By saving well, anyone can begin to reclaim their time. Savings provide the freedom to explore hobbies, take trips, or enroll in classes without financial worry. It can also create a buffer to leave jobs we dislike and find work we genuinely enjoy.
For those dreaming of early retirement, disciplined saving and investing can buy decades of financial independence—or at least allow us to focus on meaningful, productive work without the stress of financial constraints.
The key is shifting our mindset. Instead of seeing money as a tool for acquiring things, we should see it as a means to buy time—time to live intentionally and align our lives with what truly matters. By doing so, we transition from being mere consumers to purposeful producers, using money not just to spend but to save, invest, and build a life of real value.
There can be no better argument, time is unequivocally the most valuable thing money can buy.