I can’t recall many days in detail from my time working as a sales rep, but one moment is burned into my memory with white-hot intensity.

I was called to a meeting with my boss, where I was told that as a result of a very profitable year, all the staff were getting bonuses. I walked out of that room knowing that an unexpected $2,000 was going to hit my bank account that night.

Did I say I walked? That’s so not right.

I mean, I might have been walking on the outside. But on the inside, I was floating-dancing-celebrating - completely euphoric with Sudden Money.

Previous niggling worries about bills to pay? All gone! An opening vista of possibilities? Here, and getting bigger by the second!

That memory is what I think of whenever the “Money can’t buy happiness” chestnut comes up. Which, as I’m a Money Coach, is probably more often than for the average bear.

If money can’t buy happiness, then what was that I was feeling all those years ago? Because if you’d asked me at the time how I was feeling, “happy” would have been the mildest adjective I would have used.

Plus, when I explain what it is I do as a Money Coach, I use the tagline, “Fix your finances, love your life.” What is loving your life, if not happiness?

To my delight, the research has been done, and the results are in. Money can buy happiness. Not when you spend it mindlessly. But having money can make you happy. Spending money can make you happy. Giving away money can make you happy. Saving money can make you happy. Thinking about money can make you happy.

The next few blog posts are going to be all about money and happiness.

The best bit? Once you’ve got the basics covered, it’s not about how much you have. It’s about what you do with it.

Photo by Lidya Nada on Unsplash