Wheezy Waiter Asks: Can Money Buy Happiness? Can It Even Buy Retirement?

Craig Benzine, aka Wheezy Waiter, just posted a vlog about giving thanks this holiday season — and about whether money can buy happiness.

He starts off with the standard “money can buy happiness if you spend it on experiences, not things,” which I don’t necessarily agree with — and I certainly don’t agree with his assessment that “if the thing you get is, say, a TV, your experience of that thing is sitting and watching. Numbing your mind.”

(For me, television is just as much about exciting my mind, not to mention the fun of watching TV or movies with friends, making jokes and references on Twitter, and participating in the whole meme/remix/fanfic culture. I count television as a solid, immersive experience.)

Then his vlog takes a really interesting left turn. He starts discussing the different ways people can earn money, and realizes that even if you earn a million dollars winning the lottery, you’re still going to have to worry about funding your retirement.

A million dollars seems like a lot, but if I wanted to retire at, say, 65 — which I probably won’t, I’ll probably make videos forever — say I live until I’m 100 years old and I just wanted to not work until I died.

Not even considering inflation, if I wanted to have the current median household income every year [the number $50,000 flashes on the screen], I would need 1.75 million dollars.

So, despite his statement that money can buy happiness through experiences, Benzine admits that if he had a million dollars, “I wouldn’t change the way I live now, I would just invest.”

I guess when you think about purchasing experiences, the experience of retirement might be the biggest purchase of them all.

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