ABE Magazine | Lifestyle & Culture | October 10, 2026
What if the secret to a richer life has less to do with what we own and more to do with how we spend our time, develop our minds and connect with others?
There is a particular image of a successful life that modern society has become remarkably good at selling.
It involves beautiful homes, expensive restaurants, luxury holidays, designer wardrobes and a lifestyle carefully arranged to communicate achievement. On social media, these images appear so frequently that the distinction between living well and appearing wealthy can become difficult to recognize.
There is nothing inherently wrong with enjoying beautiful things. A carefully made watch, an excellent meal or a memorable holiday can bring genuine satisfaction. Quality, comfort and craftsmanship have their place in a fulfilling life.
But an important question remains: Does spending more money necessarily mean living a better life?
The answer is more complicated than the advertisements suggest.
A person can earn an impressive income and still have little time to enjoy it. Someone else may live modestly while enjoying strong friendships, intellectual curiosity, meaningful work and a sense of personal freedom.
The difference is not simply financial. It is also a question of priorities.
Living well requires resources, but it also requires knowing what those resources are meant to achieve.
The Difference Between Wealth and Well-Being
Money matters. It provides shelter, security, healthcare, education and opportunities that would otherwise be difficult to access.
Any serious discussion about living well must acknowledge that financial hardship can limit people’s choices and expose them to considerable stress. Suggesting that money is unimportant would ignore the realities faced by millions of households.
Yet the relationship between income and personal well-being is not as straightforward as the assumption that every additional dollar automatically produces an equally meaningful improvement in life.
Once a person’s essential needs and reasonable financial security are addressed, the value of additional spending often depends on what it makes possible.
A larger home might provide comfort and space for a growing family. It might also introduce higher expenses, longer commutes and additional responsibilities.
An expensive holiday might create lasting memories. A less costly trip could offer an equally meaningful experience.
The important distinction is between spending that genuinely improves daily life and spending intended primarily to demonstrate status.
A richer life is not necessarily the one with the highest price tag. It may be the one in which financial resources are used most thoughtfully.
Research supports a more nuanced view of this question. A 2023 paper by Matthew Killingsworth, Daniel Kahneman and Barbara Mellers found that higher income generally remained associated with higher emotional well-being, although the relationship differed across individuals. It did not establish one universal income level beyond which money stops mattering.
That finding makes the central question even more interesting.
If money can improve well-being, why do some costly lifestyles still leave people dissatisfied?
One possible answer is that the amount of money available and the quality of the decisions made with it are two different things.
Time: The Luxury We Rarely Calculate
A person may spend years working toward a more expensive lifestyle, only to discover that maintaining it requires sacrificing the time needed to enjoy it.
Consider two hypothetical professionals.
One earns substantially more but works long hours, faces constant pressure and rarely spends uninterrupted time with family or friends.
The other earns less, lives comfortably within their means and has greater flexibility to pursue interests outside work.
Neither arrangement is automatically superior. The higher earner may find deep satisfaction in a demanding career, while the second person may value independence and a slower pace.
The difference lies in whether their lifestyles reflect their priorities.
Time cannot be saved indefinitely for future use. An evening with friends, a walk through a familiar neighbourhood or a quiet afternoon spent reading may have little monetary cost, yet contribute considerably to a person’s sense of satisfaction.
This does not mean everyone can simply work less. Many people face employment conditions, caregiving responsibilities and financial obligations that leave them with limited flexibility.
But where choices exist, time deserves consideration alongside income.
A lifestyle that looks impressive from the outside may be less attractive when measured by the freedom it provides.
Why Relationships May Be Our Most Valuable Investment
One of the strongest arguments against defining a good life through consumption comes from research on human relationships.
The Harvard Study of Adult Development has followed participants across decades, examining their health, relationships and well-being. Its director, psychiatrist Robert Waldinger, has emphasized the importance of close relationships in supporting healthier and happier lives.
The significance of that finding extends beyond romantic relationships or family life.
Friendships, community involvement, supportive colleagues and a sense of belonging can all contribute to how people experience their everyday lives.
In 2025, the World Health Organization reported that approximately one in six people worldwide experienced loneliness. Its Commission on Social Connection highlighted the substantial consequences of isolation for health and well-being.
These findings reveal an important contradiction in modern life.
People have more ways to communicate than ever before, yet meaningful connection remains difficult for many.
An expensive restaurant cannot guarantee an enjoyable conversation. A luxurious home does not automatically create a supportive family. And an impressive professional title cannot substitute for trusted friendships.
Relationships require something that money can support but cannot simply purchase: attention, reliability and shared experience.
The ordinary acts of calling a friend, visiting relatives, participating in a community or being fully present during a conversation can have value far beyond their financial cost.
The Quiet Value of Education and Curiosity
Another form of wealth receives less attention because it cannot easily be displayed.
It is the wealth of knowledge.
Reading a book, learning a language, studying history, visiting a museum or developing a practical skill can change how someone understands the world.
These activities do not necessarily require substantial spending.
Public libraries provide access to literature and information. Museums sometimes offer free admission periods. Universities and educational organizations make many learning materials publicly available.
What matters is not simply collecting information, but developing the ability to think critically, ask better questions and form independent judgments.
A person who studies art may begin noticing details in architecture that previously went unrecognized.
Someone who reads history may develop a better understanding of current political and economic events.
Learning about music, food or different cultures can make ordinary experiences more meaningful.
These benefits are difficult to quantify financially, but they can accumulate over a lifetime.
Education, in this broader sense, is not limited to qualifications or professional advancement.
It is also a way of enriching daily experience.
Experiences, Possessions and the Meaning of Value
Modern consumer culture frequently encourages people to associate progress with acquiring something new.
A new phone. A more expensive vehicle. A larger wardrobe. Another luxury accessory.
Purchases can genuinely improve quality of life. A reliable vehicle may make commuting easier. Comfortable furniture may improve a home. Well-made clothing may last longer than cheaper alternatives.
But the value of a purchase is not always proportional to its price.
Research published in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology examined how people felt while using material purchases and participating in purchased experiences. Across two experience-sampling studies, experiential purchases were associated with greater moment-to-moment happiness than material purchases.
This does not mean experiences are always better than possessions, or that every expensive holiday is worthwhile.
It suggests that spending on activities and experiences can offer a meaningful route to well-being.
A weekend visiting a nearby town, learning to cook a new dish or attending a cultural event may create memories and conversations that remain valuable long after the activity ends.
Equally, a carefully chosen object can become meaningful through years of use.
The issue is not whether people should buy things.
It is whether those things serve a purpose beyond the excitement of acquiring them.
Taste Is Not the Same as Expense
There is a tendency to associate refinement with luxury.
Fine dining, elegant interiors, tailored clothing and an appreciation of art are often presented as privileges reserved for people with substantial wealth.
Yet taste is not exclusively a financial achievement.
A simple outfit can look thoughtful and appropriate without carrying a prestigious label.
A modest apartment can feel welcoming through cleanliness, organization, natural light and carefully chosen objects.
A home-cooked meal can demonstrate considerable skill and hospitality without requiring expensive ingredients.
Appreciating music, literature, architecture or cuisine often begins with curiosity rather than purchasing power.
This distinction matters because the pursuit of taste can easily become another form of status competition.
When people buy expensive products primarily to signal sophistication, they risk confusing cultural appreciation with consumption.
Genuine appreciation requires understanding.
Knowing why a garment is well constructed, how a musical composition works or what makes a particular building historically significant can be more rewarding than merely possessing something associated with prestige.
In that sense, taste is developed through attention and experience, not simply expenditure.
The Pressure to Keep Up
The modern marketplace does not merely offer products. It also offers identities.
Clothing can suggest success. Cars can communicate ambition. Holidays can become evidence of an exciting life.
Social media intensifies this process by allowing people to compare their everyday experiences with carefully selected moments from other people’s lives.
The comparison is often unfair.
A person’s ordinary Tuesday is measured against someone else’s most impressive holiday photograph.
Over time, this can create the impression that a satisfactory life is always somewhere else: in another city, a larger house, a higher-paying job or a more expensive wardrobe.
But there is no universal standard for a successful lifestyle.
Some people genuinely enjoy luxury, travel and collecting beautiful objects. Others prefer simplicity, privacy or stability.
Neither preference is inherently more admirable.
The problem arises when personal decisions are driven primarily by expectations rather than individual values.
A purchase that brings genuine satisfaction may be worthwhile. The same purchase, made to impress people who barely notice it, may offer little lasting benefit.
Financial independence and personal confidence can make it easier to recognize the difference.
Living Well Is Also About Having Enough
The idea of living well on less should not be confused with romanticizing financial struggle.
There is a significant difference between choosing simplicity and being forced into deprivation.
Someone who cannot afford safe housing, nutritious food or necessary medical care does not need a lecture about the pleasures of minimalism.
Economic security is an essential part of a dignified life.
The more useful question is what happens when people have some ability to choose how they allocate their resources.
At that point, living well may involve resisting the assumption that every increase in income must produce an increase in spending.
It may mean maintaining a manageable home rather than stretching finances for a larger one.
It may mean choosing durable clothing instead of constantly replacing a wardrobe.
It may mean protecting savings, reducing unnecessary debt or spending more intentionally on family and personal interests.
These decisions do not guarantee happiness.
But they can create financial flexibility, which may reduce pressure and expand future choices.
There is also no single definition of enough.
For one person, it may mean owning a home. For another, it may mean having the freedom to travel, support relatives, pursue creative work or retire comfortably.
The challenge is to define enough independently, rather than allowing advertising and comparison to define it indefinitely.
A More Thoughtful Definition of Success
The most interesting aspect of living well is that many of its components are ordinary.
Good sleep. Meaningful relationships. Physical activity. Intellectual curiosity. Financial stability. Work that offers purpose. Time to rest.
None is guaranteed by wealth alone, although money can make several of them easier to obtain.
These elements also require different forms of effort.
Maintaining friendships requires attention. Learning requires patience. Health requires consistent care. Financial security often requires planning and discipline.
A better life is therefore not necessarily the result of a single dramatic achievement.
It may emerge from hundreds of relatively small decisions repeated over many years.
The person who develops good habits, protects important relationships and learns to enjoy ordinary experiences may build a satisfying life without constantly increasing its cost.
And the person who enjoys significant wealth may find the greatest benefit of that wealth is not the opportunity to display it, but the freedom to live according to personal priorities.
Both possibilities lead toward the same principle.
Money is a resource for building a life. It should not become the sole measure of that life.
THE ABE TAKE
Modern society has become exceptionally skilled at making luxury visible.
It is less effective at showing the quieter qualities that make a life meaningful.
We can see expensive cars, impressive homes and beautiful destinations. We cannot as easily see peace of mind, strong relationships, intellectual growth or the freedom to spend an afternoon without worrying about the next financial obligation.
This creates a distorted picture of success.
Wealth matters, and greater financial security can improve well-being. But the benefits of money depend partly on what people choose to do with it.
The goal should not be to reject ambition, luxury or material comfort. Nor should it be to pretend that financial difficulties can be overcome through attitude alone.
It should be to understand the difference between the price of a lifestyle and its actual value.
A beautiful life may include extraordinary experiences and expensive possessions.
It may also include a familiar neighbourhood, good books, dependable friends, meaningful work and the freedom to enjoy an ordinary day.
The two are not mutually exclusive.
The real measure of living well is not how expensive a life appears, but how deeply it satisfies the person living it.
ABE Magazine — Understand More. Think Bigger.
Sources and further reading
Killingsworth, Kahneman and Mellers (2023), Income and Emotional Well-Being: A Conflict Resolved, PNAS.
Harvard Study of Adult Development, research on relationships, health and happiness.
World Health Organization (2025), From Loneliness to Social Connection.
Spending on Doing Promotes More Moment-to-Moment Happiness Than Spending on Having, Journal of Experimental Social Psychology.
