Can money make you happier?

It's a saying I know you can finish for me...

Money can't buy you _______

...happiness.

Ok but I have a #truthbomb alert comin at ya... I’m tired of buying in to useless money sayings.

Like "money doesn't grow on trees", and "rich people are greedy."

It's this notion it’s somehow more “pure” to be without, and to NOT be rich.

But being poor doesn’t buy anything. So why not just go for it.

This ep explores a recent study that shows somethin' crazzzzzzy... and it involves more happiness and less stress because of money.

Oooooh yeah.

Listen in here, and where you get your podcasts:

Prefer to read the transcript?

I spent the last 10 years learning from the most brilliant minds in money, wealth, and investing to take myself from $20,000 in debt to a multi six figure investment portfolio. He don't know where to start. I get it being that too, but you just being here means you're part of a group of driven women, changing the game and taking control. So join in and follow along as they share the secrets towards more money, more investing and more freedom. My name is Simone Mercer, Huggins, and welcome to ms. Wealthy's kiss my money podcast.

Okay. I'm going to say a bunch of sayings, and I know that you can complete the sentence for me. What if I say to you money doesn't grow on trees, right? The rich get richer, the poor, get poorer, more money, more problems and money. Can't buy you happiness. Like how many sayings money things do we have that are destructive and unhelpful, and really just do nothing for us. And on the flip side, how many positive encouraging, useful money sayings are there? Not that many, there are a bunch more that I could list about money and being rich that I know you will automatically complete for me because you know them off by heart too. Like rich people are usually the word that comes up is greedy. And yet, if I were to ask you, you know, truly what it's like to be rich or wealthy versus someone that is less wealthy than you, are you more greedy?

No, you probably worked harder. Maybe you've been smarter about your savings or investments or where you're putting your money. Maybe your a little bit older and you know, our circumstances are completely different. And yet we have all of these money sayings that have stuck with us. And I want to talk about that last one. That last thing, that money can't buy happiness. All right, sure. Money can't buy anything but being poor, doesn't buy you anything. So why not go for more money? Why not strive for more wealth? Why not try money on for size? Why not take it for a spin and see how you go with it? What if it does bring you more happiness? What if it can actually increase the quality of your life? Because you have more options, more freedom, more choices. You can live life on your terms. Like I've got to say, I'm sorry, but that brings me happiness.

Okay. So here is something crazy. I want to share with you a survey that BlackRock did. They're an investment, a leading investment firm, and they surveyed 27,000 people from around the world. So it's not a small number of people. And they basically wanted to find out what was the peanut people's feeling around wealth and wellbeing and how you feel about investing. The top question was if money could actually make you happier, right? And this is, this is what's crazy. Here's what they found. When people take a step to invest, what happens is they found those people create a greater sense of wellbeing today. So just when you take a step towards investing your wellbeing increases today. So what they found was that people were 24% happier. That's like, that's a big jump. That's a cool increase. In your level of happiness. 36% had a higher level of wellbeing.

People said that there were 19% less stressed. What is, you could reduce your stress levels by almost 20%. And people said that they felt 43% more positive about their financial future. Like almost 50% more positive about that. You're like your few hundred financial future. Isn't that some, all of those things, wouldn't that be something that is worth doing just by taking a step to invest. Okay. So here's the crazy part. Those things don't surprise me the impact on happiness and wellbeing and reduction in stress levels. And yet 57% of people aren't investing over half. And the reasons why is they said things like I'm afraid of losing it all or investing is just for the experts and investing feels too big. Have you said those things before? Have you thought those things before, have you allowed any or all of those feelings to stop you?

I am guessing for a lot of you, the answer is yes and well, certainly by the numbers you need to know you're not alone. And when, before I started investing years ago, I definitely felt and thought those things, I thought it was way too big tackling. That idea of investing was just such a massive task. I thought that the experts knew how to do it better and that there was no way I could possibly do it myself that I wasn't smart enough and that women just didn't do it. So it wasn't for me. And yet when I learned to do it, I would agree with everything that those survey respondents said about taking steps to invest. When I started doing it a hundred percent, I am in total agreement about how much happier I felt, how much less stressed I felt and how much more positive about my financial future I felt.

And the more I did it, the more that became a reality. And the thing is you can start investing before you have a lot of money. So like this idea that you're a flirt afraid of losing it all, did you know that you can actually invest safely with out putting in a ton of money? And did you actually know that you don't need to be an expert? You don't need a fancy financial degree to actually do it well and invest like the wealthy. And I know that sometimes it feels too big, but it's only one investing, strange investing on the stock market is just one Avenue that you can do. It's not trading, it's not buying a house and it is absolutely within your capability to do so. And the reason I know that is because I was capable and able to do it myself without completely falling into a heap.

I was able to work it out. Right. And even if you start small, tiny, smart investments can actually have a major impact over time. It's called micro investing. Basically all it is is investing small amounts of money, that's it? And it can lead to a greater return than doing it. Just sitting in a savings account where it's not working for you. So I would actually say to the question, can money actually make you happier? My answer is yes, but what else happens is a level of confidence, a level of understanding and the peace that comes with being in control, like they're even bigger upsides, right? And this is the thing over half of non investors said that they don't have enough money to start investing. And honestly, like if you can't scrape together 500 to a thousand dollars within like a couple of months, sell some stuff in your home, or, you know, stop going out for a couple, like a few dinners or give up alcohol and go dry July or whatever it is for a couple of months.

Like I know that you will be able to pull together like 500, $900 easy if you put your mind to it. Because I was able to do that when I was a student and working part time, like I know it is totally doable. The thing is what I see time and time again. And I'm going to get super real is that people just don't want it enough. If, if I asked a hundred people, if you want financial independence and financial freedom, and you wanted to create enough money in the world, that you didn't have to work, but only you only work if you wanted to. And you really loved it. Most people put their hand up and say, yeah, of course I want that. Like, that's a no brainer. But out of those hundred people, how many of them will actually have it? Like not many, a percentage, a small percentage, because the reality is most people just don't prioritize it.

Most people would rather spend things on their money, on car loans and on furniture and clothes that they're probably gonna know live. I don't know, maybe the last about six months, 12 months, most people would rather spend and blow their money on things that essentially commit them to a life that isn't going to improve financially. Most people live that way. And the reality is even though most want more money and more freedom, and they want financial independence, the majority of people aren't actually prepared and committed to that. Cause because other things, uh, more enjoyable in their life and that's not a bad thing. Like you need to understand, I'm not bashing you right now, but I need to be real. And I need you to ask yourself if that is something that you've put your hand up and said, yes, I want that. Like, you need to ask yourself, are you actually properly committed to that?

Your values aligning with that? Are you prepared to give up a couple of things in the short term, like a bit of your disposable income to start putting it away, to invest that you take care of your financial future? Like, is that actually something you would be prepared to do? And if it makes you squirm and you hate the thought of it and you just literally would rather stick needles in your eyeballs, then I'd say that the answer is no, you're not prepared to do it. And even though you want money and financial freedom, maybe living the life that you have now and being in that comfort zone is just something you'd prepare you like you do. You prefer right now. And like I said, it's not a bad thing, but I need you to ask the question to yourself because that was a question that I had to ask myself years ago, I was living in the credit card world, which most people do.

I was living in the paycheck to paycheck world, which again, most people do. Um, I was living in the world of partying and, you know, new clothes in my wardrobe and going out to dinners way more regularly than I probably needed to. And I wasn't properly thinking about, okay, how could I put this money to use? Not all of it, but like a part of it. And I had to get super real, like I had to get clear about, okay. If I really wanted to create something amazing in my life, like build financial independence, then it meant I had to properly commit to that. And I had to align my values to that. And it took a small adjustment at first, but now I would not give it up for the world. It was genuinely, it was seriously, probably the most powerful thing I've ever done for myself and my future.

And I'm making it sound sometimes. Maybe it's scary, but I need you to be so clear about it being worth it to you like the freedom and the complete lack of stress and worry and fear around finances and financial future. The complete absence of any fighting about money in my relationship with my husband, the complete absence about worrying about my, the fear around having enough in our financial future is the, that is so worth it to me. And it has to be worth it to you like taking back control and really owning my money was, and still is seriously the most incredible thing because I hate seeing the pain and the suffering that so many people go through around this. And I don't want you to be that, like, I don't want you to fit in those statistical numbers, right. Because, okay, here's the, the number that they found in the survey, 64% of non investors find information about investing difficult to understand like two thirds of people, two thirds, you guys that's crazy.

Like, I mean, I know from working with women and the clients and my students in my programs that, that the investing world is daunting though. The financial jargon is confusing. That a lot of it is intimidating, but I didn't realize it was 64%, like a huge majority. And you need to know that literally as a woman, that, and I would probably even say a girl at my age that it only just got out of debt, moved to London, still pretty carefree. And didn't do a for now. I don't have a financial degree and I was able to work out investing. Okay. Like I was able to cut through it and back then we didn't have the kind of program that I have put together. Now, like there wasn't that kind of knowledge. Now there's like so much information. And I think that probably, that's why it makes it so much harder because there was so much information and information is not power because it is confusing.

You don't know who to trust, who to turn to what to believe. And it's really difficult to find the knowledge, but I need you to know that you can absolutely 100% do it. You just have to find the right person for you to cut through that jog and, and completely demystify the whole thing. Right. And get crystal clear so that once you kind of understand and realize that, Oh my God, that's not that daunting. Like, it was just like these silly acronyms and this the way they said it. And you know, that actually just means that that's super simple. Like once you start understanding those things, it's kind of, like I say to a lot of people, it's kinda like driving, you know, the, like before you get your license, do you remember when you were like a teenager? It was super scary beforehand to like, think, hold on a minute, how do I drive and indicate and like stop up a Hill.

And then like, what reverse parking are you kidding and navigate a roundabout? Oh, but now you drive from home to work or wherever it is talking on the phone or listening to a podcast or playing music or having conversation. And you don't even think about the route and you get there. And it's like, it's just second nature. Now. I kind of associate investing like that. It's like kind of like learning to drive. It's just, you don't know it yet. It seems daunting because you haven't done it yet, but I promise you, it is something that is absolutely within your power and ability. So if you want to learn more and I was certainly hope that you do then come and join me for a master class. I have a totally free training on basically three major secrets that I found about investing from my journey and from teaching my students.

And the biggest secrets that I know are holding you back that you need to know about so that you get more confident about how to build a financial future. That you're proud of how to build financial independence in your life, by investing in the stock market. Now, I also need you to know, cause I touched on this just before. I don't have a finance fancy financial degree. Okay. I started investing over 10 years ago and I loved it so much that I became a trader, but I don't teach people to trade. I teach women to invest because most people are wired to be an investor and it takes an extra, I would say a lot extra to become a trader. And along my journey of starting as wealthy and getting to where I am now, I, at some point along the line thought maybe I should go and get this financial advisor certificate.

Maybe I should just like, you know, certify myself and then I can call myself one. And then the more I looked into it, the more I realized that's not what I want. I don't want to take the power away from you. I want you to be able to own your money. I want you to take control yourself so I could have easily have become a financial advisor or a financial planner genuinely. But I specifically chose not to because I don't want to sell you insurance. I want to show you how to invest and build a financial future yourself because the best person to take care of your money is you because no one else will care about it more. Okay. So come and join. Master class, sign up. It's free to watch and I'm going to take you through everything. And the top questions I get, honestly, go to go.ms. wealthy.com. That is go.ms. wealthy.com. All right, until next week I will see them. I hope to see you online. Bye for now.