If you dig a little deeper into your own intrinsic motivations for being financially free, it has its roots in trying to be happy.

We live in Singapore Inc. which is a place that worships money. Money makes Singapore go round and we need it to put food on the table, to pay our bills and to sustain our lifestyles. Yet, more and more studies show that while money and happiness are correlated, our day-to-day satisfaction with life go beyond money if we have managed to meet our basic needs.

Money Can Buy One Form of Happiness

This article from the Washington Post tells us that money can indeed buy one form of happiness. But it still is not the be-all and the end-all to becoming happy. It goes on to say that:

But the survey also showed that a key element of what many people consider happiness — positive feelings — is much more strongly affected by factors other than cold, hard cash, such as feeling respected, being in control of your life and having friends and family to rely on in a pinch.

Thus, positive feelings on a day-to-day basis is dependent more on non-monetary factors that are affected a lot by the quality of the relationships you have with people. That is what I am discovering as well. Really, money is a hygiene factor that must be met so that we are NOT unhappy but by itself money doesn’t satisfy totally.

The repercussions of this is that the journey towards financial freedom becomes more important than the goal itself. It is critical that we enjoy our journey towards financial freedom while working towards the goal or we might find ourselves one day asking ourselves, “Is this all there is to achieving financial freedom?”

I realise that working towards being a “renaissance man” or a person with multiple interests who makes use of his left and right parts of his brain is critical to having a fulfilling journey towards financial freedom.

Concentrating enough of our lives into our careers, family, friends and self is important to achieve that balance and personal growth that generates the positive day-to-day feelings.

Panzer’s Journey At Work

My career now sees me plying my trade in internal audit but also involves being a manager of people. Even within my small team, I encountered human resource issues that arise within my team and have to sit down and talk to people to get them resolved. I learnt over time that some issues cannot be resolved but my staff feels better after getting the issues off their chest and out into the open.

Thus, even as my career generates the cash flows in my journey towards financial freedom, it also gives me the opportunity to develop other aspects of my career, that is to be a manager who is both a leader and a mentor plus counsellor to the staff.

How does this help me in my financial freedom journey?

My staff are the ones who carry out the detailed work activities under my direction and supervision. Without them, I cannot accomplish as much by myself. Hence, my value-add is to get them to value-add to the organisation thus multiplying the positive outcomes from the department’s perspective.

They help me achieve my key performance indicators which in turn are how my own financial rewards in career are determined. Of course, I also do my part but once you achieve a certain degree of seniority in your career and manage people, you realise your success depends on helping your team succeed in their objectives and tasks.

Thus, if my staff are happy, I am happy and the organisation also benefits from their increased quantity and quality of output. The money equation in their compensation package is mostly a hygiene factor and I need to focus more on the quality of intra-office communication and individual coaching of my staff to really obtain engagement.

Ultimately, my own journey towards financial freedom which requires my career to continue to thrive requires a functional team that is happy through the respect and control that I grant to them to manage their work assignments.

What is your view on happiness and money?

Which comes first, money or happiness?

Share with Panzer.

Be well and prosper.

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