Parents around the world educate their kids everyday on the classic life lessons. For example, “don’t judge a book by its cover,” or “if you have nothing nice to say, don’t say anything at all.” These, of course, hold a significant amount of meaning and truth to them, but there’s still some reasonable doubt in those statements. So could it be possible that the saying, “money can’t buy happiness” could be false and has just been passed down from generation to generation.

It is a common known fact that in order to survive, a person must have money to pay for food, housing, healthcare, etc. According to usatoday.com, the median household income of the American family is $75,000 a year. That’s before taxes are taken out of it, along with the money needed to pay for basics such as housing, food and health insurance. According to bettermoneyhabits.bankofamerica.com, on a monthly average, Americans pay $1,483 in housing costs. They also pay $756 on transportation costs, including car insurance and gas, along with $1,462 for healthcare.

“I mean, everyone wants to make a lot of money. I don’t think anyone you’ll talk to nowadays wants to live paycheck to paycheck. It’s high up in my concerns when choosing a career when it comes to making sure I actually make money,” junior Dylan Chandler said.

Even when it comes to people picking out their careers and courses in school , they tend to base their choices more on the growth and pay that can be found in those fields. For example, with the increase in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields, schools have added more STEM requirements to their curriculum. This leads to a major conflict when it comes time to pick a career. Does a person choose a career path that would bring them happiness, or one that would pay them more money?

Happiness is a crucial part of life, and without it, no one would be able to appreciate what they have in life: family and friends. Money is also important, in the sense that in order to live, it’s necessary to be able to afford life’s essentials. The topic of whether or not money can buy happiness is not black and white; But when it comes down to it, no one can live without money, and they can’t truly be happy if they don’t have the means to survive.