some people think personal happiness is directly related to economic success, while others believe this depends on other factors. Discuss both sides and give your own opinion.

There is a heated debate as to whether individuals’ happiness relies on how affluent they are. Some people think the more money one person has, the happier he or she is, while others disagree. In my opinion, happiness can be relative to the economic success before the economic success reaches a certain level.

People who think the economic success is essential for personal happiness hold the view that wealth brings both the physical and mental satisfaction which increases the degree of well-being. Without enough money, people are preoccupied with worries about how to meet their basic needs, letting alone enjoying their life. However, if people have excessive money, they can use it to do whatever they are interested in to improve the sense of happiness. The economic success endows individuals with ability to follow their true hearts which may not be easily influenced by the tough life. For example, it is fairly common that some families in the rural area in China have to deprive the educational right of one of their children because they need labours to earn more income and also cut the cost to support the family. This behaviour makes that child feels unhappy due to the unfairness.

Nevertheless, the opponents consider that the personal happiness depends on factors other than economy. They do not believe the sense of satisfaction will keep on increasing as the personal revenue rises. The rich can be extremely unhappy. For example, in order to protect their wealth, the affluent may be overcautious and suspicious of others and hence feel lonely with an assumption that no one is sincere to them. In this case, money ceases to be the source of their happiness.

As for me, before reaching a certain level, the economic success may lead to happiness because an individual not only can support his or her basic life with it, but also has opportunities to live a happy life. Once beyond that level, other factors such as the harmonious interpersonal relationship and the satisfaction obtained from helping others can increase the personal happiness.