Is money our goal? Is it worth it?

Money is for some a needed good to achieve what some most desire whilst for other is simply a dirty stuff, that is to accumulate money only cannot be the desire of one’s life. This sort of extrinsic goal does not make people happy and it has been demonstrated that does not even make people efficient.

Possibly the problem with money is that all want to have it. Money is what some economists call a “numeraire” for us to keep track of the value of things. For instance, to say that something is expensive, we would all refer to how much money will imply buying it. The problem is that not everything can be that easily translated into money, there are lots of thing we value and that we can even be able to sacrifice and to pay for (both in money and in time) that we value as much as money.

Another problem is that there are far too many things to keep track of what each single coin or note imply and cost. Those that have a salary often we forget the value of money and what can be done with it, until they really need money to meet the essentials. We might psychologically compare amounts of this good with more tangible things such as nice dinners, bright clothes and cozy weekends. In any case it is not easy to have an account of what money buys and, whatever it does it is not possible to have a precise idea of what could have alternatively been bought had we invested our funds in other sources.

Money in any case is or should be important if we are to accept and live, regardless of being or not a capitalistic society ( else we should need another numeraire). It is indeed important for ethical reasons as well as for othermore practical ones, though it is insuficient just to search for money alone. We individuals might have a natural inclination to selfishness, but we do care about our environment, our motivations and in general our meanings. Money has no acceptable meaning, we all need to be something but consumption organisms. We are social animals, and we need to experience individual pleasure and shared goals as members of wider groups and comunities.

Problem is that money is not totally deserved, is not the result of greater effort, and neither it comes form being better person but often from luck, innate talents and intergenerational transfers in addition to some limited effort. Hence, the ethics of money should lead us to be efficient after all, to invest in whatever is worth the effort, to beware of its value and the need to pursuit each individual’s selfish and collective goals.