Money and happiness

Hola, buenos días o buenas tardes and welcome back to Spanish Obsessed, bienvenidos. I should start with an apology because, well, we haven't recorded for I think over a year. If you want to know why, then keep listening and it's actually the first thing Liz and I talk about. If you want to hear part two with Joanna about Port and Paddock, if you were holding on to that episode, then that's in production as well, so it should be with you soon. But in this episode, we're back to our old format with Liz and I talking about interesting topics. So in this episode, we're talking about money and happiness. Is there a link between them? What is the link? How much happiness can you buy with how much money? And is this different by culture? How does it compare in Colombia to England? If you're new to Spanish Obsessed and you don't know much about us, then do head over to SpanishObsessed.com and we've actually got a free gift for you. Depending on your level, you can choose either beginner or intermediate plus and you'll get something which is relevant for you. So that's at SpanishObsessed.com. And in other news, our new course, Foundations 3, is in production. A lot of people have been asking me about this, when's it going to be available? It's in production. I don't know exactly how long it will take, but I'll keep you updated with more news as we go through the course. Anyway, enjoy this podcast. And enjoy. Hi Lizzy, what's up? Hi Rob, how are you? Well, the last time we recorded it was May 2024, we're in August 2025. It feels like a decade. Why that absence, what happened? What happened? There was a new being in this world, Rob and Lizzy, they have their second son called Noah. And Noah has been here for a year. Yes, so now the Ash Pizalinas, the family, we're four. Yes, they're going to apologize to us, please, for that absence so long that we didn't even announce it, that was the worst. But if Noah was born and the little time we had, the little time we had disappeared. Basically, for a year, really, because with a son, well, a daughter who is in peace, it wasn't difficult. But with two children it was impossible to find their time gaps to record for us. That's right. And well, we also wanted to be committed to the children and the baby, so little, to give him the time he needed and we're more or less ready to resume our projects. Yes, since it's not a little more predictable, we're sleeping again, we have things to say and awake minds to be able to tell them. So let's start with the question or the topic of the day, which is how much do you need to be happy, how much do you need in terms of money, money, to be happy. How hard. I always get confused with the zeros. Because always I think there is a strong connection, maybe too strong, between the money and happiness, or at least our idea of ​​that, that when you have, I don't know how much money, it can be good, it can be happy. But why is that connection wrong? What do you think of that? Well, it's more like, in my mind, it's more like I get those resources, that money. And what am I doing to get it, is more what can make me happy, or why am I getting it and what did I do to get it, to get it, because there are many ways, right? It's not money itself, but everything that is connected, so I ask you in another way. There have been moments in your life that you have had little money, but still you have been happy. Yes, several. How have you been? Well, at my university time, with the basic 10,000 little days that my mom gave me, I reached for lunch, for the photocopies, for a beer, and super well. And after that, when I had the experience of living in England, it was a very austere life, but at the same time very free, in the sense that I worked for what I needed, and for the rest, I could enjoy a lot of knowing and doing things that I wanted to do. Another story was when I started working, to enter the time, but already a more dignified salary, and I came to other things, but I think I really enjoyed getting that job, and then saving, and to get it little by little, like certain things. Because if it had been so, like magic, or that I won the lottery, then suddenly getting those things, or those challenges, I would not have given me so much happiness. So, what I'm hearing today is that it's not as much money as the lack, but that sense that you had of freedom. I mean, little money, but few responsibilities when you were at the university, for example. And in London, it was almost the same, right? Almost the same. Yes, except when I started working with a corporation, it was a little more strict, and the time was a little more limited, but I was also happy with what I was doing, to a certain point. So, do you think that what defines happiness is something cultural? It can be something cultural, as there are some ideas that are social, that is happiness. Because when I see what makes people happy here, in Colombia, and what makes people happy in England, it's different. It's different. And, in fact, before moving to Colombia, I had those tears of happiness, and I thought, "Uy, when we return to Colombia, I'm going to be with my family and I'm going to live like those memories that I had of moments, in the last ones I spent with my brothers, in my neighborhood, with my friends, but I didn't get there. Well, of course, we got there in a dad's way, and it was very different. But I would say, for example, that happiness here has a materialistic side, what is sold, what is sold to society. Yes, the market is important, a new car that smells rich, that smells new. Yes, yes, yes, I saw it on Instagram as the image of a perfect life. But beyond that, I believe that in the culture, I mean, Latin, not only here, but also in Latin, in general, is that happiness is more connected with family. That is, we could be in a cave, we could be living in a hole, without anything. But if we are together, if we are in family, we are happy, we are good. There is that idea, as I always see it in how we do everything together, in family, that we invite aunt, because my mom doesn't come, everything in group, everything in family. And being in family is just being in family, it is happiness. Yes, yes, yes, yes, I can remember it. When yes, I have images of many Colombian families, as well as this style. To unite, to spend time together, to share and give that priority to those family members. Because ultimately, after those encounters, they leave very beautiful memories and they are happy. And that one wants to go back to those moments of regocijo with the family. Obviously, the families are not perfect here, there are many differences. And they are already entering how it seems to me, like in a wave, that the families begin to question more between the members, whether they are compatible or not. But generally, if the families are very united and the plan is to be together. And that is independent of the money, that is, happiness is not connected with the money in this case. There is a very famous saying here, that if there is soup, when it starts, there are two, there are three. If there is a dish for two, there is a dish for three, and for four. In terms of food, there will always be something for another person. Yes, we have talked about the importance of the family, and I am seeing that 100%. When I compare it to England and the English culture, there I think there is a little more emphasis. It is not so materialism, although that exists there too. It is a little connected. Yes, but if not like what you would say is like personal achievement. Like every year having objective challenges, be it in the gym, in the career, in the profession, in the business. And how those achievements can be measured with those achievements, and thus reach happiness. Yes, once you achieve it, you become happier. Yes, that is like the biggest difference, like with the ideas of happiness. Like there is something that you have to fulfill with actions, with achievements. Totally, it is totally true. And even when I lived there, and my family was visiting, for me it was like a little dilemma. Because I had to go to work, I can't answer the phone. I mean, one enters in the rhythm of the legal work, productive work, that does not fit well with the importance that one cannot give the family. So for the family here, that is, that one does not answer the phone because he is working, it is like the mother first. I mean, your father who first met, worked, mother. So there are big differences culturally speaking. But the two are very valid. Well, let's go back to the subject of connection with money. There has to be some connection, right? Yes, because you can't go out of society, right? I mean, if I see you, your helmets are super cool. Well, I want some too, two silver. But let's take it as an extreme. If you are, as they call it here, an inhabitant on the street, if you have nothing, zero silver, zero money, zero income. Well, you can't, you can't be very happy. So with, with zero silver, you're not going to be happy. I think that we can all accept that. At the other end, if you have like the billions of a Elon Musk, for example, you're going to be so, so happy. I mean, I think that between the two, between the two extremes, there is a point that is like the maximum happiness with zero silver. And after having that, that sum of money, like happiness does not increase. Right? Do I make you understand? Yes, I understand, I understand. I mean, it must have a stop. Yes, that is to say. Monetarily speaking. Yes, we all have to be able to pay our daily needs and pay our debts. And beyond that, I mean, and that makes us happy, like having debts. Like I am, as you said, your materialistic point too. I like, well, I would like to have millions too and be able to buy those things. But I don't think that in the long term, that's going to give me so much happiness. Yes, I agree with that. I think that material things give you a moment of happiness, but that's it. I think there are more profound and more important things. Even I have read interviews with millionaires, with, what is it called? They are billionaires, those who have... Billionaires, yes, too much. Yes, they say yes. Well, they even got a number that was like, I don't know, like $200,000 per year. With a lot of zeros. No, no, I mean, someone who won, I don't know, $100,000,000 per year said that, like in all his journey, his journey of earning that money, that when he compares it with his happiness, he got a point where he won, I don't know, like $200,000 per year. Which is, for a lot of people, it's a lot of money, but it's also, like, achievable, right? And they said that after that point, the salary increases didn't mean happiness increases. That is, if you go from having $200,000 per year to having $2 million per year, which is the difference, you can buy all the basic needs, some luxuries too, and it's like, beyond that, well, I mean, the difference is, suddenly, more vacations with more luxuries, but you don't feel like you're happier after that point. Which I find interesting. Yes. So, why do they want to win? To make them win so much. I mean, I think that they really don't need so much. And well, everyone knows that we live here in Colombia, and here we have, well, we have a greater acquisition power, a reality. Comparing with my life in England, with a little more austere, there were things that made me happier, I don't know. The question here is a little easier, and it's convenient because we have two children, and we need a lot of help, but austere life, I think, has a lot of moments of happiness, because you value how simple it is, and what you can't buy. Yes. Freedom, health. Yes. You even hear cases of people like Milde, who don't have much money, who win lottery, and who, like, after a few incredible months, but then, or they get bored, or they get depressed, and there have been cases of suicide, because they don't know what to do with so much money, and then, obviously, if they get to that point, there's not much happiness. Yes, it's true. And I also feel that, on the side of too much money and too much luxury, there are a lot of very artificial things. So, I prefer simple things and the real ones. Yes, me too. Well, final question or question for you too. You, the listeners, believe that there's a limit, a limit, of winning, which is, like, after that point, there's no more happiness, because we all know that, with more money, there's more happiness to that point. What is that point for you? Or there are no limits? There are no limits. And what gives you happiness? Yes. Yes, actually, there are also those personal challenges, or there's also a part of those family ties that give you happiness, or on the contrary, there are problems. Yes. So, we're going to open the comments on the podcast, on the Spanishubsest.com page, and there you can leave your comments. Let us know what those limits are for you. And well, until next time, Liz. Until next time. I hope you liked this start.