As Kurt Vonnegut wrote in his poem “Joe Heller”:
True story, Word of Honor:
Joseph Heller, an important and funny writer
now dead,
and I were at a party given by a billionaire
on Shelter Island.
I said, “Joe, how does it make you feel
to know that our host only yesterday
may have made more money
than your novel ‘Catch-22’
has earned in its entire history?”
And Joe said, “I’ve got something he can never have.”
And I said, “What on earth could that be, Joe?”
And Joe said, “The knowledge that I’ve got enough.”
Not bad! Rest in peace!
Fleetingly
If my credit card debt vanished, it would measurably improve the quality of the rest of my life. I'm not gonna just pile the debt back up, and not having to make the payments would free up money I could save for retirement or emergency.
Money can't buy happiness directly, but it can buy stability, which does provide happiness. The unhappiness comes in when someone has a fully stabilized life and continues pointlessly amassing wealth, incorrectly thinking it will continue to provide additional happiness.