Money can buy many things, but it can’t buy happiness. But that’s what conventional wisdom suggests. However, the reality is almost exclusively different from the theory―results from a new Wharton study show that people tend to be happier the more money they make.

Around ten years ago, researchers confirmed that money and financial freedom equal happiness but that it plateaus around a certain point (above $75,000). In 2021, Wharton scientists discovered if the same was true today. They collected over 1.7 million data points from more than 33,000 employed, 18- to 65-year-old participants in the United States. The conclusion was unsurprising: “Higher earners are happier partly because of an increased sense of control over life.” The only surprise was that the plateau was no longer there.

But life wouldn’t be life if it gave everyone easy access to financial freedom. As Cam Moar points out, life can be challenging and often unfair, making pursuing happiness a Herculean task he experienced directly on his skin. Still, that never stopped the likes of Cam Moar from dreaming big and achieving even greater things.

Cam Moar is a seasoned entrepreneur and founder of a successful dropshipping company that employs over a dozen people across Australia. He turned his dream of driving an expensive car, living in a nice apartment, and not having to worry about today or tomorrow into reality. But before Cam Moar became involved in the dropshipping industry (which turned him into a self-made millionaire), he was a high school dropout without any tangible perspective.

His parents went through a very unpleasant and expensive divorce, tearing Moar’s life apart. The 16-year-old smart and quiet kid couldn’t bear the weight of situations he had no power over, and in his mind, running away from everything was the only way out.

Soon, Moar realized that every action has a consequence. A hungry stomach and thirsty mouth reminded him, and he couldn’t sate them without money. No formal education meant his choices were limited: find any job or die from starvation.

Nobody would willingly condemn themselves to a life of misery, and neither did Moar. In a stroke of luck, he managed to land a job in a construction company as a carpenter. He took full responsibility and worked with diligence and devotion, but 60-hour workweeks started to take more and more toll on Moar’s mind and body three and a half years later.

He wasn’t thirsty or hungry and had a stable job and a roof over his head. Still, Moar was unhappy. Working in rich people’s homes daily, looking at what they had and what he was doing, can have that effect. But initial jealousy turned into inspiration. Seeing with his eyes that people who live lavishly exist opened his mind, and Moar started searching for a way to get there.

The first challenge he had to overcome was time. “I would wake up at 5 am and then go to work for 12-14 hours. Then I’d get home at 6 or 7 pm, and by the time I ate and showered, I had measly two hours of free time to start my online business,” says Cam Moar. “I had to squeeze every minute of the day to get the business up and running and, naturally, make a lot of sacrifices―started ignoring friends and stopped going out. But I knew what I wanted. I knew what it would take and was willing to put in the work.”

Fueled by his newfound desire for a better life, Moar built and grew a successful business from scratch. Today, his dropshipping company generates between six and seven figures in gross revenue each month. On top of that, Moar made it his mission to teach other people how to take their fate into their hands through his online dropshipping course.

“Most people go through life thinking that the only path is to finish school, get in a trade, buy a house, pay it off for the next 30 years, and when your back and mind finally give up, you just curl up and die resentful for living a miserable life,” says Cam Moar. “They don’t realize there can be another, better way, or they don’t want to pay the price. Either way, I just want to open their eyes to unlimited possibilities that await, show them they are the only ones who can control their fate, and of course, give them tools to do so.”

Written in partnership with Luke Lintz

 

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