For years, I told anyone who would listen that money doesn't make you happy. More than that. It's the underlying message of my book. And I genuinely believed it, because I had lived it.
In my twenties, I worked myself to the bone. Ik had a good income, status, a house and a lot of stuff. I took both my parents on holiday to Thailand, simply because I could. I regulary bought a lot of clothes without blinking.
But deep down, I couldn't enjoy any of it.
I was frustrated, felt lost and trapped. I had done everything society told me to do. I had performed well, I had 'made' it : a good job, a relationship, a house, a dog, friends, hobbies, good looks. Yet inside my head I was consumed by work and lived on autopilot. Life was happening to me, not the other way round.
Living happy without a lot of money
So I turned my life around. I immersed myself in personal development and spirituality, lived simply, taught fitness and yoga classes, and stopped caring about money altogether. I was genuinely content.
When I started blogging about this, coaching requests began to come in. I worked with people who had everything on paper, some wealthier than others. What I learnt quickly was that millionaires are just people. And the struggles they faced were sometimes harder to bear than anything I had seen before.
Their inner world bore no resemblance to what the outside world could see. The struggles ranged from intense stress, anxiety, and mistrust to exhaustion and a complete loss of identity, because they had spent so long focused on performing in the outerworld, that they had lost touch with themselves.
I helped them towards a mentally stronger, happier life. And my belief held firm: money doesn't make you happy. Look, all these people were miserable.
What I had missed all along
But what if your mind is genuinely at peace? What if you think of yourself as a good person and fully accept who you are? What if you can find joy in small things, in friends, family, the people you love?
Is there anything wrong with wanting more on top of that? To travel more often. To take more time off. To give more to the world around you, because you have more to give?
No. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that.
More money means more freedom and more impact
What I know now is this: more money means more freedom. Freedom to decide how you spend your time. Freedom to give, to yourself and to others. You can invest more in your health and wellbeing. You can treat your family and friends. You can support people living in poverty, contribute to causes that make the world a little better.
My relationship with money is far healthier now. I am no longer repelled by it. I welcome it more into my life. So that I can enjoy more with my family, think bigger, and create more impact in the areas I care about most: awareness, mental fitness, health and positive transformation.
Money makes you happy. But only with this foundation
Yes, money genuinely does makes you happy. But only when the foundation is excellent. Your mindset. How you see yourself. How you treat yourself. And how you treat other people.
If you are mean-spirited with a full bank account, you are not rich. If you look down on people who have less, you are not rich. But if you are a good person? Then money doesn't just make you happy. It makes the world around you happier too.
Want to go deeper on this? On happiness, on what it actually means to feel good from the inside out? My book Happy from the Inside Out gives you the psychological tools and practical steps to get there, regardless of what's in your bank account. The book is currently available in Dutch. The English edition is coming soon. Find it at louisehildebrand.nl/boek
About Louise
About Louise — Louise Hildebrand is a Dutch psychologist, author, and trainer with over twenty-five years of experience in mental fitness, self-awareness, and inner leadership. Trained as a social psychologist, she has worked with people as a psychologist, mental fitness trainer, and yoga teacher, helping them build lives with more joy, positivity, and genuine happiness. She works with people who look successful on the outside but feel restless, empty, or quietly lost on the inside. And with organisations that want to build cultures where people don't have to lose themselves to keep up. Her work blends psychology, lived experience, and a grounded spirituality across mind, body, and spirit.