Should You Aim for Financial Success or Contentment in an Unstable World?
Philip Kotler
Most Americans have been raised on the creed of Financial Success. “Find a great job, work hard, and you will have great financial success.” “You will be able to buy a big home, have lots of family and friends, and travel the world.” “Happiness will be yours.”’
To improve your odds of financial success, be sure to go to college. You can’t miss if you choose the right profession, such as a doctor, lawyer or engineer. “You will experience “the good life.”
This advice worked well when the flow of life was steadier and more predictable. But much has changed. The biggest changes came from technology. Technology has given us better cars, refrigerators and aircraft. Technology has given us computers, the Internet and online ordering. Technology also recently gave us artificial intelligence (AI) and robotization. AI contributed to great efficiency improvements in productivity. Now much of the world’s knowledge is available to everyone on their cell phone. ChatGPT enables people to do tasks in minutes that normally took hours. The result: companies found themselves with too many workers. One newspaper item mentioned that Amazon laid off 14,000 corporate employees in October 2025 and might lay off as many as 30,000 in total.
Corporate layoffs deliver a scary message to young people. Young people have to decide whether they can afford to go to college. If they went, what career can they confidently choose where many jobs will remain available. For example, becoming a computer software expert appeared to be a safe choice. However, today a person can could ask ChatGPT on their computer to design a particular software program without needing to pay a computer software expert to design it.
Choosing to go to college means not only having no earnings for four years but also piling up much debt to pay for college. In the end, most college students graduate with high indebtedness that keeps them from getting married or buying a home. Many end up having to live in their parent’s home.
Instead of college, students need to consider enrolling in a vocational school to learn a trade such as carpentry, plumbing, electricity or welding. Or they might seek training to give care to the elderly, sick and disabled. These choices will lead to a lower amount of indebtedness and a steadier but lower income. Plumbers today have better job security than product managers who have to worry about his or her job. A growing number of high school graduates are favoring blue-collar hands-on-work than white collar desk jobs. However, blue collar workers have to be satisfied with achieving a lower level of financial success.
What Coping Strategies are Available?
Modern times have led to many unhappy lives. Often social mobility leads to moving away from family and community support. The challenge for an unhappy person is how to feel better about not having achieved the life and happiness they hoped for. I remember a talented friend who primarily wanted to be a concert pianist but his family pushed him into a law career. My friend became a financially successful unhappy lawyer.
There are several coping strategies for unhappy people to get to feel better about their disappointment. These strategies can work for people who are employed, Less so far, the young who are asking what kind of work they can do to support themselves and a family.
1. I know that many financially successful people are unhappy.
People who climb the financial ladder and arrive at a top job must spend most of their time setting goals, attending meetings, pressuring best efforts from their employees, and traveling to meet suppliers and distributors. They have little time for their wife and children and no time for other interests they may have. They might like the good praise said about their success but privately they feel locked into an inescapable routine. Young people might want to assess carefully whether this is the job and life that they want.
2. Adopt a stoic attitude toward their situation.
A person with a stoic attitude accepts the endurance of pain or hardship without complaining. The person tries to live in harmony with the forces that govern nature and the vicissitudes of fortune. Some might turn to Buddhism that accepts the inevitability of pain and suffering as part of life. Buddhism sees the cause of pain and suffering to lie in attachment and desire. This can be overcome through the Noble Eightfold Path. Key solutions include cultivating meditation, mindfulness and awareness, accepting the impermanence of all things, and developing compassion for oneself and others by letting go of attachments and expectations.
3. Adopt a positive view about well-being.
Professor Martin Seligman developed a positive psychology based on cultivating positive emotions and deep engagement and strong relationships with others. A more cheerful attitude can come from calmness, energy, restfulness and daily interest. Try to reach a balance of physical and mental health, family, spirituality, fun, and personal growth. Many more studies of happiness have led to the development of happiness coaches and courses. The question remains: how to make a living?
4. Adopt a contentment attitude.
Research has revealed a lot about contented or life-satisfied people. Contented people seem to exhibit a consistent set of characteristics:
1. They have strong, supportive relationships. They have one or two reliable close relationships. They feel they “belong” to a community of family, friends, clubs, religious or cultural groups.
2. They have a sense of purpose or meaning. They wake up with a purpose in mind. They feel that their actions matter to others.
3. They are optimistic — but realistically. They expect difficulties that they can handle. They see these difficulties as temporary.
4. They practice emotional regulation. They recover from negative emotions fast. They use strategies like reframing and acceptance.
5. They show gratitude and appreciation. They notice and savor small pleasures. They spend more time focusing on what they have than on what they lack.
6. They have modest but adequate material conditions. They do not tie their self-worth to wealth or consumption. They spend their time on experiences and relationships, not status goods.
7. They maintain autonomy. They make their own choices. They have some control over their schedules and work style. They resist making social comparisons.
8. They stay in the present and distract themselves less.
9. They contribute to others. They help others, volunteer frequently, and enjoy the “warm glow” of altruism.
10. They accept imperfection — in themselves and others. They don’t chase perfection.
Conclusion
We started with the question of whether a person operating in an unstable and unpredictable world should aim for financial success or aim for contentment.
Achieving financial success and power typically comes with great responsibilities that must be met at a high cost to their family and their friends. There is hardly any free time to enjoy their own personal interests and pleasures.
Unhappy people can resort to coping strategies. They can adopt a stoic attitude or adopt a positive cheerful attitude. I would make the case that the best coping strategy is to search and find contentment. Contented people see themselves as leading satisfying lives and helping others to seek a satisfying life.
