Hierarchy of Needs - Why Money is the Number 1 Basic Need
Money is the most basic need
There are many theories out there about human’s basic needs. The most famous of all is Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, where physiological needs are the basic one.
I argue, unfortunately, that for most of us in today’s society, our need for money comes first before any other needs. Let me explain.
We Are All Chasing Freedom
Most people think that they are chasing success and happiness in life, however, I believe what most people are actually chasing, is freedom.
The freedom to buy the things we want.
The freedom to do the work we love.
The freedom to live the way we truly want to live.
When you attain freedom, you naturally become happy. This is because you are satisfied with all your own definitions of meaning, success, happiness, wealth. I will explore this chasing of freedom and its relation to happiness in a separate article. Let’s stick to the current topic about money.
In order to chase and achieve this freedom, most times we require money.
At the most basic level, we must first earn money to feed ourselves, to clothe ourselves, to house ourselves.
If we have extra money, then we can buy things that we want, pay for travel and new experiences, spend money to contribute to meaningful projects.
Hopefully, we become happy by doing all of those things.
My Interpretation of Our Hierarchy of Needs / Motivation:
Since it all starts from being able to afford basic needs, this is how I think the hierarchy of needs and motivation actually flow:
Wealth - We need to first attain our need for money to take care of our basic needs. And then extra money to take care of our wants.
Health - With money to settle our needs and wants, we then can take care of ourselves properly and focus on our physical and mental health.
Relationships - Once we have taken care of ourselves physically and mentally, we can then look to take care of others.
Happiness - When wealth, health, relationships are all in order, then we are in a place to better chase our freedom which hopefully leads to happiness.
My Interpretation of Our Hierarchy of Needs
Why does our need for Money come first?
Some who may say “Life is not all about money”.
There is some truth to this line. If you have some kind of incurable cancer where you cannot enjoy your money, or if you have poor mental health where you cannot enjoy normalcy - yes this line makes a lot of sense.
The other group of people who may agree with this line are the ones who have achieved enough money in life and yet learnt that money did not bring them happiness, purpose, or meaning. They have been through it and learnt this first hand, thus they may agree with this line.
However, for the average person in today’s society, money is probably the most important need to satisfy first. With money, it allows you to do many things.
Having money allows you to buy things that you need.
Having money relieves stress.
Having money gives you choices.
Let’s also think about this from the angle of not having money.
When people do not have enough money and are unable to afford basic needs like food and shelter - other needs such as health, relationships, happiness usually come secondary.
People take up dangerous jobs that risk their health and safety in order to earn money.
People are willing to work longer hours and sacrifice personal relationships in order to earn money.
People stay in jobs that they are not happy with in order to earn money.
If you have money that give you choices, would you continue in these situations? Probably not.
This is why I argue that money is the most basic need for most of us to attain. Only then, the rest will come naturally.
Once we attain a level of financial security (Wealth), we become better members of society (Health), we are able to be gracious and kind to others (Relationships), we are able to pursue deeper meaning in our lives (Happiness).
Strive to Solve this Need for Money
Our Mindset
Before we can solve this need for money, it should be our aim first to understand our mindset, thoughts, and opinions about money:
How much you do you need to live comfortably?
How much risk are you willing to take?
How would you feel if and when you get more money?
Do you feel yourself getting greedy or more selfish? Or is the opposite happening - do you feel more selfless and want to give?
Our Actions
Once you have gotten clarity on your mindset on money, it will become easier to understand and figure out actions that will get you to your ultimate money goal.
What are your options to make money?
What are you willing to learn and do?
What are you willing to give up?
What is the timeframe to work on your financial goals?
A Realistic Path to Attain our Need for Money
Personally, I believe that starting your own project and becoming an owner is the way solve this need for money. However, starting a business may be too overwhelming for most of us.
I feel this will be more achievable by breaking it down into the below steps. For most of us, this tends to be the path to take in order to attain our need for money:
You need to get a job and be able to grow your salary.
Be financially savvy with the money you earn - how to spend, save, invest.
Explore your interests and build your skills.
Work on a side project which can generate income to replace your salary.
Achieve a life of financial freedom with your income and investments.
Personally, I am particularly interested in helping you achieve step 1 and 2. Once those two steps are achieved, the rest becomes easier for you to explore.
Attaining the Other Needs - Health, Relationships, Happiness
Most people go through life in this order:
They get a job and chase after financial success and be financially savvy (Attain Need for Wealth);
They look after their physical and mental health with financial success (Attain Need for Health);
They take care of the people around them because they can now afford to (Attain Need for Relationship);
Only to finally ask themselves “why am I on this Earth?“ and start chasing meaning in their lives (Attain Need for Happiness).
Many people spend their lifetime chasing after more money. But once you achieve financial security (Level 1), you will be faced with deeper questions of your life - like the pursuit of happiness, meaning, purpose.
Money can be the solution to most problems, but not ALL problems.
Even though I say that money is the most basic of needs, the others such as Health, Relationships, and Happiness are still important.
We should definitely strive to attain the rest if we can. However, I believe it can only be learnt through experiencing this journey called “Life” for yourself.
Only when people go through a health scare, they realise how health is more important than money.
Only when people get estranged from family due to money, they realise that those relationships matter more than the money.
Only when having more money does not bring people happiness, they realise that there is more to life than chasing money.
For all of us to truly understand how important health is, or how money won’t give you happiness, you have to go through life first, and then discover this yourself.
Only by having life experiences around the 4 needs that I mentioned, then you will figure out the importance of each need in your life.
I am learning as I go along life too
I am on my own journey of this self-discovery myself. I am starting to see how this hierarchy of needs is playing out in my own life.
This is why I am sharing my idea on this hierarchy of needs in the hopes of getting you to think about them too.
Ultimately, I believe that once we solve the money problem in our lives, we at least attain the most integral need of Wealth that frees ourselves to explore the other needs in our life like Health, Relationships, Happiness.
This is why I started The Rebel Framework, to help you along each of the step through the articles that I write and courses that I create.
Let’s go on this journey together, and I wish you best. I am sure our futures are going to be bright!