If Money Were No Object
The Star Times recently asked people about their dreams．These are not the kind of dreams people have when they sleep．Instead，they are wonderful ideas and plans people have about things they could do．The newspaper asked people the following question：if money were not object，what would you like to do？In other words，if people had all the money they wanted，are there special things they would do with their lives？About 500people answered the survey questions．
Almost half of the people in the survey said they would buy material things such as a bigger house or a new car．About 20% or one fifth of the people said they would travel to interesting or famous places.17% answered that they would give money to someone else．In some cases，they would give money to a charity to help poor or needy people．In other cases，they would give money to their families．More than half of the rest of the people，about 10% of everyone asked，said they would donate or give money to help medical research．They want doctors and scientists to find cures for terrible diseases．Cures will help sick people get better．The rest of the people in the Star Times survey （about 4%） said that they would save money in bank．They said that they didn’t know what they would like to do right now，but perhaps in a few years they would find a good use for the money．
Dr Mary Wilson is a sociologist at City University．Sociologists study people and the societies they live in．The newspaper asked if she was surprised by the results．She said she thought that lots of people think that if they bought bigger and better things，they would feel happier．However，Dr Wilson says the feeling would not last long．After a while，they would be unhappy with the house or the car．Dr Wilson thinks the happiest people are those who want to make a change in people’s lives that will last into the future．Shethinksthosepeoplewhogivemoneytoacharity，totheirfamilies，andtomedicalresearcharethinkingbeyondth