Late life asset erosion is emerging as one of the most serious financial risks facing Canadian seniors, as rising care and housing costs collide with fixed incomes and longer lifespans. For many middle‑class families, the “retirement plan” built around a paid‑off home and modest savings is no longer enough to withstand a decade or more of elevated expenses in very old age.
Hedonism views life through the lens of pleasure, treating satisfaction and enjoyment as the highest compass for meaning. From existentialist thought to utilitarian ethics, pleasure is often assumed to define a life well lived. Buddhism challenges this assumption—not by rejecting pleasure, but by examining attachment to it. By distinguishing levels of pleasure, from sensory enjoyment to dhyanic absorption and liberation, this essay explores where hedonism succeeds, where it fails, and why freedom is found not in pleasure itself, but in how we relate to it.
The Utilitarian way of thinking questions “how can I use my resources to create the maximum amount of “utility” (well-being or happiness) for the greatest number of people?”
In this framework, money is not a goal or a status symbol; it is a tool for impact.