What The Research Says
- Spending money and time on experiences rather than goods has been reliably shown to improve subjective well being, this is even more pronounced when those expenditures are altruistic or otherwise other-focused.
- Underindulgence (indulging less than you might otherwise be capable of) in goods can actually lead to improved happiness as delaying gratification is correlated with increased enjoyment.
- In general, spending less and spending that money altruistically or on experiences that you can enjoy with others is most highly correlated with subjective well being.
- When it comes to happiness, it’s less important how much money you have and more important how much you have relative to the people you compare yourself with, so to the degree that keeping up with the Joneses causes you to make comparisons to others it will have a negative affect on happiness.
References
- Happiness (Stanford)
- 5 Reliable Findings From Happiness Research (Psych Central)
- Don’t Indulge. Be Happy. (NY Times)
The Choices
Goods – Just because you have three or four storage containers full of stuff you don’t even remember unboxing, doesn’t mean you have a problem, it just means that the storage container syndicates are conspiring against you.
Score: -1 Wealth
Experiences – You’ve decided that your dream is to participate in a group base jump off of the Toyko Tower while reciting your freshly completed Esperanto translation of Candide. You’re probably going to die…
Score: +1 Happiness
Altruism – You have seriously considered the logistics of a cannon as a more efficient means of delivering larger quantities of your money to the poor and downtrodden.
Score: +1 Happiness