In Pursuit of Happiness
The pursuit of happiness is no easy feat. It is not something that can be accomplished once and for all. It is more of a journey than a task to tick off. However, when you're intentionally trying to make life happier, you can easily overthink and stress yourself out instead. After all, following rules isn't exactly the epitome of fun. At the same time, human nature is funny. There are no hard and fast rules for anything. Even with scientific research, you can't find an answer that is 100% true. There is always a margin of error, along with at least a couple of outliers. The principles as outlined in this book teach you how to change the way you spend money so that you can buy happiness. But these methods may not work for you, even if you can consistently keep at them. Nevertheless, these five simple principles – buy experiences, make it a treat, buy time, delay gratification, and spending on others - should be incorporated as much as possible. After all, it's worth a shot if you can buy yourself more happiness.
Policies to Make Us Happy
Our happiness tends to be framed as something that we ourselves are responsible for. However, like handling tax money and influencing us on how to spend our money, governments are capable of making policies that will improve our happiness, and not just by increasing our standards of living. Although, that itself is a great way to make sure people have money to spend to make ourselves happier.
The way governments control subsidies and levy taxes can affect the value and priority we put in our purchases. From sweet drinks to property, this remains true. Governments also give support to cultural and natural establishments, giving people the chance to have more interesting and novel experiences in their lives.
The way governments control public holidays can also determine how much time we have to spend, along with how much money. Infrastructure can also affect our happiness, as it can cut downtime spent stuck in traffic and how much we spend on petrol. By giving tax breaks, governments can also promote the spirit of giving. Alternatively, governments can also let people choose what their tax dollars are paying for. All in all, happiness is another aspect of life that governments are capable of helping to shape. After all, a happy population can also increase production, as well as make sure the government officials involved are re-elected.
Spend on Others
You might have found it easier to spend money on someone else than it is to spend on yourself.
This isn't something that's unique to you. While it isn't something that can be done too often, it is proven that it can help to make you happy. As such, it might be a good idea to do it a bit more in the future. Sharing might not always be perceived as an enjoyable act, but it's in our human nature to become happy when we do so. It isn't hard to promote giving to others.
If you present it as a choice, let the experience be shared so that human connections can occur.
This way we can prove the impact of the act of giving and investing in others can come easily. The amount that you give isn't particularly important. Even a small amount can offer you a warm fuzzy feeling inside. At the same time, you don't have to spend cash money either. Dedicating your time or effort in others can also help you feel better, and even like you have more time than others.
Paying Now and Delaying Gratification Financially speaking, it might be more prudent to postpone paying for something as much as possible. This is because the money can be used for stuff like investments first. It also prevents wastage, as the sunk cost means that you will be more inclined to stop your purchase from going to waste.
The pain of paying money but not using the item it paid for can feel almost physical. When it comes to happiness, though, paying now and enjoying later can be very good for you. When you buy something but have to wait to get it, you have time to anticipate what it's like when the item arrives. Making yourself wait can maximize the enjoyment that you get out of something, especially if it's temporary. At the same time, paying first and obtaining the payoff later can make a purchase seem free, even if you know very well that you've already paid for it. Research shows that you are more likely to give yourself a treat if it occurs sometime in the near future and not immediately. Therefore, you can help to make your purchases more joy-inducing by making yourself wait.
Time Is Money
Due to the perceived value of money, we're inclined to waste time in order to get the best deal that we can. If you've checked out the prices of a specific purchase at various stores, perhaps all located very far from each other, you know what I mean. However, we forget that time is as valuable, if not more valuable than money. Sometimes, it just isn't worth it to worry about the small price difference if it's going to take up a lot of your time. There are some aspects of our lives that we can change in order to 'buy time'. Purchases that are worth their prices are ones that will change the way you use your time in the future, either by giving you more of it or more opportunities to do things that will make you happy. Some examples include getting a Roomba (or a cleaning service) or a dog who will play with you and encourage you to go on walks. Try to spend less time commuting, especially to work, because it can really put a dampener on your day. It also separates you from parts of your life that will bring you more happiness, such as your friends and family. There is a pitfall here, however. If you think of time as money, you are liable to feel like any minute not making money is time wasted. In that frame of mind, it is easy to become stressed out. It also makes it hard to enjoy activities that are relaxing or enjoyable.
Treat Yourself
What makes life survivable is our ability to adapt. The way humans can get used to and overcome difficult situations has made it easy for us to go through both the good and bad times. Unfortunately, this makes it so that even the things we love can become bland and boring in due time. That is, of course, unless we take it upon ourselves to make things a treat. This can be done by spacing out the things that we love so that we aren't always capable of having it. The sweet things in life, such as eating chocolate or going to a concert, should be rationed out to prevent the enjoyment we reap from them from decreasing. It is only too easy to get used to the things that money can buy us, like good food and novel experiences. But not being able to enjoy the small things in life, even if they aren't so small in comparison, means that the money we have can actually make us sadder and not happier. Some companies try to make their products scarce by putting a limit on them. This succeeds in boosting sales because the product's rarity increases people's enjoyment of them. By changing the way we consume, we can help to keep things fresh and keep ourselves happy. By giving ourselves a time limit to enjoy something or taking a break from something we love, we can keep them as special and prevent them from becoming mundane. The treat doesn't have to be big, but just big enough and just uncommon enough to give our mood a boost.
Buy Experiences, Not Material Goods
Some of the biggest purchases we will make in our lives are the same things that success and happiness are measured. Buying a house, along with buying a car, is not only a move expected you are to make, but it is also something that others may use to judge you by. But while a big house and a fancy car may indicate that you're doing well in life, it does not add to your happiness. At least, that's what the research says. Buying items only packs a happiness punch for a little while. The item, along with that joyful feeling that comes when you first purchased it, often fades quickly. It disappears even faster if you find something else you want to buy that's nice and interesting. If you change your spending focus on buying experiences, you can make the happiness last. This is because buying experience can help you make connections, whether it's with others or yourself. Even if an experience ends up not being ideal, in hindsight, you might find that you have great memories of it. This is because experiences, unlike things, aren't always easy compared to one another. This quality of escaping comparison makes it harder to regret an experience, even if there were ups and downs involved. Many purchases can be items, but also provide an experience. Art and media are relevant examples. You will be happier with your purchase if you can think of it as something you experience rather than just possess.
The Biggest Happiness Bang for Your Buck
At first glance, you might be inclined to think that the book is trying to get you to spend more money as a means to be happier. This isn't true. The book does not suggest that you can buy happiness by spending more. Instead, there are rules you can follow that will aid you in making choices on how to spend your money in a way that makes you happier. Finance books tend to teach you how to earn and invest money based on research and facts. The authors do the same, using behavioral science to outline how you can change the way you spend money and the focus of your purchase to reap more happiness from the transaction. They suggest that we shouldn't follow our own instincts when it comes to spending money, because as our hunches are fallible, we will more likely make ourselves miserable. With the results of various studies, we can see just how some small changes can buy us happiness, even if it costs just a dollar.
Money Can Buy Happiness
In our lifetimes, we all want to have enough of two key things: money and happiness. However, it's well known that money cannot buy happiness. Or can it?
Using scientific literature as primary sources, Happy Money outlines five key principles that can help you spend smartly and become happier. While money cannot directly buy happiness, as it doesn't exist in any tangible shape or form, the statement that money cannot buy happiness itself hasn't been proven to be true. On the contrary, it is possible to exchange cash for a dose of happiness. This book outlines how you can accomplish this. Being twice as wealthy does not make you twice as happy. Rather, earning more money can only make you a bit happier and even that only remains true up to a point. While money can buy a lot of creature comforts, thinking about wealth can promote us to act in ways that actually make us unhappy. Why don't we use what we have to buy ourselves as much happiness as we can?
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By SFD
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