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Adie Blanchard | 2014-06-15 05:38:04
As the saying goes, ‘money can’t buy happiness’ – but science suggests otherwise. Maybe to a certain extent it can?
Most people spend their earnings saving for a house, new car, phone or the latest tech gadgets – and that’s exactly where they could be going wrong. It seems that having bigger houses and faster cars doesn’t actually make us any happier.
If you want to ‘buy’ happiness then buying an experience could be the best investment. Not only do we look forward to experiences, we enjoy them and then look back on them. Experiences can provide happiness before, during and after which our latest purchase of new clothes probably wont. A weekend away sounds much better than buying a new TV, right?
I for one would rather spend my money on experiences, building memories that last a lifetime, unlike the latest TV. Last summer I travelled Thailand and did plenty of exciting things that I won’t be forgetting in a hurry, including being ‘kissed’ by an elephant (yes, the four legged-type!) Would I have swapped all of those experiences for a new car? No chance.
So, what are you going to spend your money on? My advice is to buy experiences and not ‘things’. Venture out of your comfort zone and experience things instead! The novelty of buying a new TV or laptop will eventually wear off, but I can assure you the memory of jumping off cliffs at a canyon in Thailand definitely won’t.
Of course money doesn’t grow on trees, but experiences don’t have to be expensive ones. It’s also important that we don’t spent so much time making a living that we forget to make a life.
Adie Blanchard – Researcher
References
Frank, R. H. (2004). How not to buy happiness. Daedalus, 133(2), 69-79.
Dunn, E., & Norton, M. (2013). Happy Money. New York: Simon & Schuster.