Ulterior Motives

I think that's an important point. An even more extreme example would be vacations. A few years ago, I saved up both money and vacation time for a month-long trip to Europe with friends. But in retrospect, my memory of the experience (while positive) isn't that much different from a long-weekend road-trip I took with friends the year before. The latter cost a lot less, and would be much easier to repeat.

So perhaps going on a number of smaller, local vacations more frequently can be a better "experience" than going on a single, more exotic vacation. Note that I'm putting down going to foreign countries, as some aspects of such trips can be unique; I'm just suggesting that perhaps it might be better not to exclusively pursue that kind of experience if it precludes more frequent, smaller vacations.

1) It would be difficult to be happy with too little money but, once you have enough, adding more doesn't increase your sense of satisfaction. Hence "You can't be too rich" is a silly thing to say. Lots of people who hit the lottery and wind up broke a year later clearly had too much too soon.

2) As for what to buy? Money serves best when used not so much to acquire things you want as to avoid things you don't want.

Steve Mason
PT Blogger

People who become rich by the lottery and spend all of it in a year are using money to avoid responsibility by not taking into account the amount of money needed for sustaining a pleasant life and the amount of money that is wanted for spending on extraneous things. So they spend as if the money is endless, which is using the money to avoid responsibility. That is not money serving at its best.

Regardless of the amount, money can increase a person's happiness if it is spent on the right things. So if more is acquired, it is not a matter of being happier with more money, it is a matter of using the whole amount in moderation.

It makes complete sense that several small experiences often create a better sense of happiness than one or two peak experiences. When you spend all of your money on one "peak" experience, you then limit the number of other experiences you are able to have within that budget time frame. That means that you likely have to sacrifice other experiences in order to have that "peak" experience. In remembering the peak experience down the line, you are likely to remember just as strongly what you had to give up in order to have that experience. This is especially true if a particular "peak" experience prevents you from other experiences for a time after that peak experience has occurred (e.g. I just spent my entertainment budget for the month and now I can't go out again until next month; This European vacation took my entire budget for the year, so now I can't take a vacation until next year - unless I sacrifice something else in my budget)

However, you are not as likely to have sacrifices for all the little small experiences, especially if you budget well, and thus your memory for those are generally positive with a lesser likelihood for negative (unless you have to choose between two equally inviting experiences). Even those smaller experiences that do require sacrifice tend to have smaller sacrifices and shorter duration of sacrifice (e.g. "this camping trip means I can't go camping next weekend, but at least I could possibly go the weekend after that" vs. with a peak "this Europe trip means I can't vacation for a year").

This posting is so important! In my practice, as a Financial Life Planner, we see, so frequently, that allowing our clients to visualize then actualize that which will bring them greatest satisfaction is key to their happiness and well-being. I greatly appreciate your thoughts and comments and will send my readers to view this great post.
Michael

When I had no money people told me: "but that doesn't matter". I don't think that they realized how much I didn't have.

If you can't afford the bus ticket to meet your friends at the coffee shop, and even when you can get there, can't not afford the cup of coffee, you end up isolated. You also end up bored, because the only thing that cost nothing is doing nothing. If you do a lot you end up more hungry and that ends up costing you.

That was 12 years of my life trying to pay for school and then trying to payback for school.

I am so happy I'm passed it! I had an African friend who has been through torture and used to say happiness is a fridge that is full. I have to say he was right. I would had, a heated apartment during the cold winters is also a big help.

For the last 10 years I have had a full fridge with veggies and healthy food that make up the most succulent meals, and money for activities where I can meet others like sport activities and going to the restaurant.

I don't go to fast food places, or to very expensive places, I choose the small cafés with nice healthy foods at a reasonable price where you can have discussions that go past the weather. Even there, the price for a meal with taxes and service is what used to be my grocery budget (including toilet paper. tooth paste and other drug store items) for a week: 15$.

Money buys me happiness everyday… after all, it's the one thing that gives me access to everything else.

Of course, once you have it, you have to be smart in the way you handle it. In 3.5 years, I'll be done paying for my house, and I think I will feel even more free. Every step of my financial journey, I have been feeling more free and have been able to make decisions that I could not have made when poor.

For example, 4 years ago, I decided to become an independent contractor, it has improved my quality of life tremendously. I don't have asthma attacks from the perfumes, hand cream, hair products, antibacterial hand wash that people use at the office and I can make up my own schedule. I would not have taken the chance of flying solo in an insecure financial situation.

Money is freedom: freedom of choice, freedom of movement. However, you have to know how to use it, because it can also become your chains.

ruHap, The Happiness company just had a blog on this topic. See

http://ruhap.com/content/blog/happiness-comes-from-experiences-not-stuff/

ruHap brings the leading academic Happiness research to users in small, fun, bite sized pieces. ruHap’s free website (http://ruhap.com/) contains extensive Happiness Resources, a Daily Happiness Quote, a blog (How to be Happy) and much more.

Thanks, and Be Happy,

Gregory S. Barsh, Esq.
Chief Happiness Officer
ruHap, The Happiness Company
Follow our blog, How to be Happier, at http://ruhap.com/content/category/blog/
http://ruhap.com/

I wrote about this (and linked to your article) on my blog today at http://psychologyofwellbeing.com. I mentioned that money provides us with security, health care and time. Although I hadn't really thought of this, what Steve Mason said above in the comments resonated with me--that money may be most useful for avoiding what you don't want. Even "buying experiences" is a way of choosing how you spend your time and avoiding spending your time doing what you don't want to do.

Also enjoyed Todd Kashdan's blog today on money. My hat goes off to Psychology Today for having such excellent bloggers that write excellent articles and encourage such great discussion. Thanks!