Yeah, it’s true as you already imagined – money can, in some way, buy happiness. This happens when we have enough of it to spend in a way that vibes with our personality (either material objects or experiences). Our spending habits are, to a great extent, influenced by our personalities. If you’re lucky enough to have some extra cash to spare, you’ll definitely have several options on how to spend it. It’s such decisions that have an impact on our contentment levels and ultimately our happiness. Here are some instances in which research has proven that indeed money can buy happiness:
1. Spending It On Great Experiences
Some people believe that it’s wiser to spend money on material things rather than on experiences. After all, if you spend money on something today you’ll still have it tomorrow and the day after that. On the contrary, if you spend money for a vacation and come back, you’ll have nothing to show for it apart from maybe some nice pictures.
As a matter of fact, the opposite is true. A great experience will be embedded in your memory for a long time and will bring you joy every time you think about it. Material things may last longer but the excitement of owning them eventually fades and with time the joy you experienced when you first bought it goes away.
Experiences may not last very long but the happiness they bring usually lasts longer as compared to material things.
You do not need a significant amount of money to have memorable experiences. Just find something that you truly enjoy doing such as traveling, movies, or music and pay for it – in the process, you’ll learn new things or pick up a few skills that will make the whole experience more interesting. Experiences bring meaning to our life that promotes self-growth, purpose, and connection with others. As a result, you will have more positive memories to look back to for a longer period. This may also be attributed to the fact that experiences also give us more pleasure in the form of anticipation long before they actually happen.
2. Spending It With People You Care About
As humans, we’re naturally social beings so it’s very important that we create and strengthen relationships with the other people. When we spend money on activities that bring us together with special people in our lives we tend to live happier lives. For example, if you’re going to a concert or a show, bring along someone whose company you enjoy; the person could be a friend, a lover, or a family member.
Alternatively, you could help someone that you care about when they’re going through a difficult time. Sparing some money to see to it that the person you care about has a smile on their face is such a fulfilling feeling. Always purpose to help others every opportunity you get.
3. Spending It On Other People
Although it really feels great to spend money on yourself, it would feel even better to spend it on other people. The other person doesn’t necessarily have to be someone that you know and neither do you have to spend ridiculously large amounts of cash. Studies have shown that spending money on other people (including strangers) is one way of bringing happiness upon yourself. Generally, giving money away or spending it on other people makes us feel more proud of ourselves and ultimately more connected to the universe. The gratitude from the recipient is also highly likely to make us feel good.
Spending money on other people has nothing to do with your level of income. Click To TweetSo go ahead and spend as much or as little as you can manage and you’ll make yourself and others happy.
4. Giving To Charity
Making charitable donations is a way of sharing what we have with those who are in need and goes a long way in bringing happiness to you as an individual. Once you see the impact you have made in the other person’s life, you feel a certain level of accomplishment that warms your heart.
When you give to charity, you not only help others but yourself too. You will sleep better at night knowing that you’re truly giving back from this world than you are taking from it. So what are you waiting for? Get involved with a charity organization and put your whole heart into it.
5. Buying Time
It’s totally impossible to generate more time no matter how much money you make. However, you can use your money to save yourself some time. Do this by getting someone else to do something for you that you would rather not do such as shopping for groceries, laundry, cooking, and other chores. Spending your money on time-saving activities and services promotes life satisfaction and ultimate happiness.
In today’s world, we are so time-starved and technology has come in to help us deal with that. Automation is helping people to free up so much of their time and eliminating repetitive, boring, or meaningless tasks so that they can spend the extra time doing more of what they love. Go ahead and delegate some tasks instead of doing them yourself and don’t feel guilty for it. You should actually be proud that you have provided a job and, therefore, a source of income for another person.
Conclusion
There’s still a lot of debate on how much money a person should have for them to be truly happy. Studies have shown that the level of happiness increases as the income goes up. However, it gets to a point where there’s very little correlation between happiness and income. It’s also worth noting that there’s a thin line between need and greed. Having a lot of money may also be considered problematic as it caused the person to indulge in unpleasant acts. For example, there are cases of quite a large number of extremely wealthy people with drug addiction that usually leads to depression or even suicide. Generally, with more money comes more stress in life.
