The Way to Buy Happiness
Why it’s best to invest in frequent doses of small, nice things
We’ve all heard the maxim that money can’t buy happiness. But what if it sort of can? Or at least a little smidge of happiness? Or think of it this way: Let’s say you’ve found yourself with a bit of extra money. What could you do with it to have the biggest impact on your daily life?
The good news is that money really can make life better. The bad news is that we tend not to take human psychology into account as we make our money decisions. Figure out how to spend it strategically, though, and you can buy a lot of well-being for very little money out the door.
Research on happiness has repeatedly found that we quickly get used to things. While some modern research has undercut a classic study claiming that lottery winners weren’t significantly happier a few years after winning, other scholarship still supports the idea of a happiness set point that is partly genetic. Psychologists (and economists) call this tendency the “hedonic treadmill” — the idea that we’re constantly chasing the pleasure of the newest thing. If you never go out to eat, a suburban chain restaurant can be blissful. If you go out weekly, you will be less impressed.
