Why money does not bring happiness and how to fix it
A Life / / December 19, 2019
Elizabeth Dunn and her colleagues at the University of British Columbia brought eight principles of how to handle money, that they bring happiness.
I recently returned from a trip. I visited Kiev. And although I have not even got out of the country (I live in Kharkov), the trip gave me great pleasure. Knowing that everything always goes wrong, how do you expect, I took a considerable amount of money and still about half the reserve. And I spend it all.
After a few days, I thought about what if I do not feel sorry for the money spent. I had fun, met up with old friends, visited many places and meet new people. The answer was obvious.
Several years ago, a psychologist and professor at the University of British Columbia Elizabeth Dunn held studyTrying to find the relation between happiness and the amount of money. Dunn asked a logical question:
Sure, money makes people happy. But why is an insane amount of money does not make us deliriously happy?
According to Dunn, it is not surprising that many people do not know what
to spend moneyTo be happy. In this they resemble the rich, who do not understand the wine, warehoused expensive bottles in his cellar. And often it turns out that a significant part of the collection of tastes worse than mediocre wine beverages in stores.The correlation between income and happiness is low, and this fact should disturb us. After analyzing the research of their colleagues, interviewing respondents and conducting analysis, Dunn made a logical conclusion:
If money does not make you happy, then you spend it properly.
Money - it possibility to be happy, but only if used correctly. The study Dunne and her colleagues brought the eight principles of money management that will make people happy:
- Spend more money on experience and less on material things.
- Spend money on other people.
- Buying many small things bring more happiness than buying some more.
- Avoid guarantees and other forms of insurance overrated.
- Delay the process of consumption.
- Think about how this or that purchase can affect your daily life.
- Do not compare the purchase alternatives.
- Keep track of monetary habits of other people and determine whether they generate happiness purchases.
Psychologists can teach people to spend money in a way to be happy, and, according to Dunn, its research - is only the beginning. Often money brings more fun when we think of them, not when we spend. It should not be, and blame only ourselves. It's time to mend.