Happy Spending
The relationship between money and happiness continues as a source of fascination. As reported in the New York Times, researchers at Virginia Commonwealth University compared the attitudes and behaviors of two groups. One embraced "voluntary simplicity," which focuses less on materialistic goals and more on three main intrinsic goals: "Being connected to friends and family, exploring one's interests or skills, and 'making the world a better place.'" The other group consisted of "mainstream" Americans. Even though the simple living group's average income was significantly lower than the other group, they were found to be "much happier and satisfied with life."
Matt's View
Another researcher quoted in the article pointed out that when we focus on material goals, there's "no natural stopping point." There will always be a nicer house, a better car, and another new golf club that'll help us play more like Tiger.
A helpful step in making use of this research is not to focus on "less" (no one likes to cut back), but to focus on "more"--that is, more of what really does cause happiness, such as more time with friends and family and more time working at the things that make a positive difference in the world.
Managing Money by The Book
- "Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock." - Matthew 7:24-25
Recommended Resources
- Money, Purpose, Joy - Discussion Guide
- If you want to take your relationship with money to a whole new level, bring the subject into your small group. It can be scary to open up about money, at least at first. But the "Money, Purpose, Joy Discussion...…Read the rest
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