Money and Happiness - The Search for a Link Continues
The timeless search for a connection between money and happiness has spawned several new stories on the topic. A recent article on Bankrate.com, for example, said research has found some interesting variations in happiness by income. Most notably, while happiness increases a lot for one who moves from poverty to the middle class, beyond that, increases in income provide negligible increases in happiness.
The August issue of Money Magazine also weighed in on the topic, citing three research-based reasons why money and what it can buy so often fail to deliver the joy we expect: We tend to overestimate how much pleasure we'll get from having more; more stuff can lead to more stress if that five-bedroom house comes with a long daily commute; and, of course, we tend to compare what we have to what others have. What does lead to happiness? One factor that has stood the test of time is good relationships.
Matt's View
A phrase that has entered the popular personal finance vernacular is "the latte factor," which suggests that people could do a better job saving money if they changed small habits like skipping that overpriced cup of caffeine. While there's some wisdom in that, the happiness research tells us that if a cup of coffee is what it takes for us to spend time with friends, it may just be one of the wisest uses of our money.
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
View All »