
If money doesn't make you happy, you probably aren't spending it right (2010) [pdf] - monort
http://www.wjh.harvard.edu/~dtg/DUNN%20GILBERT%20&%20WILSON%20(2011).pdf
======
michokest
Last year I sold some stock from my last startup, a little over $1m after
taxes, and I can say it's definitely changed things for the better.

In this period of time, I have been able to:

\- Quit my founder position at that startup (thus avoiding potentially being
tied to vesting or retention clauses, in case of an acquisition)

\- Own my house, and invest in a few other apartments, which turned into a
little side business with great margins

\- Start a new company investing my own money, and not requiring a salary

\- Travel and live in a few different cities as I build the new startup

\- Completely forget about the price tag when buying small-ticket things: a
taxi ride, asking for an extra plate, an occasional flight, paying a round of
drinks

It's not as it money made me happy by spending it, but it did remove a lot of
the constraints I had before. It's made me feel like the default state would
be to be carefree and happy, and as long as you can keep the worries and the
stress away, everything will go alright.

As a new worry, I now spend a lot of time thinking about how to reinvest it
wisely and continue living like this. It's not overwhelming, and it's not very
different than what doing my finances felt like before, but doing it a larger
scale adds a new dimension to it.

~~~
jacquesm
I agree with most of your decisions but:

> Completely forget about the price tag when buying small-ticket things: a
> taxi ride, asking for an extra plate, an occasional flight, paying a round
> of drinks

Needs a little asterisk, you're changing your lifestyle to one that you
probably can not yet afford, be careful with that, these 'little things'
really add up over time.

Other than that: Congratulations :)

~~~
beachstartup
i completely disagree - he has a small but successful real estate business and
has presumably close to or over $1M in assets. he _definitely can_ afford a
tax ride, an extra appetizer, or a flight somewhere without thinking about the
implications of the cost. if not this guy, then who? do you have to be a
billionaire before you can order an appetizer without guilt?

i'll describe the lifestyle you probably can't afford - $20k vacations, $500
dinners, $100k cars, and $1M houses. not appetizers and taxi rides. appetizers
and taxi rides are normal things that normal people buy. even normal people
who don't have a successful exit under their belt and don't have a successful
new business as an investor.

this irrational overemphasis on frugality i always see on hn just seems like a
different form of elitism / pedantry to me. since most of us have money, it's
just a covert way of signaling an extra level of self-control and discipline
(which are usually required to make money, but since so many of us make money,
we've got to find novel ways to signal that extra status).

~~~
memonkey
I am honestly curious but is there a link or survey somewhere that says most
HNers make/have money?

~~~
jonnathanson
There have been occasional polls, on topics such as salary, exit amounts, etc.
People generally consider the results of these polls unreliable.

------
unknownBits
Money is the most tricky thing men will ever face. Not talking about extreme
poverty here, the following is what I've learned:

More money leads in almost all people to artificial value, short term
superficial happiness, degradation of the soul. On the outside it looks great
and shiny, but on the inside the soul starves and craves true happiness.
Unfortunately, most rich people react unconsciously by spending more and more,
in a desperate effort to fill the ever growing gap.

Longer term less money creates in almost all people higher valuation of the
most simple and basic things, which translates to true happiness for the soul.
Less money can restore happiness if people are willing.

But there is of course a lot more affected by the money in our lives,
especially the ego. A rich men easily thinks he is really someone, a 'great'
man, special, gifted, etc.. The poor man will most often struggle with the
opposite thoughts and feelings, while in the end it's all false.

If I ever again have quite some money to spend, I'll be very vigilant, you'll
see me desperately trying to hold myself back. Never trade your soul for money
(or power) is my advice. And if you have a lot of it, use a substantial part
to help poor children for example, give them food, education, that will create
you some ever lasting happiness, at least, if you can hold yourself back from
growing your ego on that.

~~~
clavalle
>More money leads in almost all people to artificial value, short term
superficial happiness, degradation of the soul.

I could not disagree more. In the vast majority of cases, money leads to less
misery. Then you just lead your life without the obsessive material thoughts
so many struggle with.

I do agree with your last point, though, that once you reach a certain level
of stability, you should focus on either reducing other people's misery if you
have the power to do so or creating things (either yourself or by proxy) that
wouldn't exist in the world without your help.

~~~
jmagoon
It's strange to me that people think having or not having money is directly
tied to obsessing over money. These are two separate things that aren't
actually connected--the number in your bank account and the state of your
mind.

You can have $1bn and be totally miserable and miserly, you can have .15 and
be generous and happy, and vice versa.

~~~
downandout
_> you can have .15 and be generous and happy_

On what planet? You aren't going to be happy begging for food, walking
everywhere you go, having no place to shower or sleep, not having clothes,
etc. Certainly, each extra dollar gives you less marginal happiness as you
move up the net worth scale into the tens and hundreds of millions of dollars.
But if you aren't able to meet a certain reasonable minimum standard of
living, you will be absolutely miserable.

~~~
BrokenEnso
"if you aren't able to meet a certain reasonable minimum standard of living,
you will be absolutely miserable."

For some people their minimum standard of living dose not require money.
Buddhist monks[1] come to mind. There are also people that simply want to live
away from society and thus have no real need for money.

[1]
[http://www.buddhanet.net/e-learning/buddhistworld/layguide.h...](http://www.buddhanet.net/e-learning/buddhistworld/layguide.htm)

~~~
freshhawk
I think the discussion was assuming you didn't have someone taking care of
your material needs for you, like a monastery or a parent.

~~~
nmcfarl
I know people who have lived off the grid (or on a boat), without a paying
job, happily. It does get wearing, and people don't seem to do it for too long
- but that can be years.

(To give some examples of lifestyles that do not require income, nor external
people paying for things.)

~~~
freshhawk
Definitely true. I think the parent was overstating it saying that one would
be miserable without money.

But the larger point stands, your state of mind and your access to resources
are connected, very strongly at the poverty end. There are definitely people
who can be very fulfilled with very few resources (until they get sick or it
gets very cold) but they would all be happier with a bunch of money, even if
that's just to give away to those in need.

------
collyw
I was happiest 15 years ago working as a raft guide and traveling the world. I
had very little money then, but I was very happy. I got to do what I loved
every day. I usually made two large purchases per year (the opposite of what
this article suggests) - a kayak and a return ticket to my next destination.

I now sit in front of a computer. Earn OK money but not enough to retire on
anytime soon (I am in Spain just now, money isn't great here). I guess I make
lots more smaller purchases than I did in the old days (though they are
usually far less meaningful to me than the large purchases I made back then).
I was definitely happier back then.

~~~
mparlane
Your old life reminded me of the Mexican fisherman story :)

[http://bemorewithless.com/the-story-of-the-mexican-
fisherman...](http://bemorewithless.com/the-story-of-the-mexican-fisherman/)

~~~
verroq
The difference is that you have to fish everyday, or you starve and you can't
"play with your kids, take siestas with your wife, stroll to the village in
the evenings where you could sip wine and play your guitar with your amigos"
any more.

Where as in the 15 years later version, you don't need to fish at all.

~~~
markyc
if he loves to fish that shouldn't be a problem though, thus giving him 15
extra years of peaceful life

i know, he could get injured and not be able to fish, but on that note, in 15
years he could find out he has cancer and not be able to enjoy his money

~~~
icebraining
His kids would, though.

~~~
markyc
they may prefer 15 years of quality time with dad to a load of cash

PS: I'd love to hear some arguments on this, not just simple downvotes. Is HN
turning into a place like: "you don't think like me, so I'm downvoting you and
moving along"?

~~~
thelogos
If you've ever fished for a living, the argument seems ludicrous.

Fishing can be treacherous work. You might get rich with a big haul or die
when the whether turns bad.

There are many factors, enviromental pollution, ecosystem changing, etc. It's
not unusual for these small local fishermen to have very very bad years. And
it's not just small outfits that hit tough times, do some research on the tuna
industry and decline in tuna population.

Reality doesn't always go along with our cozy zen story. We haven't even
mentioned the fact that turning your hobby into a job is quite often a very
bad idea.

~~~
smileysteve
In the case of the story of the fisherman in Mexico, he is not going on big
hauls that pay big bucks. He is in a small one man boat in a bay. He is not
catching thousands of pounds of fish, he is catching 2-5 fish a day.

~~~
thelogos
You can't support a family catching 2-5 fishes a day. This is not prehistory.
You need to catch extra to sell so you can afford to take your kid to the
doctor and buy them medicine when they get sick.

You need to buy clothes unless you plan on leaving yourself and your family
naked. You need to buy school supplies for your kid. These things do not come
for free my friend.

The life of a fisherman is a harsh one and none, not even the poorest
fisherman can live on 2-5 fish a day. You need money to buy a fridge to
preserve your catch because some days or even weeks, you will catch absolutely
nothing. There are fishing seasons. At the very least, you need to buy salt to
dry and preserve the fish.

Have you ever watched a family wept when the rain came down while they were
laying out their fishes to dry?

I think some people on HN have a tendency to romanticize poverty, and that
might be because they've never been without money. Backpacking around India
and SE Asia does not give you a true experience of poverty.

Sure, you'll take some pictures to show off on Fb, instagram, twitter and then
eventually hop back on a plane to fly home. Try living like those people for
decades. Watch your wife die from childbirth. How are you going to afford a
trip to the hospital on 2-5 fish a day? People routinely give birth without an
ultrasound beforehand and they do it at home. Watch your precious kid die from
malaria because you can't afford proper treatment.

I speak from experience here. There is nothing, nothing noble about poverty.

~~~
smileysteve
> I speak from experience here. There is nothing, nothing noble about poverty.

Your problem is with the well known allegory, not the people on hacker news
romanticizing poverty.

Your position seems to distance itself from the allegory because we have no
sense that this community in Mexico has first world medical care, schools, or
western clothing.

The allegory also suggests this as 'simple' life, which most probably means
selling the fish at market as soon as the fisherman comes in - no salting, no
drying, etc.

~~~
thelogos
My point is, the allegory is a farce that trivialize reality.

The simple life is not simple. No life is ever simple.

The allegory masquerades as false wisdom.

I know quite a few guys that went back to their home country and attempted to
live that "simple life".

Now they're all coming back, most usually do it around the time their first
child enters grade school.

All this despite that fact that they have significantly more money than the
local population. Just imagine if they didn't.

There's a very good reason why there's so many illegal immigrants in first
world countries.

------
netcan
There are all sorts of complexities here that's difficult to capture in
sweeping statements, statistics, principles or studies.

Money (problems) are the source of lots of unhappiness. Stress and its
consequences. Failing to make ends meet is stressful and unhappy. While being
a broke and careless 26 year old in love might be fun, in most circumstances
being broke sucks. Choosing between a dentist or ballet class for your 5 year
old is not pleasant.

There are noncausational correlations between making money and happiness. To a
large extent, having money is one big example of successfully functioning in
our society. It's therefore probably correlated with all sorts of other types
of functioning. Making money is often succeeding at controlling your life.
It's similar to other successes at controlling one's life (deliberately and
successfully choosing a career or family life). These are related to
happiness.

Feeling successful is pleasant in itself. Most of us work most of our lives.
Money is the main reason. Not making much money is (with many exceptions)
failing to make more money, failure is unpleasant.

My Shtick recently is attempting to be deliberate. There's a lot of
romanticism around serendipity, less so about deliberate action. They're not
really competitive, but they often feel like they are. In any case, spending
your money in a more happiness generating way is being deliberate about being
happy. It extends past money. Be deliberate about spending your time, your
effort and anything else you spend on happiness and you will probably be more
happy.

~~~
vidarh
Money are the source of lots of unhappiness, but as they point out: We adapt.

The research does not support that "being broke sucks".

The research supports that _starving_ and _being homeless_ sucks. The moment
you are not starving, and have shelter, peoples happiness level is on average
almost as high as the happiness level of a rich person.

> Feeling successful is pleasant in itself.

It may be, but as we adapt to having little money and success, so do we adapt
to having lots of money and lots of success. It does not bring substantial
added happiness other than _shortly after we achieve it_. Being given a raise,
or promotion, or public praise gives us happiness, but that happiness fades
very quickly. Similarly, not making much money, or failing, is unpleasant but
the unhappiness it causes is very much temporary unless you keep doing worse.

Avoiding adaption to an improved situation, and ensuring adaption to a worse
situation is key to maximising happiness. You are best served by a slow,
steady "drip" of improvement than suddenly achieving wealth, fame or success
for example. Conversely, if you need to make cuts, you are far better off
cutting your expenditure further than necessary, get used to it, and slowly
see things improving, than you are making small cuts with the risk of having
to cut back further.

Apart from relative effects on adapation, money overall has _very little_
direct impact on happiness other than at the extremes:

If you starve; if you're homeless; if you lack access to mental health
services; if you lack access to health services that can prevent or slow a
degenerative condition (pretty much any catastrophic health change is subject
to adaptation as long as the change is over quickly - e.g. amputees are as
happy as most people relatively soon afterwards - but conditions that slowly
become worse avoids adaptation).

(See Jonathan Haidt's "The Happiness Hypothesis" for more on this, and a
decent chunk of references)

~~~
netcan
I'm far from up on the research, and I've heard conflicting versions of what
research supports. But, this article seems to be treating the relationship as
clearly causal but modest.

From the first paragraph:

 _" Scientists have studied the relationship between money and happiness for
decades and their conclusion is clear: Money buys happiness, but it buys less
than most people think (Aknin, Norton, & Dunn, 2009; Diener & Biswas-Diener,
2002; Frey & Stutzer, 2000). The correlation between income and happiness is
positive but modest.._"

------
gexla
Try living in a medium size city in the Philippines.

There are neighborhood stores here all over the place and they don't charge
much more than you would have to pay by buying in bulk at a larger store. When
I'm not shopping at a neighborhood store, I go to the local market. Each of
these places are very bland. Basically just a bamboo or concrete house with
the products hanging or stacked up in shelves. Often you just order through a
barred window and they give you what you ask for. After shopping like this for
months, walking into a regular grocery store is an assault on the senses.
Packaging, marketing and colors everywhere. Things at the smaller stores are
also really cheap because the locals have to be able to afford them. At the
larger grocery stores I'm floored by the prices of everything. I avoid grocery
stores as much as possible.

The selection of products here is slim. I can spend all day looking around
different stores and not find one thing on my wishlist. Otherwise I find
nothing interesting. Many products are cheap and low quality because expensive
items don't sell. I'm happy living here and I have the things I really need.

Happy + have everything I really need + have money + nothing to spend money on
= abundance of sorts. I don't know if I feel rich, but it's strange feeling
like money doesn't really do me much good. Daily expenses are super cheap. I
only have going out to eat to spend money on. My favorite meals only cost $1 -
$3. When everything is cheap, an expensive meal seems excessive.

Further screwing with me is that I can help out with simple tech stuff at
these restaurants and I can eat for free. Business owners here don't know how
to use things like Facebook, which is basically the internet for the
Philippines. It's not really worth my time, but I like to help. There goes my
main expense outside of rent and utilities.

~~~
hawkice
Indeed. It's somewhat durable, too -- while I certainly experience a lot more
luxury since I left Davao, I'm no longer comfortable with even LA-without-a-
car level extravagance being treated lightly.

I think it's worth pointing out the mirror of your thoughts (which are
completely correct -- if you haven't had cheap and simple options, there is a
deep luxury to it): If you're going to buy nice things -- which are the only
options in America, truly -- enjoy them.

Food and housing seem so obvious to me. Like, you can get a chicken sandwich
here, and eat something that is recognizably made of chicken (you can in the
Philippines too, it's just that's more fancy than normal). I guess it never
struck me how much of a luxury even the low-end of American foodstuffs are.

And I can get an apartment near Detroit that (1) can be air-conditioned to
exactly the temperature I want, and not just a tolerable temperature, and (2)
is, well... nice. Not falling apart, no holes in walls or things, consistent
electricity, internet speeds exceeding 100kb/s (often by 30x).

Now, I don't need all this luxury, but man, the modest increase in expenses
(maybe 2x? I live pretty cheap in America) definitely increases quality of
life. If it didn't, I would probably not live here.

------
bane
Money may not buy happiness, but it's strange how often it's a factor in
things that make you unhappy.

The unhappiest I've ever been was during a difficult period with my family.
Money was definitely involved, and the center of much of the issue, but it was
the troubles in the relationship with people close to me that made me unhappy.

If money had never been an issue, I never would have had either trouble and
things would be different today. The money part of the situation was trivially
resolvable, but the relationship one has lingered for the better part of two
decades and looks like it'll never find a satisfactory conclusion.

~~~
Cthulhu_
"Money doesn't buy happiness" is something said by either the very rich - who
don't have to worry about money - or the very poor - to avoid getting even
more unhappy about their situation. Having trouble paying the bills will cause
stress, stress causes relational issues and whatnot.

Money doesn't buy happiness, but it does help with the basics of life. Which
is why a minimum wage and by extension liveable income if you're unable to
work should be a basic human right. That, or a similar form of supplying basic
human needs - housing, food, water, clothing, privacy, access to information,
hygene, etc.

~~~
vidarh
"Money doesn't buy happiness" is largely demonstrably true for _most people_
in their current situations. The available research does not back up any large
correlation - causative or not - between happiness and wealth outside of very
extreme situations:

If you starve, or lack shelter, money unambiguously increases average
happiness substantially. Once you are fed and have somewhere to live - even if
crappy - peoples happiness are minimally affected by additional money.

There are ways which you can leverage more money to increase your happiness,
but interestingly the best approaches involve living below your means, no
matter how much or little you have: The most efficient way of leveraging
wealth into happiness is to ensure that you build a buffer so that you can
maintain a slow, steady upwards trajectory as much as possible.

~~~
tormeh
Actually not. Money increases happiness logarithmically. Of course, work may
decrease happiness and there's an optimal work/money tradeoff involved, but
the happiness payoff from money, per se, never stop.

~~~
SamReidHughes
Are you talking about reality here? Do you even have a meaningful way to
quantify happiness (the one that you claim maps to a logarithmic
relationship)?

~~~
tormeh
Things like this:
[http://www.economist.com/blogs/graphicdetail/2013/05/daily-c...](http://www.economist.com/blogs/graphicdetail/2013/05/daily-
chart-0)

The standard way to measure happiness seems to be to simply ask.

------
ggreer
Previous discussion:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3922794](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3922794)

I'm guessing this was submitted because I linked to it in a comment.[1]

1\.
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8581524](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8581524)

------
softdev12
For anyone who is interested in a shorter version of this journal article,
Wall Street Journal reporter Andrew Blackman posted an article today titled
"Can Money Buy Happiness? Here's What the Science Says." It's behind a
paywall, which is why the harvard journal article is listed here (I'm
assuming).

But if you have a subscription, the link is at
[http://online.wsj.com/articles/can-money-buy-happiness-
heres...](http://online.wsj.com/articles/can-money-buy-happiness-heres-what-
science-has-to-say-1415569538)

The main points seem to be:

1) at the margin, it's better to spend money on fleeting experiences over
material goods 2) money buys happiness up to a point (i.e. $75K per year, then
there's diminishing returns) 3) don't get into debt or you're in for sadness

------
pehtis
Money works like RAM: More RAM than the running processes require will not
make your computer any faster, but if you run out of RAM it will make it
slower.

~~~
AndyNemmity
That's a really interesting way to look at it. I think you're right, thanks
for including that piece of insight.

To continue - Having more RAM also makes you more likely to run programs you
don't need, or don't care about. Limiting the RAM left available for the
applications you do.

It's easier to kill processes though than drains on your income.

~~~
JoeAltmaier
How do you know what programs you need to run? Why would we think all the good
ones are low-RAM? I'd need to see a profile of apps and RAM to even begin to
conclude anything.

Either the analogy isn't working, or more money (or RAM) has a good chance of
letting me do more things that I value. I think the 2nd.

~~~
Daishiman
> How do you know what programs you need to run? Why would we think all the
> good ones are low-RAM? I'd need to see a profile of apps and RAM to even
> begin to conclude anything.

Wisdom, aging, getting to know yourself. I sure love a $300 meal, but eating
out 5 times a week isn't going to make me any happier than going to that place
once a month and cooking on my own the rest of the time; maybe ordering a
cheap dish at my favorite Chinese place.

If you enjoy looking good and your wardrobe already has everything you could
reasonably wear on a day-to-day basis and some special events, the chances
that an additional piece of clothing will make a marked difference on your
happiness is extremely low.

If you have sex with your lover as much as you could possibly want, more sex
will not increase your quality of life; most likely it will be a negative.

There's a point where we just saturate on the hedonistic aspects of life, even
the ones with supposed higher purposes.

------
themagician
I used to have money. When I got divorced I decided I would let my wife have
it all. It was mostly hers to begin with, so it wasn't some great act of
generosity. She walked away with somewhere around $2MM in liquidity. I walked
away with about $10,000.

It's really made very little difference. Money makes some things easier, but I
wouldn't associate that with happy. They are two separate things. There was a
time when I thought money would make me happy, and I think there was a time
where maybe it did, but there was a realization that my "happiness" wasn't my
own. I don't even know if that makes sense to anyone but me, but that's the
only way I can articulate it. I was happy because I thought I should be happy
with all the stuff and "freedom", but at the end of the day I didn't really
care about those things.

Now I'm in this place, this awkward state, where money can't buy any of the
things I want. It's a confusing place to be because the world doesn't really
operate that way. I wish money made me happy. That would make everything much
easier.

~~~
ryusage
I saw a good TED talk[1] a while ago about this topic, and the speaker made
the interesting point that people use the word happiness to mean different
things. You can ask someone how happy they are feeling at a given moment, or
you can ask them how happy they are with their life in general. And we
evaluate those two feelings in very different ways.

He mentions at one point that studies about how people feel in the moment were
very correlated with money, but only up to the point that they didn't need to
worry about it anymore. After that, it had little bearing on their
experiential happiness. But when asked how happy they were with their lives,
the more money, the better, with no limit. Which seems to me more like pride
in an achievement.

I wonder if the happiness that wasn't "your own" was because part of you was
happy when you thought about where you were in life, but you were also aware
it wasn't really improving your day-to-day experience. Kind of a cognitive
dissonance between the two ways you were evaluating your happiness.

I don't know, you think that's even close?

[1]
[http://www.ted.com/talks/daniel_kahneman_the_riddle_of_exper...](http://www.ted.com/talks/daniel_kahneman_the_riddle_of_experience_vs_memory)

~~~
themagician
That's somewhat accurate. I'd not seen this TED talk either, so thanks.

The day-to-day didn't really change above a certain income, and that income
limit (at least for me) was pretty low. Even living in both Manhattan and San
Francisco where things are expensive.

All the things I enjoy aren't really that expensive. You don't need millions
of dollars to read a book, watch a movie, listen to an album, or have sex.
These things are only very marginally improved above let's say, the $75K mark.
You don't even need millions of dollars to go out to eat every night.

Money can give you more discretionary time. But that free time can't be spent
in any way (at least none that I found) that feels rewarding while everyone
else you know or care about is at work. You are still bound to rest of the
world. I think that's what I like about more European, or day I say socialist,
lifestyles. I need other people to spend time with. I've found hanging out
with extremely wealthy people who don't do anything to be extremely boring and
almost uncomfortable.

If I woke up tomorrow and suddenly had $10 million I'm not sure I'd be any
happier. I'd go out and buy some new clothes I guess, a bigger apartment
maybe. I'd still wake up in the morning and turn on the radio to listen to
NPR. I'd still eat the same yogurt, same strawberries.

People start to do silly things with money I don't understand. Giant TVs they
don't know how to work, fancy cars they never drive. Or buy some house with
rooms that sit empty. I'm just like, why? Why would you do that? When people
say these things make them "happy" I wonder if we actually feel completely
different emotions.

------
xacbas
Summary: [http://www.forbes.com/sites/tombarlow/2011/06/15/how-to-
buy-...](http://www.forbes.com/sites/tombarlow/2011/06/15/how-to-buy-
happiness-with-money/)

------
ElectricMonk79
"Principle 1: Buy experiences instead of things"

Figure 1 - highest on the happiness index is "making love"

I see what you're saying. ;)

------
k__
A year ago I stopped spending my money on "things" and start spending it on
free time. My life is much better now.

~~~
balou
This is indeed so true; yet money doesn't buy time. Unless you are in your
dream location there's always inherent costs to visiting relatives / friends,
match their schedule, or simply go wherever you feel good. So you end-up with
a double need for money ;)

Still ... I fully agree!

~~~
Tepix
In some degree, it does. If you have more money than you need, you can opt to
work less hours (not everyone can, but in Germany for example most people have
that option).

------
tempodox
Yep, I always knew it's entirely my own fault that I'm not happy. I just have
to get better at spending money. Why didn't I think of that myself. I'll get
out now and find myself a coach that will teach me all the tricks I need to
know. After all if you can buy everything, why not the knowledge on how to get
happy spending money? It's so easy once you look at it the right way!

------
amelius
“While money can't buy happiness, it certainly lets you choose your own form
of misery.” ― Groucho Marx

------
kstenerud
While I can see how principles 7 and 8 could help most people, they wouldn't
work for me.

Every purchase of an item I intended to use long term (2 years or more) was
preceded by anywhere from days to weeks of research, reviews, and comparison
shopping. It's a huge brain drain, but it was worth it. I now have 98% of all
possessions I'd want, with the remaining 2% having not reached the right
opportunity yet (I'm also quite frugal). More importantly, I did not follow
the herd. I found that an overall rating is a good rough indicator (thus
saving many hours of work on my part), but you still need to look into
individual reviews, because not everyone has the same tastes or standards or
needs or use cases as you.

I now have a comfortable place, possessions that are built to last, and very
few wants that would require more money to satisfy.

So has money bought me happiness? I believe a better way to phrase it would be
to say that money is no longer a barrier to my happiness.

~~~
claytonjy
Because you seem content with this path, may I ask how old you are, or at
least how long you've been on this path? I'm also curious to hear examples of
the 2% you mention.

I'm young but I try to have this same approach of taking the time to buy nice
things which will last (furniture, kitchenware, camping gear), and tend to be
a bit obsessive about ratings + reviews. I sometimes wonder if this is the
"right" approach or if I would be happier buying cheaper crap and spending
less time doing it. I do find strong intrinsic value when I'm confident I
bought the thing which best fits my needs after doing hours/days of research.

~~~
kstenerud
I'm 39 now, but I started this path late. Most of my life was spent going from
country to country, with all of my possessions able to fit in two bags. I was
also reduced to the shirt on my back a couple of times in business ventures
gone wrong. What I've discovered is that there aren't actually _that_ many
things to get. A bed, a dresser, a kitchen table and chairs, a couch, a coffee
table, a TV, stand, amp and some speakers, living room chairs, a desk + chair,
a bookshelf. After that it's outfitting the kitchen and bathroom, clothing,
and some art for the walls. That covers the necessities. Beyond that it's just
supporting your hobbies & things you do for fun. The other 2% are things like
a car (I just use Zipcar for now), some of the more high tech gizmos for the
kitchen, more camping gear, good pots & pans once I get better at cooking -
Stuff I can live without, so I'm content to wait for a really great deal
before buying. The best part is finding something you know you'll need
eventually (because it's on your list), but it's available now at a deep
discount because some shopkeeper is desperate to be rid of it.

That's actually the key: having the ability to be patient. For about a year, I
kept a list of everything I wanted to buy, including links to what were the
best in each area. Then I'd keep an eye out for sales, check out garage sales
& flea markets, go to second hand stores, surplus stores, etc. I tried to not
buy unless I could get it for 70-80% off the new price or better, while still
of acceptable quality. For brand new stuff over $50, I'd usually only buy at
40% off or better. To completely furnish my place with stuff I'll never
replace, I spent about $2000 over the course of a year. Some stuff was free.
Some stuff was damn near free (my solid oak desk was $20) Some stuff I ended
up paying a fair price for, because I would accept no substitute. My biggest
purchase was a 50" TV for $500, which I'll keep for the next 10 years or so
unless it actually breaks. My older, 8 year old 32" TV I now use as an
external monitor. It still works like the day I bought it, but then again I
also researched the shit out of it before buying (Sharp Aquos, on sale 40%
off).

The best part about buy-it-for-life stuff is that a used item is just as good
as a new.

The research is slow and tedious. The key is to not be in a hurry. There is a
finite amount of stuff to get, and you can probably survive without it for
awhile.

------
ericdykstra
The generalizations in this paper based on cherry-picked studies aren't very
convincing. How people react in contrived situations, and how people live
their life are quite a bit different. The word "suggest" appears 17 times in
this article, where the author extrapolates from the findings of a single
research experiment. It reads more like an opinion piece than anything
scientific, and I'm certainly not going to change my habits from what's
written in it.

------
toblender
This reminds me of a great story: [http://totalfratmove.com/guy-goes-to-
mexico-to-kill-himself-...](http://totalfratmove.com/guy-goes-to-mexico-to-
kill-himself-spends-week-doing-coke-and-banging-hookers-decides-to-keep-
living/)

There are no NSFW pictures just a text...

------
novalis78
One of the greatest books IMHO which gives very practical advice how to
achieve and maintain happiness in life is Raymond Hull's old classic (1969)
"How to get what you want". Interestingly enough (and although written by a
Canadian) it is quite well known in Europe, not so much in the US:
[http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/how-to-get-what-you-want-
ray...](http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/how-to-get-what-you-want-raymond-
hull/1001022338?ean=2940150528680) the comment section on amazon is
interesting to read as well:
[http://www.amazon.com/dp/0671783270/](http://www.amazon.com/dp/0671783270/)

------
Jun8
Somerset Maugham has a nice quote in _Of Human Bondage_ : "Money is like a
sixth sense without which you cannot make a complete use of the other five."
Although he does have a point I don't quite agree with that POV.

What I think money should be viewed as (we're talking about a good amount of
money here, let's say 2-3x your living expenses) a super power. Like all super
powers it can be used for good or evil (or, more probably, wasted). You can do
a lot of good with a relatively small amount of money. You really cannot do
this or think about such things if you don't know where your next lunch is
coming from or if you will be able to afford to send your kids to college.

------
dschiptsov
_“Money doesn’t just buy you a better life — better food, better cars, better
pussy — it also makes you a better person. You can give generously to the
church of your choice or the political party. You can save the fucking spotted
owl with money.”_

I know, I know.)

------
Chinjut
Everything else being equal, of course I'd be happier to have more money.

But all things aren't equal, and many of the things one is supposed to spend
one's time on in order to make maximal money are things I am unhappy spending
my time on.

(That having been said, the article is about getting the best happiness bang
from whatever bucks you do have, which I have no argument with. I suppose I'm
just saying, in many cases, the optimal happiness I could purchase with some
money stream is the free time "purchased" by not working for it in the first
place.)

------
arielweisberg
I poor all the money I can into my future self. That actually does make me
happy. I don't see lifestyle inflation as a good idea especially for young
people.

~~~
mcdougle
Me too. I figure, if I can get some shit done in my 20s, I can have a pretty
sweet time in my 30s, running a small company and spending time with my future
family rather than working an unfulfilling 9 to 5 and trying to make up for it
by partying hard on the weekends.

------
arscan
These 2 put out a book on the subject as well. It's worth a read if you found
this paper helpful.

[http://books.simonandschuster.com/Happy-Money/Elizabeth-
Dunn...](http://books.simonandschuster.com/Happy-Money/Elizabeth-
Dunn/9781451665079)

------
ToastyMallows
In this thread: Generalizations

------
duwip
Related TED talk for those interested:
[http://www.ted.com/talks/michael_norton_how_to_buy_happiness](http://www.ted.com/talks/michael_norton_how_to_buy_happiness)

------
comboy
It's all about your utility function.

If you are not optimizing for personal happiness but for something else, then
the fact that it doesn't make you happy doesn't mean you aren't spending it
right.

------
dalacv
The happiest people I've ever met were those who had just enough money /
education to be comfortable but just little enough to not know any better.

------
pit
Ah, yes. "If you can't spend dough, what [are] you hustlin' for?"

------
rasengan
Coming from the hood, I wanted to say that I could not disagree with this
article more.

Life is fair. Just like the late poet said, "More money, more problems." Life
always finds a way of balancing itself out.

~~~
SnacksOnAPlane
People who say "life is fair" are usually the ones who have an easy life. It's
a way to blame people for their problems.

~~~
zo1
"It's a way to blame people for their problems." Why does blame have to be
part of it? Or are you saying that people who use that phrase are implying
that people are to blame for what problems they have because life itself is
fair?

~~~
SnacksOnAPlane
Yeah, I'm saying that people who say "life is fair" usually haven't had
horrible problems like birth defects or having their house burn down. It's
also a way for people who have had incredibly good luck to rationalize why
they have it so easy while other people struggle.

~~~
rasengan
I'll share my story with the world soon. My life wasn't easy at all, and
unfortunately, it still isn't. However, I'm working as hard as I can.

------
paulhauggis
Money sure makes me happy.

I hate working for other people and my profiyltable business has allowed me to
continue to work for myself.

------
gchokov
<sarcasm>What an actual topic for hacker news community! I bet this topic will
go to top 3!</sarcasm>

