Does Money Buy Happiness

Brenda Olvera

Professor Ali

Writing 1

10/23/13

                                        Does Money Buy Happiness?

        “Money can’t buy me love”, the Beatles once sang. But can greenbacks buy a measure of happiness? Truth is money may or may not buy happiness it all depends on how you spend and where you live. If money doesn’t make you happy, then you probably aren’t spending it right. Most people believe happiness is bought in a store. People overestimate how much pleasure they’ll get when they buy something luxurious. We really don’t need all these extravagant luxuries around us. Are they necessities to life? Are they just things to show your Vanity? Or are they just trying to keep up with the Jones’s?

        Money can buy happiness but only if you spend your money on experiences instead of materials. Psychologist say people report feeling happier when they spend their money on experiences rather than objects. Michel Norton, an associate professor at Harvard Business School and also co-author of the book Happy Money: The Science of Smarter Spending, along with Elizabeth Dunn, associate professor of psychology at the University of British Columbia conducted a study how money can buy happiness. They asked people to spend money on a lot of different ways. He wanted to know what way would make them the happiest. Norton doles out some cash to two women in Harvard Square on a sunny summer day. The catch is that each of them must take the money and spend it on an experience and he also asked two other people to spend their money on themselves and buy anything they wanted. One of the woman who was asked to spend her money on an experience used her money to go out to lunch with a friend and the other woman who was also asked to spend her money on an experience spent her money on psychic reading. The other two people who were asked to spend their money on themselves; bought themselves coffee, makeup, and other material stuff. The results were that the two women that spend their money on experiences were happier than those who spend their money on themselves because those who spend the money on themselves bought materials. One of the most common things people do with their money is get stuff. Norton explains that stuff isn’t good for you. It doesn’t make you unhappy, but it doesn’t make you happy. But one thing that does make you happy is if use your money to buy an experience. Most people would be happier if they spend their money on a vacation instead of a Lamborghini. Suppose you won a thirty five thousand dollars and you were given three options on how to spend your money. The first option was to spend your money on a brand new car. The second option was to spend your money remodeling the house and the third option was spending it on a dream vacation with your family.  Most people would choose option number one or two because maybe their car is exactly a joy or their house really needs an upgrade; after all you spend much of your life in it, and might as well be as nice as possible. Most people feel that a nice brand new car or a remodel house is going to make them happier than a two week vacation. They would feel like a two week vacation would give them temporally happiness because after all it’s only for two weeks. They would assume a short vacation cannot possibly compete with a new car or a renovated home. What they don’t know is a nice car or a nice house may be wonderful at first, but after a relatively short period it is simply a background fact. Just like a marriage while both men and women experience a remarkably large increase in happiness during and immediately after the time of marrying, their happiness returns to its pre-marital state after a year or two. Same thing with a remodel bathroom, at first, it’s a joy, but those positive feeling dwindle until the bathroom becomes ordinary and completely fades into back ground of one’s conscious. Materials can only give you temporally happiness until they become ordinary. Most of the “stuff” we buy is like this. You buy it, use it, and then throw it away. At the end you have nothing. A vacation on the other hand is different it gives you long life happy memories. We quickly adapt to the material good, but the experience endures in the memories we cherish, the stories we tell and the very sense of who we are. It’s like a picture, supposed your house burns down you only had time to grab one material possession what would it be? Most people would grab their photo albums. Why would they grab their photos instead of money or the television? The reason why is because memories of the different experiences that those photos conjure up are priceless? You can replace television but you can’t replace the photos were it shows the people you love being happy.