Check out Amazon.com and you'll find page after page of paperbacks and Kindle-version books for sale with another formula to increase your financial wherewithal. Clearly, there's a demand for the information. Who would turn down more money (cute kid in the credit card TV ad notwithstanding)?
Plenty of excellent research around the world has shown, however, that income has surprisingly little influence on our happiness.
So should you throw out that winning lotto ticket? Not so fast-it's a complex subject area. Besides, you're about to learn a few things those lottery winners who ended up miserable (even suicidal) didn't know. Here's the secret: It's not about how much money you've got. It's about how you spend it. Elizabeth Dunn and Michael Norton spell out the details in a new book, Happy Money: The Science of Smarter Spending.
Consider this. Why does anyone want more money? Is it because we're obsessed with collecting little rectangular pieces of paper with dead presidents, political figures or other national leaders on them? Of course not. It's because we imagine we can use that paper in exchange for something we do want. And what we all want, ultimately, is happiness.
It's a bit surprising, then, that the "science of spending" seems like such a new and different approach to understanding money and happiness. Bottom line, the latest research has a simple but potentially life-altering lesson for all of us trying to make a happier world for others and ourselves.
Forget the struggle to accumulate more money; shift your focus instead to spending it differently.
5 Ways To Spend Yourself Happy
Here is how you can begin making smarter, happier spending choices now.
1. Buy experiences, not stuff.
People who spend more of their money on leisure report significantly greater satisfaction with their lives. Leisure purchases include things like trips, movies, sporting events, live performances, and other pleasurable experiences. In fact, when researching spending choices linked to happiness, only one category of spending matters-leisure.
2. Make it a treat.
We humans are so weird. Like when too much of a good thing makes it, well, less good. When something wonderful is always available, people are less inclined to appreciate it. So make your special treats a sometimes-thing, rather than an everyday-thing. I'm not talking total self-denial. Say you love a late afternoon latte, for example, and it's become a daily thing. The regularity has likely made it into something less delicious than it once was. Studies suggest that if you indulge once in while, instead of everyday, you'll transform that creamy caramel latte back into a treat again.
3. Buy yourself some time.
When you outsource those tasks that you hate to do you free yourself up to do something you enjoy instead. Hate scrubbing toilets? Hire someone to come in periodically and take that off your to-do list. Now take the time you would have spent cleaning house and do something you love to do instead (it's scientifically verified: That's smart spending!).
Focus on time, not money. Changing your decisions about money into decisions about time can change your life. Because thinking about time, versus thinking about money, promotes a different mindset. We view choices about time as being deeply connected to our sense of self. But choices about money tend to be more rational and detached. Thinking in terms of time frees us up to prioritize happiness and relationships.
4. Pay now, consume later.
Credit cards and technology today make it easier than ever to consume our purchase now and pay for it later. But the science of spending suggests we are much happier when we do just the opposite.
When we delay consumption, we gain the pleasure of anticipation (researchers found that people get the most happiness from vacations before they ever occur). Not only that, but when you pay for something immediately you're less prone to overspend, which can lead to a decrease in debt (which is one of the best routes to an increase in happiness levels).
5. Invest in others.
Spending money on others can increase your happiness even more than spending it on yourself. Whether it's buying a scarf for your mom or lifesaving medical treatment for a friend, investing in others can make you feel not only measurably happier, but healthier and wealthier too.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Cynthia_Rose
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