Can You Buy Happiness?

In this article about whether or not money can buy happiness, I learned that wealth alone does not determine happiness or quality of life. However, wealth is important, specifically how people are spending their money. How you use your money can have a dramatic impact on your happiness .

Lots of research has been conducted to determine if money can buy happiness. This research has found when people spend money, experiences give people more lasting pleasure than material things do. However,  people still prioritize buying material goods to make themselves happy. A study conducted by Ryan Howell, a professor of  psychology at San Francisco State University, found that when people looked back at the purchases they have made, they realized that experiences actually provided better value, “People think that experiences are only going to provide temporary happiness, but they actually provide both more happiness and more lasting value. And yet, we still keep on buying material things because they’re tangible and we think we can keep on using them.” We adapt to material goods and begin to take them for granted with time, while experiences provide people with happy memories and a sense of fulfillment as time increases.

In another article about if money can buy happiness, I found that “No, money cannot buy you happiness, but money can buy you a lot of things that will contribute mightily to happiness.” This article agreed that buying experiences is the best way to make yourself happy when spending money, and that sharing an experience with other people is even more rewarding happiness wise when it comes to spending money.

Many factors go into happiness, but happiness can be achieved through spending money, specifically through spending money on experiences and on others.