When it comes to money and material items, I have always found that I’m happier being with the people I love and experiencing events first on, rather than buying the latest pair of designer shoes. However, as I grew up in a wealthy suburban town, many of my classmates were very materialistic, that they failed to appreciate the beauty and happiness that many experiences bring.
Contrary to the decades-old theory that money can’t buy happiness; recent data suggests just the opposite (Singh). Think about it; there’s nothing quite like experiencing a mind-blowing concert, that breathtaking trip to Italy, or even a good time walking with your friends. These experiences are what people are going to remember most when they reflect back on their lives, not that flat screen TV you bought once. The study Waiting for Merlot: Anticipatory Consumption of Experiential and Material Purchases, which was published in Psychological Science, followed 100 college students and 2200 adults about their feelings about material purchases and experience purchases. They found that these college students and adults felt happier with their experience-related purchases over their material purchases. In addition, researchers found that the participants felt more anxiety and impatience with their material purchases (Singh).
A doctoral student of psychology at Cornell, Amit Kumar, explains this phenomenon with the concept that when consumer buy a product such as a flat screen TV or a new car, they know exactly what they are getting out of the product because they have researched what they want to buy. However, in talking about buying experiences, consumers start anticipating and envisioning what the experience is going to be like. This contributes to their happiness outcome because they don’t know what the experience they purchased is actually going to be like, so they are surprised every time (Singh). This evidence shows that although the sheer presence of money cannot buy happiness, nor can materialistic objects, using that money for experiences such as concerts and traveling does bring happiness.
Singh, Maanvi. “You Can Buy Happiness, If It’s an Experience.” NPR. N.p., 3 Sept. 2014. Web. 18
Sept. 2014. <http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2014/09/03/345540607/
look-forward-to-the-trip-not-the-gadgets-to-be-truly-happy>.
I have always thought of this so it is interesting to have data to back up my speculations. I have always said that spending money on experience rather than material things is the best way to spend money. I have gone to an innumerable amount of concerts, sporting events, etc. because I love getting the real experience of things. The things we encounter or take part of in our lives can make or break our happiness and purchasing things that lead to happy experience is a great way to spend money.