Happy Money: The Science of Happier Spending
Two professors combine their fascinating and cutting-edge research in behavioral science to explain how money can buy happiness--if you follow five core principles of smart spending. Most people recognize that they need professional advice on how to earn, save, and invest their money. When it comes to spending that money, most people just follow their intuitions. But scientific research shows that those intuitions are often wrong. Happy Money offers a tour of research on the science of spending, explaining how you can get more happiness for your money. Authors Elizabeth Dunn and Michael Norton have outlined five principles--from choosing experiences over stuff to spending money on others--to guide not only individuals looking for financial security, but also companies seeking to create happier employees and provide "happier products" to their customers. Dunn and Norton show how companies from Google to Pepsi to Charmin have put these ideas into action. Along the way, Dunn and Norton explore fascinating research that reveals that luxury cars often provide no more pleasure than economy models, that commercials can actually enhance the enjoyment of watching television, and that residents of many cities frequently miss out on inexpensive pleasures in their hometowns. By the end of this "lively and engaging book" (Dan Gilbert, author of Stumbling on Happiness), you'll be asking yourself one simple question every time you reach for your wallet: Am I getting the biggest happiness bang for my buck?
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Community Reviews
I wasn't sure how many stars to give this one because it isn't the type of book I usually dig into. I decided to hover over each star to see what they actually meant and settled on two because it means, "it was ok." And it was "ok." I certainly didn't like it, but I did find some parts to be interesting. I read this after receiving it for free through the website Bzzagent.com. I wasn't asked to write a review on here, but I decided since I had to sit through it and will have to put a review on their website, I might as well slap another review on goodreads.
This is broken into five chapters (if you don't count the prologue, epilogue, notes, index, etc.), which are as follows:
1. Buy Experiences
2. Make It a Treat
3. Buy Time
4. Pay Now, Consume Later
5. Invest In Others
Buy Experiences
This was probably my favorite chapter because I agreed with a lot of what was being said. To sum it up: We will remember experiences from twenty years ago with more fondness than we will remember a material object like a watch or a shiny toaster that we purchased twenty years ago. They talked about an absurd $200,000 to go into space for 6 minutes, but they also mentioned doing Tough Mudder. While I haven't done Tough Mudder (I did take their quiz online, however, which did not sugar coat that I would probably fail miserably), I did do the far more easy Color Run with my sisters and had one of the best times of my life. Was it a cold rainy day with lots of mud puddles that splattered my skin and would have made me miserable any other day of the year? Absolutely. Did the pink color stain my leather seats in my car and put me into a panic that it would never come out? Heck yes (and after much scrubbing and some magic cleaning solution from Jake's shop, it did finally come out - thank god). But it was fun. And it was a great memory. And it's one we plan on repeating every year. I completely agree in spending money on experiences. But I also like to buy a kick ass sweater that makes my boobs look great.
Make It a Treat
If you don't do things all the time, they are more exciting. If you eat chocolate every day, it will become less exciting to have and won't seem like as much of a treat. Yes, there is a reason we call treats treats. One thing I liked about this chapter was that it mentioned the Disney Vault. When Jake and I first started dating, and I told him I needed to get a particular dvd "before it went back in the vault," he laughed and laughed and told me I was making that up. I made sure to read that part of this book out loud to him. And then I said something mature like, "Put THAT in your pipe and smoke it."
There were also a couple things I disagreed with.
1. "But research suggests that taking breaks between episodes can increase your enjoyment." This was referring to buying a box set of a television series. Research schmesearch. Clearly these authors have never sat down to seven hour Sex and the City marathons with their sister after her boyfriend broke up with her. We enjoyed it just find with no breaks at all, thank you very much. Well, unless you count pausing it for 30 seconds to run to the fridge for our second pint of Ben & Jerrys.
2. "But that irksome '$5 Footlong' Subway ad makes the show more enjoyable once it comes back on." Pfffttt. I found myself singing the Februany theme song on my way to work. Last week. IN JULY.
Buy Time
Moral of the story: Buy a robot vacuum, so you don't have to spend time doing it yourself unless you are a crazy person who actually enjoys spending time vacuuming. I'm down with this idea. I'll bring it up to Jake when he's in a good mood.
Pay Now, Consume Later
I'll admit it, by this time I was doing some heavy skimming because I was getting really, really bored. There was some bits about credits cards (potentially evil), some parts about pre-paying for things months in advance (like a vacation after your wedding - er...aka a "honeymoon") because it will make it more enjoyable because it will feel free because you paid for it so long ago, and then an annoying part where they mention the Postal Service. The band not the mail man. Annoying because I really like the Postal Service and the line from "Such Great Heights" was not really relevant and more of a "look at the cool music we know" name drop. Moving on...
Invest in Others
Giving to others feels good. The end.
Each one had a lot of "duh" moments; there were a lot of no brainer concepts that were repeated over and over and over and over and over and...did I mention over?
Also, one of my biggest annoyances what the cover. It looks like the Wal-Mart rollback smiley - especially with that Wal-Mart blue background. And Wal-Mart is not even any part of this book in case you were wondering. It looks cheap and has a waxy, greasy feel. Ok, now I'm just getting on a hater roll.
As I mentioned, this is not the type of book I would usually just pick up randomly as enjoyable reading. This may be the reason that I am only giving it a couple stars and the reason I spend 99% of the book going:
This is broken into five chapters (if you don't count the prologue, epilogue, notes, index, etc.), which are as follows:
1. Buy Experiences
2. Make It a Treat
3. Buy Time
4. Pay Now, Consume Later
5. Invest In Others
Buy Experiences
This was probably my favorite chapter because I agreed with a lot of what was being said. To sum it up: We will remember experiences from twenty years ago with more fondness than we will remember a material object like a watch or a shiny toaster that we purchased twenty years ago. They talked about an absurd $200,000 to go into space for 6 minutes, but they also mentioned doing Tough Mudder. While I haven't done Tough Mudder (I did take their quiz online, however, which did not sugar coat that I would probably fail miserably), I did do the far more easy Color Run with my sisters and had one of the best times of my life. Was it a cold rainy day with lots of mud puddles that splattered my skin and would have made me miserable any other day of the year? Absolutely. Did the pink color stain my leather seats in my car and put me into a panic that it would never come out? Heck yes (and after much scrubbing and some magic cleaning solution from Jake's shop, it did finally come out - thank god). But it was fun. And it was a great memory. And it's one we plan on repeating every year. I completely agree in spending money on experiences. But I also like to buy a kick ass sweater that makes my boobs look great.
Make It a Treat
If you don't do things all the time, they are more exciting. If you eat chocolate every day, it will become less exciting to have and won't seem like as much of a treat. Yes, there is a reason we call treats treats. One thing I liked about this chapter was that it mentioned the Disney Vault. When Jake and I first started dating, and I told him I needed to get a particular dvd "before it went back in the vault," he laughed and laughed and told me I was making that up. I made sure to read that part of this book out loud to him. And then I said something mature like, "Put THAT in your pipe and smoke it."
There were also a couple things I disagreed with.
1. "But research suggests that taking breaks between episodes can increase your enjoyment." This was referring to buying a box set of a television series. Research schmesearch. Clearly these authors have never sat down to seven hour Sex and the City marathons with their sister after her boyfriend broke up with her. We enjoyed it just find with no breaks at all, thank you very much. Well, unless you count pausing it for 30 seconds to run to the fridge for our second pint of Ben & Jerrys.
2. "But that irksome '$5 Footlong' Subway ad makes the show more enjoyable once it comes back on." Pfffttt. I found myself singing the Februany theme song on my way to work. Last week. IN JULY.
Buy Time
Moral of the story: Buy a robot vacuum, so you don't have to spend time doing it yourself unless you are a crazy person who actually enjoys spending time vacuuming. I'm down with this idea. I'll bring it up to Jake when he's in a good mood.
Pay Now, Consume Later
I'll admit it, by this time I was doing some heavy skimming because I was getting really, really bored. There was some bits about credits cards (potentially evil), some parts about pre-paying for things months in advance (like a vacation after your wedding - er...aka a "honeymoon") because it will make it more enjoyable because it will feel free because you paid for it so long ago, and then an annoying part where they mention the Postal Service. The band not the mail man. Annoying because I really like the Postal Service and the line from "Such Great Heights" was not really relevant and more of a "look at the cool music we know" name drop. Moving on...
Invest in Others
Giving to others feels good. The end.
Each one had a lot of "duh" moments; there were a lot of no brainer concepts that were repeated over and over and over and over and over and...did I mention over?
Also, one of my biggest annoyances what the cover. It looks like the Wal-Mart rollback smiley - especially with that Wal-Mart blue background. And Wal-Mart is not even any part of this book in case you were wondering. It looks cheap and has a waxy, greasy feel. Ok, now I'm just getting on a hater roll.
As I mentioned, this is not the type of book I would usually just pick up randomly as enjoyable reading. This may be the reason that I am only giving it a couple stars and the reason I spend 99% of the book going:
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