|
|
How to Spend Money So It Makes You Happy
07-21-2010, 02:19 PM
|
#1
|
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Jun 2005
Posts: 4,391
|
How to Spend Money So It Makes You Happy
Quote:
The debate over whether money can buy happiness just got more complicated. A new paper from two economists suggests that spending money on certain things - namely, leisure activities - does, in fact, improve happiness levels. Spending on more materialistic items, such as cars, food, and clothes, does not.
|
How to Spend Money So It Makes You Happy - Yahoo! News
|
|
|
|
Join the #1 Early Retirement and Financial Independence Forum Today - It's Totally Free!
Are you planning to be financially independent as early as possible so you can live life on your own terms? Discuss successful investing strategies, asset allocation models, tax strategies and other related topics in our online forum community. Our members range from young folks just starting their journey to financial independence, military retirees and even multimillionaires. No matter where you fit in you'll find that Early-Retirement.org is a great community to join. Best of all it's totally FREE!
You are currently viewing our boards as a guest so you have limited access to our community. Please take the time to register and you will gain a lot of great new features including; the ability to participate in discussions, network with our members, see fewer ads, upload photographs, create a retirement blog, send private messages and so much, much more!
|
07-21-2010, 03:20 PM
|
#2
|
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Alexandria, Va
Posts: 1,053
|
I agree wholeheartedly with this. My SO says I never spend any money on myself - I drive a Saturn, I hate to shop and rarely buy new clothes (and when I do its often at consignment shops or at 50% off), I don't have the latest phone or whatever.
But I counter that with this: we go out for a decent dinner once a week, we meet friends for drinks, we play golf on nice courses, we go on vacation twice a year. To me, that IS spending money on myself. I'd much rather have an experience than a gadget.
Now, we can debate whether the cabin in the woods we just bought is a thing or an experience....
__________________
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I - I took the one less travelled by...
|
|
|
07-21-2010, 03:26 PM
|
#3
|
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Nov 2007
Posts: 5,596
|
The Berkeley Springs cabin is beautiful. I vote for it being an experience
__________________
I purr therefore I am.
|
|
|
07-21-2010, 03:53 PM
|
#4
|
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Nov 2007
Posts: 7,746
|
When I spend money on something that DW really wants, she stops nagging me, therefore I am happier.
__________________
Retired in 2013 at age 33. Keeping busy reading, blogging, relaxing, gaming, and enjoying the outdoors with my wife and 3 kids (8, 13, and 15).
|
|
|
07-21-2010, 03:58 PM
|
#5
|
gone traveling
Join Date: May 2008
Posts: 3,864
|
"Money can't buy happiness, but I'd rather cry in a Ferrari"
~unknown
|
|
|
07-21-2010, 04:16 PM
|
#6
|
Recycles dryer sheets
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: World Citizen
Posts: 150
|
$$$$
Money can't buy happiness, but I believe it can rent it.
|
|
|
07-22-2010, 07:09 AM
|
#7
|
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Denver, Colorado
Posts: 6,255
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by Westernskies
"Money can't buy happiness, but I'd rather cry in a Ferrari"
~unknown
|
"Money is better than poverty, if only for financial reasons" -- Woody Allen
__________________
"It's tough to make predictions, especially when it involves the future." ~Attributed to many
"In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. But, in practice, there is." ~(perhaps by) Yogi Berra
"Those who have knowledge, don't predict. Those who predict, don't have knowledge."~ Lau tzu
|
|
|
07-22-2010, 07:50 AM
|
#8
|
gone traveling
Join Date: Feb 2008
Posts: 510
|
Definitely an experience unless you do more than basic maintenance on it or you bought it but will not use it.
|
|
|
07-22-2010, 08:29 AM
|
#9
|
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: Leeward Oahu
Posts: 17,713
|
Once in a while, our kids would rebel because we never bought them the latest video game, the latest computer, or even drinks at a restaurant ("water w/lime, please.") It was always the same. "Well, so-and-so has this and such-and-such has that. Why don't we ever get any of that?"
We'd always ask if so-and-so had gone to Arizona for spring break and if such-and-such had gone to Maui for Christmas break, etc. Dead silence - until they got a little older. Then, the response would be. "No, but we had to go with the family! That doesn't count!!!"
__________________
Ko'olau's Law -
Anything which can be used can be misused. Anything which can be misused will be.
|
|
|
07-22-2010, 09:31 AM
|
#10
|
Full time employment: Posting here.
Join Date: Mar 2008
Posts: 968
|
LOL- heard the same thing for years. Now our daughter is married and in her late 20's, and finally- she sees the light!
|
|
|
07-22-2010, 11:39 AM
|
#11
|
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: May 2009
Posts: 1,116
|
I am a chain-smoker. A few months ago I had to have prostate surgery that meant a hospital stay of at least 8 days. Knowing a hospital with single bed rooms, with windows to terraces where the staff looked the other way when patients -with no serious problems, obviously- sneaked out to smoke, I jumped for it, instead of going for a completely free hospitalisation with same surgeon.
My inability to go without smoking in a situation like that cost me a lot of money, but I can´t say I regretted the spending.
I am not proud when I confess my absurd behaviour, far from it. But knowing that I could smoke cheered me up, prior and post surgery.
So, money can buy a certain kind of happiness to a certain kind of people !
PS. In September I´ll probably have to undergo Hernya surgery. But this time everything I want and need will covered by my private medical insurance .
Please, do spare me the insults, rebukes, chidings.....
__________________
I get by with a little help from my friends....ta ta ta ta ta...
|
|
|
07-22-2010, 12:06 PM
|
#12
|
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Alexandria, Va
Posts: 1,053
|
Purron - that's how I look at it too - we have gone out there the past 3 weekends and I am absolutely loving it, even though there is hardly any furniture yet! Heading out again tomorrow.
__________________
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I - I took the one less travelled by...
|
|
|
07-22-2010, 02:28 PM
|
#13
|
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: Hooverville
Posts: 22,983
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by vicente solano
I am a chain-smoker. A few months ago I had to have prostate surgery that meant a hospital stay of at least 8 days. Knowing a hospital with single bed rooms, with windows to terraces where the staff looked the other way when patients -with no serious problems, obviously- sneaked out to smoke, I jumped for it, instead of going for a completely free hospitalisation with same surgeon.
My inability to go without smoking in a situation like that cost me a lot of money, but I can´t say I regretted the spending.
I am not proud when I confess my absurd behaviour, far from it. But knowing that I could smoke cheered me up, prior and post surgery.
So, money can buy a certain kind of happiness to a certain kind of people !
PS. In September I´ll probably have to undergo Hernya surgery. But this time everything I want and need will covered by my private medical insurance .
Please, do spare me the insults, rebukes, chidings.....
|
You'll get no lecture from me. But have you ever tried snus for emergency situations where you can't smoke? All you need is snus, and an empty pop can to do a little spitting into.
Ha
__________________
"As a general rule, the more dangerous or inappropriate a conversation, the more interesting it is."-Scott Adams
|
|
|
07-22-2010, 04:03 PM
|
#14
|
Recycles dryer sheets
Join Date: Jul 2010
Posts: 58
|
We have all been spending money our entire lives. If the way we do so does not improve our happiness, we would simply stop spending. Any other approach would be extremely stupid (of course there is always a high probability of that)
|
|
|
07-22-2010, 08:19 PM
|
#15
|
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Jul 2008
Posts: 35,712
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by TomG
We have all been spending money our entire lives. If the way we do so does not improve our happiness, we would simply stop spending. Any other approach would be extremely stupid (of course there is always a high probability of that)
|
For me, just holding on to my money makes me happy already.
So, if I am going to spend it on something, it has to make me happier than that. That raises the bar a bit.
Now, a friend of mine with a spendthrift wife said that his wife believed that a dollar not spent was a dollar wasted. So, she could spend it on anything at all.
__________________
"Old age is the most unexpected of all things that happen to a man" -- Leon Trotsky (1879-1940)
"Those Who Can Make You Believe Absurdities Can Make You Commit Atrocities" - Voltaire (1694-1778)
|
|
|
07-22-2010, 08:36 PM
|
#16
|
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Hong Kong
Posts: 1,688
|
I like to spend money on two things most of all - investments and experiences.
It's no accident that all of my "bucket list" items are things to do - not things to buy.
__________________
Budgeting is a skill practised by people who are bad at politics.
|
|
|
07-23-2010, 01:31 PM
|
#17
|
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Jun 2006
Posts: 12,880
|
Wealth is any income that is at least one hundred dollars a year more than the income of one's wife's sister's husband. – H. L. Mencken
When I was a kid I used to pray every night for a new bicycle. Then I realized that the Lord doesn't work that way so I stole one and asked Him to forgive me. – Emo Philips
__________________
Al
|
|
|
07-23-2010, 02:14 PM
|
#18
|
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Oct 2008
Posts: 2,775
|
I'm getting to be like that. I fear that inflation or taxes or both will ruin my financial future, therefore I "allow" myself to buy very expensive beer from time to time, although my natural tendency is to be very frugal. Party now for tomorrow we ........
|
|
|
07-23-2010, 02:57 PM
|
#19
|
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Jun 2005
Posts: 4,391
|
Beer Math Fun
Quote:
Originally Posted by John Galt III
I "allow" myself to buy very expensive beer from time to time
|
You are liquidating your investments, but very slowly.
FIRE Beer Math...
10 beers a day 365 days a year ==> 3650 beers a year
domestic beer in big lots on sale I get it for maybe $0.50/beer ==> $1825/year
So to safely fund my beer consumption I would need portfolio investments of 25X or around $45.6k total to stay perpetually blitzed.
If you drink more than 10 a day or want that imported beer then adjust the numbers for your personal situation
|
|
|
07-23-2010, 03:04 PM
|
#20
|
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Chicago
Posts: 13,149
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by MasterBlaster
So to safely fund my beer consumption I would need portfolio investments of 25X or around $45.6k total to stay perpetually blitzed.
|
Gosh, when you put it that way, it seems inexpensive to have ten a day! Think I'll go have another right now........
__________________
"I wasn't born blue blood. I was born blue-collar." John Wort Hannam
|
|
|
|
|
Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
|
|
Thread Tools |
|
Display Modes |
Linear Mode
|
Posting Rules
|
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts
HTML code is Off
|
|
|
|
» Recent Threads
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
» Quick Links
|
|
|