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How money really plays into our overall happiness and wellbeing
The Street
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12/4/2024
Gretchen Rubin, author of ‘The Happiness Project,” joins TheStreet to explain the role money plays in a person’s overall wellbeing.
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Transcript
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00:00
You spent 10 years studying what makes us happy in life, so when you take a look at your research,
00:06
what role does money play into our overall happiness and well-being?
00:12
Well, you know, there's the old saying that money can't buy happiness, and money can't buy
00:16
happiness, but money can buy many things that contribute very greatly to happiness. So it
00:21
depends on how we spend our money. So if we spend it on things like our health, or our relationships
00:27
with other people, or, you know, enlarging our lives in some way, contributing to causes that
00:33
put our values into the world, that's going to make us happier. If we spend it on things that
00:39
do not support our happiness, then that money is not going to be something that will contribute to
00:45
a happier life. So I wonder, where do you think things will go from here? You know, during the
00:52
pandemic, we all changed our mindset to, like, you only live once, and everybody started spending
00:57
all their money on services, less on hard goods. Do you think that is something that will continue,
01:03
or will revert back to the way we were pre-pandemic? Well, you know, that's such a fascinating question,
01:09
and you're absolutely right. Like, especially today, people say things like, I want to spend
01:12
money on experiences, not on stuff. Well, one thing is, I think, sometimes the line between
01:18
an experience and a thing can be hard to draw. So, for instance, is, like, a dog a possession
01:25
or an experience? Or is a dining room table a possession or an experience, if now you're going
01:30
to have your friends over for dinner? Is a camera a possession or an experience? What sort of both?
01:36
So I think that sometimes it can be harder to tease out the difference between those two things
01:42
than is possible, than you might think. And I think every pendulum swings. And so, you know,
01:48
people are sort of in this period now of, like, really wanting to declutter and really
01:53
lighten their load. And human nature being what it is, I imagine that that pendulum will swing.
01:58
But I do think that it's really good that people are aware of the fact that just buying, like,
02:02
your 10th pair of black boots is not going to do that much for you. And that really the challenge
02:08
for us is to think, like, how can I mindfully invest my money, as well as my time and my energy,
02:15
in ways that are likely to make me happier, healthier, more productive, or more creative?
02:18
So it's really having that purposefulness and thinking about it, not just being on, like,
02:22
automatic or, like, the impulsive purchase, which, of course, with money, it's so easy to be
02:28
impulsive. And then we regret, right? Because you think, oh, gosh, if I, looking back on it,
02:34
I wish I had made a different choice. So part of it is just trying not to do things impulsively
02:40
so that we can do them more mindfully. Yeah, I was just thinking, as you were answering, like,
02:44
I wonder if that whole idea of money buying us happiness through services works until you get
02:49
the credit card bill. Right. Yeah. Well, there's always that. I mean, one of the most precious
02:54
things that money can buy us is the freedom from worrying about money. And so a feeling of security
03:01
and a feeling of like, yeah, I can I can pay for that. And it's not a big deal. Oh, like, I have
03:06
to take my cat to the vet, but it's not going to like it's not going to be a catastrophe if she
03:11
needs to like some medication. Like these are things that make us happier. Also, one of the
03:17
things that the research shows is that a sense of control makes us happier. We really want to
03:23
be able to have a sense of control of our lives, of the way we work. And money can often help us
03:28
have a sense of control, whereas if you don't have money, you feel so much more buffeted about
03:35
and a lack of control. And that itself undermines happiness.
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