Actually, You Can Buy Happiness
And it’s easier than you’d expect
The way we think about time and money has a wide-reaching impact on our lives.
People who see time as a financial resource focus on productivity and independence, while those who value time as an opportunity for happiness are more likely to seek social interactions and experiences.
If you believe the adage that you can’t buy happiness, then you’ll assume those who value time would be better off. Especially since, under capitalism, time and money are interchangeable. To get more of one, you’ve got to sacrifice the other.
But new research comes to a different conclusion. If you want happiness, what you buy appears to matter most.
Money, Time and Happiness
Elizabeth Dunn, Ashley Whillans and Aaron Weidman set out to establish a correlation between money, time, and happiness. In each of a series of experiments, they used a tool called ROM (Resource Orientation Measure) to determine participants’ preferences between time and money.
To measure whether individuals valued one over the other, participants read two character descriptions.
- Tina, the first character, placed a higher value on time. She would rather work fewer hours and make less money for more free time.
- Maggie was the complete opposite. She’d sacrifice her free time for a higher income.
Respondents then made a choice on which character they resonated with most.
I’m sure we can all identify with either of those two character archetypes, and I’d encourage you to also consider which best represents you; it’ll give you a better idea of where your priorities lie. I’m a Tina. And that’s not much of a surprise – 82 percent of the studies participants view themselves the same way.
The second study attempted to correlate life-satisfaction with the participants’ time-money preference. They were asked questions like, “would you rather pay more for closer parking” or “take a cheaper flight with a layover?” Interestingly, those who preferred the time-saving options rated themselves with higher happiness scores. (The third and fourth studies established a further link between time-saving and well-being.)
Dunn and Whillans believed these results warranted further exploration. They wanted to establish a stronger correlation between time-saving preferences and happiness.
And, if possible, use their research to provide us all with ways to improve our wellbeing.
Buying Happiness
In their study, they asked why, despite rising incomes, our self-reported happiness has stagnated.
The answer was that individuals with higher incomes often report having less time for hobbies and family. They’re also more likely to be anxious, stressed, and suffer from poor sleep.
The researchers theorized that a higher income could thwart these time-scarce environments — if only the wealthy spent their funds in the right manner.
The initial study spanned multiple countries surveying how adults spent their money. And, for those who paid for convenience services (like employing others to take tasks of their hands and provide them with more free time), were they happier?
Yes, they were. The respondents who made time-saving purchases, an average of $80–99 each month, reported significantly higher life satisfaction than those who didn’t.
Their second study really got to the meat of the issue. Can the way we spend money increase our happiness?
To test their assumption participants received $80 over two weeks. The first weekend they spent $40 on a time-saving activity. The next weekend researchers asked them to use another $40 for a material purchase.
At the end of each weekend, they received a phone call asking them to measure their stress levels and any positive or negative effects they felt.
In an interview with NPR, Elizabeth Dunn explained the studies results,
What we found is that people who spent money to buy time reported being almost one full point higher on our 10-point ladder, compared to people who did not use money to buy time.
It’s important to note that this increase only reflects an immediate shift in mood. It’s not clear yet whether these purchases net the same benefits over time. However, past research shows daily well-being as a positive indicator of long-term happiness.
How Time Increases Well-Being
The researchers gave a couple of possible explanations about why time boosts mood.
First, individuals who value time know how to spend it in a way that makes them happier. If you’re short on time, you likely know how to use it to maximize your well-being when its available— whether that means settling down to read a book after work or taking your spouse out for dinner on a Friday evening.
Another possible reason is that many of the survey’s respondents already had enough money. Studies show that well-being stops increasing after income reaches $75,000.
So, if you feel your finances are already sound, you’ll probably place less value on higher pay. Instead, you may seek other ways to increase your wellbeing — like having more free time.
Finally, the more time we have, the more perceived control we have over our days. Not only are we swamped with demands, but our time is often not our own. Friends, family and work all expect our attention. Failing to meet those expectations can have serious consequences.
While we can’t lessen those demands, we can shift our perspective. Rather than seeing it as a trade-off between them and us, we can use our funds to reduce time-stress and give more to them and ourselves.
Why Don’t We Buy More Time?
The studies result highlighted household services as a particular pain point. The gig-economy has placed these services at the tips of our fingers. We’ve reached the point where ride-sharing apps and delivery food are commonplace.
The amount of work we can outsource is all-encompassing.
So, for those of us with extra income, it’s important to figure out the roadblocks that stop us from buying time. We often balk at the idea of spending money on services we can do ourselves — yet, we’ll rack up our credit to acquire material goods we often don’t need.
I know I value time. This part of my personality manifests bests when I need to travel or move for work. I always try to find a place within a mile or two of my job. I hate having a commute. It’s a stressful waste of time. When I fly, I always opt to pay more for a direct flight.
However, there are certain beliefs I can’t shake. It seems a lot of them come from culture and family.
When I brought up the idea of using a cleaning service at Thanksgiving dinner, my mother was floored. She couldn’t believe I wouldn’t choose to do it myself. I felt a bit of shame about it too. I can do my own dishes and cleaning, but I’m not happy about it. I know I’d be happier if I had that time to myself.
I haven’t made the decision one way or another yet, but the more I think about it, the better it sounds. Especially when looking back at other time-saving measures I’ve taken.
My Experience with Time-Saving
My family and friends live in Washington, so I fly out of Seatac several times a year. I’m probably unlucky, but every time I leave Seattle, I’m faced with wait times of 20 minutes or more.
I can’t imagine a worse use of time than waiting in line. So, two months ago I went through the process of getting TSA Precheck. I flew home this past weekend, and again each checkpoint had a 20-minute wait. With Precheck I made it through in less than two minutes.
It took me six months and 12 flights to make that decision. In total, I spent $85 and a roughly 20-minute appointment for five years worth of convenience. In contrast, it took me one long weekend to buy a $600 phone I didn’t need.
Looking back I have a bit of buyers remorse, especially as the gift-giving season approaches. From now on, I’m going to take a bit more time to think about how I spend my time and money.
After all, more time means that not every decision I make needs to feel like a trade-off. Instead of forcing myself to say “if” something happens, I get to decide “when” it does.
