From Elizabeth Dunn’s “Happier Spending”
Spending Money on Others Will Make You More Happy Than Spending Money on Yourself
“Rather than think about the different ways you can spend your money on yourself to maximize your own happiness, consider investing it in others. Spending money on others can increase your happiness even more than spending your cash on yourself,” (Page 107)
Examples:
- A group of people were given $20 each. Some people were told to spend this money for someone else. Some people were told to spend this money on themselves. The people that spent money for someone else were happier than the people that spent it on themselves.
- Uganda Africa is a poor country. Even in Uganda, the people that spent money on someone else, were happier than the people that spent money on themselves.
- For sports teams, each member were given $20. Some teams were told to spend this money on their teammates. Some teams were told to spend this money on themselves. The teams that spent the money on their teammates went from winning 50 percent of their games to winning 80 percent of winning their games.
- For Pharmaceutical companies, each member was given 15 Euros. Some teams were told to spend this money on their teammates. Some teams were told to spend this money on themselves. The teams, that spent the money on their teammates, saw their sales performance go up.
- Google has a special fund that allows any employee to give $150 to another employee. The only requirement is writing a sentence of why this employee deserves the award. $150 is chump change for Google employees, but Google said the $150 award makes people happier than getting a cash bonus from a Manager or Executive.
- “in 120 out of 136 countries, people who donated to charity in the past month reported greater satisfaction with life. This relationship emerged in poor and rich countries alike, and held up even after controlling for individuals’ income.” (page 113)
- Americans were asked “How much do you spend on yourself?” (meaning rent, expenses, bills, gifts to yourself.) They were told to write down the total number.
Next they were asked, “How much money do you spend on others?” (gifts, charity). They were told to write down the total number.
The average ratio for these two numbers was 10-1. The happiest groups were the ones that had a higher ratio of “spending on others”, compared to “spending on themselves.” The income levels didn’t matter. - Donating money is good for your health. People who donated money are found to be healthier.
- Donating money actually makes people feel wealthier.
“People who report donating money to charity feel wealthier than those who do not, even controlling for how much money they make. And giving as little as $1 away can cause you to feel wealthier.”(p.125) - Charity can be done with money or time, but it should be intrinsic.
- It should be done out of your own choice, not forced upon you.
- It should be personally meaningful to you.
- It should be done in a way where you can actually see the impact you make.