3 ways money can buy you happiness

Friday, October 6, 2023

How to ‘buy happiness,’ according to a Harvard expert 

Social scientist and Harvard professor Arthur C. Brooks says there are a few ways that spending can actually increase your joy, which he shares in his Harvard happiness course. 

“No matter where we sit on the income scale, with a little knowledge and practice, any of us can use money to bring more happiness,” he wrote in an article for The Atlantic.

Here are three ways money could buy your happiness: 

1. Spend money on experiences: Invest your money in doing things that you know will make you feel happier, like going to a concert or planning a vacation.

2. Buy time: “If you pay someone to do something time-consuming that you don’t like to do (for example, cutting your yard) and don’t waste the time you gain on unpleasant things like doom-scrolling on social media, you can get a happiness boost by spending those extra hours with others,” Brooks wrote. 

3. Give money away: Donating to support a great cause or using your money to help another person can lead to boosts in “feel good” chemicals like serotonin, dopamine and oxytocin, according to Cleveland Clinic‘s health blog. 

“At low levels, money improves well-being,” Brooks wrote. “Once you earn a solid living, however, a billionaire is not likely to be any happier than you are.”

When it’s OK to send food back

Shengxin Sun was a server and manager at restaurants for a decade in Columbia, Missouri, and has endured the full spectrum of reactions when it comes to customers who are dissatisfied with their meal. 

Sending back your food isn’t an inherently hostile act, she says. You just have to do it in a respectful way.

It’s OK to send a dish back when it just doesn’t “meet your expectations,” Sun says. 

“When it does not taste good to you, or made not to your standard, like the meat is overcooked or the veggies are too raw, or if the food is contaminated in some way, then you should definitely send it back,” she says. 

But “don’t send food back when you’ve already eaten at least half the plate,” Sun says. 

And regardless, remember to keep a respectful tone. 

“Start by saying nicely what your issue with the food is and ask politely if the server can send it back to either have the food remade or ask to have something else,” she says.

How to Talk to People: 3 phrases that indicate you have better etiquette than most

As a public speaking expert, one thing John Bowe focuses on is teaching good speech manners. There are three phrases in particular that instantly show appreciation and respect. If you use any of them every day, he says, you have better etiquette skills than most people:

1. “What I’m hearing you say is …”

People don’t expect you to agree with everything they say. But they do want to know they’ve been heard and understood.

2. “You may be right.”

This phrase helps pave the way for disagreement, as in, “You might be right, but let’s experiment with this new idea this time.”

3. “Thank you for doing this …”  

Old-school, elegant and simple. In a world where gratitude, respect and acknowledgement are hard to come by, it pays to be generous with praise.

Celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month

Shop these Hispanic-owned businesses featured on “Shark Tank” in honor of Hispanic Heritage Month.

53-year-old early retiree moved to Portugal — here’s why he’s happier than ever

Alex Trias, 53, now lives in Portugal with his family. But back in 2011, after he retired from his career as a corporate tax attorney, he lived with his family in Washington, D.C., where his wife Noki was a nurse and their daughter was enrolled in school. 

The idea of retiring early came to him just two weeks into his career as a lawyer. “I quickly realized there was a shelf life to how long I was going to be able to keep up with the 90-hour workweeks my job demanded,” Trias says.

After four years of doing real estate and stock investing, Trias found that he had an investment portfolio that paid out enough dividends for the family to live on — an average of $152,000 a year.

The Trias family bought a Portuguese apartment for $533,554 (not including brokerage commission and taxes) and waited for Evie to finish middle school. They moved to Portugal in June 2015 with just six checked bags.

Now Trias finds happiness just knowing he’s living with his family in a country like Portugal: “I wake up and do whatever I want to do and I don’t do a lot of anything that I don’t want to do.”

Upside

Stephanie Harrison of The New Happy for CNBC Make It

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