How to Increase Happiness Without Increasing Spending
Expert Reveals It's Not About The Money -- and It Never Was
TAMPA, FL--(Marketwire - December 29, 2009) - Arun Abey believes the Beatles had it right.
"Money can't buy you love, or happiness, but how we use it -- and if we can
learn to use it less -- can pave the way for a happier life," said Abey,
author of "How Much Is Enough?" (www.howmuchisenough.net). "The secret is
to figure out how to increase our happiness without increasing our
spending. The fact is that most people, when they are flat out asked what
would make them happy; don't respond with what you'd expect."
Abey's research into the topic revealed a variety of studies that found no
relevant link between how happy people felt and their income. In fact, he
said that happiness had little to do with the level of income than it did
with having a plan for that income.
Instead of measuring everything with money, economists came up with the
useful concept of opportunity cost which measures cost in terms of the next
best thing we have forgone.
"In our country, we are always being upsold," Abey said. "We're asked if we
want fries with that or if we want to super-size or get the family pack. We
are always being upsold, so what the researchers did was they asked people
to choose between a luxury car with the basic features, or the same car
with all the bells and whistles, for only 10 percent more cost. Most
people, when they reviewed all the extras, chose the upgrade. They then
asked a separate group of people to choose between the basic and the
upgrade. These people were told that buying the basic version was like
getting almost the same car as the luxury version, but the differential in
cost would be enough to pay for a couple of years worth of gas for the car.
As expected, most people chose the basic car. Same choice, same
demographic, but the emphasis was on spending less, not more."
About Arun Abey
Arun Abey is Executive Chairman of IPAC and Head of Strategy for AXA in the
Asia Pacific, a part of the global AXA group that manages over $1.5
trillion of clients' money and is ranked as the 15th largest company in the
world by Fortune Magazine.