How to buy happiness by Elizabeth Dunn and Micahael Norton

In “How to buy happiness “by Elizabeth Dunn and Michael Norton states how money doesn’t necessarily bring happiness, it can bring you happiness at the moment and once the money is gone you are back to your old self again. Dunn and Norton discusses how when having money, instead of spending it on materialistic things, you should use your money on things that you can remember such as doing something for another person, traveling , trips, concerts something that you can remember overtime, not doing something because you have the money and then it doesn’t mean anything later on to you. They believe that using your money matters, rather than how much you have.

Dunn and Norton studies showed that people are happier from buying experiences than from buying materialistic things. Which I believe is right because for example if someone mom has cancer and she doesn’t have that much time to live. They should want to spend as much quality time with her, rather than watching television. Although that may be memories, but going on a adventure and doing something they can always reminisce about can bring more happiness to them because, they’re thinking about the time and experience , rather than spending money on medicine and how much it cost.

Studies showed that if doing things for other people brings more happiness, then Dunn and Norton tested students at a university campus by giving out star bucks gift cards to students. They tested a experimental group, the group that gave their card to someone else, and the group that bought someone else something. Then the control group that just bought themselves something, results showed that the group that did something for someone were more happy because instead of thinking of themselves, it brought more happiness to do something for someone rather than yourself and doing something that required spending less money brought more happiness then spending more.

Lastly how we use our money does affect us much more then how much we have. Dunn and Norton suggested that you should use your money on experiences and not for yourself because money is the root of all evil, and doesn’t always have to be spending on useless necessities. It can be used to have something to remember for yourself and others that can lead to more happiness.