How To Buy Happiness

Money is the amplifier in the happiness formula.

I love the word Happy. It makes me happy to say, think, read, talk about. Honestly, if it wasn't already taken Finlotus would have been called 'Happy Money'. For me, being happy isn't a destination, nor do I feel pressure to always feel happy, but it's the baseline I strive for. I like to think that overall, I'm a pretty happy person. This plays a huge role in my relationship with money—in ways big and small.

I want to be happy in the ways I earn money and the ways I spend money. I have quit or changed jobs several times because I wasn't happy. Some people argue this isn't a good enough reason to leave a job, I think it's the best reason and it hasn't led me astray yet. I save my money because the safety, security, and future freedom it affords me make me happy. I spend money in ways that are aligned with my values and on things that make me genuinely happy—family, experiences, comfort, health and achievement.

I recognized early in my career that earning more wasn't going to ever make me happy. Earning from a place of value and fulfillment and then flowing those earnings into the things that bring joy into my life—that was the formula that made me happy. And here's what's beautiful about building that foundation first: now that I do earn more, I get to do so much more with that money to create even MORE happiness. Because I know what makes me happy and how to achieve it, every additional dollar I earn has a clear purpose and a clear path. It's not about the money itself—it's about having the resources to amplify what already works. The personal finance and positive psychology experts agree with me on this. Let's dig a bit deeper.

The Whole "Money Can't Buy Happiness" Thing

We have all heard it before 'money can't buy happiness' and that statement is true, and it's false. The research tells a nuanced story: money absolutely can contribute to happiness, we just need to be properly tuned into what actually makes us happy.

David Chilton, who wrote The Wealthy Barber back when I was still figuring out what money even was, has been saying this for decades: build wealth slowly and steadily, but not for a bigger house or fancier car. Build it to buy time freedom. The sleep-well-at-night, choose-your-Tuesday-afternoon, don't-have-to-grind-yourself-into-dust kind of wealth.

That resonates with me. Working more and/or spending more, simply to have more/better doesn't equal happy. But building wealth to create security and freedom so you can invest in what matters most? That's a different equation entirely.

What We Got Wrong About the $75,000 Thing

There was this famous study from 2010 by Daniel Kahneman and Angus Deaton that said happiness peaks at $75,000 and then just stops rising. Everyone latched onto that number. It became this kind of cultural shorthand for "enough."

Then Matthew Killingsworth came along and found the opposite—that happiness keeps rising with income, well beyond $75,000. So these two researchers did something I really respect: they got together to figure out who was right.

Turns out, both were. For most people, happiness does keep rising with income, way beyond $75,000, even up to $500,000 and beyond. But for about 15-20% of people who are already unhappy, happiness plateaus around $100,000. If you're fundamentally unhappy, more money won't fix what's underneath.

Money amplifies what's already there. If you're happy and intentional with your spending, more money can absolutely contribute to more happiness. But if you're miserable and using shopping as a band-aid, more money just means more expensive band-aids.

Also, fun fact, happier people make better financial decisions. When you're not stressed and unhappy, you stop making panic-driven choices. You stop trying to fill a void. You are more willing to reflect and build self-awareness. To look outside the 'now' and consider the bigger picture. You think clearly. You invest instead of medicate.

So, the takeaway here is that this can all work together - work on your baseline happiness (which doesn't have to cost anything - get into nature, move your body, eat well, spend time with friends and family, meditate, build a new skill, find meaning in the little things) and that will help you make positive money decisions and then use those decisions to buy more happiness.

The Lottery Winner Problem

Back in 1978, researchers did this fascinating study comparing lottery winners to people who hadn't won anything. The winners weren't any happier than regular folks. That alone is surprising. But the really heartbreaking part? Lottery winners took significantly less pleasure from everyday experiences, things like eating breakfast, talking with a friend, enjoying a sunset.

The lottery win set such a high bar for excitement that everything else paled by comparison. The magic of ordinary life became just... ordinary.

I think about this when I'm tempted to believe that the next big thing—the promotion, the bonus, the windfall—will finally make everything feel right. Because if lottery winners can't sustain happiness from a massive win, what makes me think my much smaller "wins" will do it?

But flip this around and there's something beautiful here: if you can find genuine joy in the simple, free stuff, your kid's laugh, your morning walk, the friend who texts just to say hi, you've already won. That's a skill that compounds over time, that nobody can take away from you, that costs nothing but pays dividends forever.

What Actually Adds to Your Life

Martin Seligman, a psychologist who studies wellbeing, identified five elements that contribute to lasting happiness: Positive emotions, Engagement, Relationships, Meaning, and Achievement. He calls it PERMA, which sounds like a hairstyle from the 80s but is actually a pretty solid framework for thinking about where to invest your time and money.

Notice what's not on that list? A luxury car. A bigger house. Designer anything.

Money helps when you spend it on things that tick these boxes. Experiences that create positive emotions and memories. Time for deep engagement in work you actually care about. Facilitating relationships, trips with family, dinners with friends, phone calls where you're not too stressed to actually listen. Supporting causes that give your life meaning. Resources for achievements that matter to you personally, not what achievement looks like on someone else's Instagram.

I also love this piece of research about anticipation: we get happiness not just from experiencing good things but from looking forward to them. Booking a trip gives you weeks or months of "I can't wait!" joy before you even pack your bags. That's incredible value. Compare that to buying something that feels exciting when it arrives and then just... sits there, needing to be dusted or updated or replaced.

What This Actually Means for Your Money

I'm not going to tell you exactly how to spend your money. You know what matters to you—or if you don't yet, you're figuring it out. But I will tell you what the research consistently shows makes people happier:

• Spending on experiences with people you love. The memories stick, the joy compounds, the stories get better with time.

• Investing in your health before you have to. Future you will be so grateful. Present you might be too, honestly.

• Creating time freedom. Outsourcing the tasks you genuinely hate. Buying back your weekends. Working less if you can afford to. Time is the one thing you can't earn more of later.

• Supporting what actually matters to you. When your money flows toward your real values—not what you think you're supposed to care about—it feels different. Better.

• Removing friction from your life. Sometimes the answer is just paying someone else to do the thing you dread. That's not lazy, that's strategic.

But maybe the most important thing? Learning to find happiness in what doesn't cost anything. Because that's the foundation everything else builds on. When you can feel genuinely grateful for Tuesday morning's coffee, for the sunset on your drive home, for the friend who always makes you laugh—that's when you realize you've been richer than you thought all along.

The Both/And of It

Your money can work for your happiness. Absolutely. Spend it wisely, invest it intentionally, use it as a tool to create the life you actually want.

But your happiness also needs to work independently of your money. That's the insurance policy against the lottery winner problem. That's what keeps you grounded when things get hard. That's what lets you enjoy the life you have while you're building the life you want.

Get both right, and you're already there. You're already happy. You're already rich in the ways that actually matter.

Money is the amplifier in your happiness formula.