People who can\u2019t use money to buy happiness spend it on things, because they think they should. They spend on status symbols to impress other people. But buying things to please or wow other people puts you on the fast track to misery. And spending all your money on stuff can leave you feeling hollow and empty.<\/p>\n
There are a few reasons for this:<\/strong><\/p>\n Because we\u2019re so adaptable, the pleasure we get from buying new stuff quickly fades<\/a> as we get used to it. We continuously seek newer, bigger, more exciting buys to keep that sense of pleasure and get stuck on a \u201chedonistic treadmill\u201d as a result.<\/p>\n We get buyer\u2019s remorse and compare our new things to someone else\u2019s \u2014 and feel like our stuff somehow comes up short.<\/p>\n Acquiring stuff may be a coping mechanism<\/a> to help us deal with stress and other factors that lead to overall unhappiness.<\/p>\n From this perspective, the old adage is right. Money can\u2019t buy happiness. That\u2019s a good money lesson to keep in mind<\/a>. But there\u2019s some nuance here, too. Money isn\u2019t a direct path to happiness. It is a tool. And just like any tool, there\u2019s a right and a wrong way to use it.<\/p>\n Align your spending\u00a0with your values<\/strong><\/p>\n The key to using money to \u201cbuy\u201d happiness lies in knowing what\u2019s important to you. That doesn\u2019t mean a new smartphone or a fancy watch. We\u2019re talking about your core values<\/a> \u2014 or things like family, community, respect, and wisdom.<\/p>\n When you spend on what you value and cut out what you don\u2019t, you might be surprised how much money that leaves in your monthly cash flow. You can then redirect that money to more of what you value or save more for major financial goals<\/a>.<\/p>\n Make sure those goals align with your values too. You don\u2019t want to work relentlessly toward something, like buying a house<\/a>, just because you feel like you should.<\/p>\n How you use money\u00a0should reflect what\u2019s\u00a0important to you<\/strong><\/p>\n Once you define what your values are, take a look at your spending. Does your current budget reflect those values back at you? Or are you using your money to buy stuff that\u2019s not deeply important to you?<\/p>\n If it\u2019s the latter, there\u2019s room for improvement \u2014 and for allowing your money to bring more happiness.<\/a><\/p>\n Maybe you spend over $1,000 per month on meals out. Which is pretty easy to do: a $10 lunch and a $20 dinner out every single day will get you there.<\/p>\n But what if your values include family, growth, and health? Your spending doesn\u2019t align with these at all right now.<\/p>\n You could make a change by learning a new skill and improving your health by committing to cooking every meal at home for a month. You\u2019d get more time with family, too.<\/p>\n All of these actions do align with your values. They also leave more money in your pocket to spend on more important things than a fast meal.<\/p>\n Once you define your values, you might realize your list is probably centered around people and experiences \u2014 and spending to create memories that last with people you love<\/a> is one of the most powerful ways we can use money to buy happiness.<\/p>\n Para ver la versi\u00f3n original de este art\u00edculo, visite bit.ly\/2ifBOJe<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u2014 Taylor Schulte, CFP, is the CEO of Define Financial, the founder of StayWealthySanDiego.com<\/a> y le apasiona ayudar a las personas a tomar decisiones inteligentes con su dinero. Puede comunicarse con \u00e9l al 619-577-4002 o taylor@staywealthysandiego.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By\u00a0Taylor Schulte We\u2019ve all heard some version of the joke that goes, \u201cno, money can\u2019t buy happiness \u2026 but it can buy ___, and that\u2019s kind of the same thing.\u201d It\u2019s amusing, because it hits on an important truth that can help set you up for financial success \u2014 if you fully understand it and […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":238475,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"The secret to using money to buy happiness","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11547,11600],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-239659","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","category-sdnews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239659","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=239659"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239659\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/238475"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=239659"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=239659"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=239659"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"The](\"https:\/\/sandiegodowntownnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Taylor-Schulte_CFP_Headshotweb-278x300.jpg\")