Every Monday I share 3 ideas to help you and your family on the money-smart journey. I created "The Money Mammals" for kids and wrote The Art of Allowance book for parents like you. Won't you join me on the money-smart journey?
How can we buy ourselves a little happiness?
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In this issue: Being kinder to our present and future selves, undertaking vacation planning and enjoying luxuries in moderation. "Working to help parents raise money-smart kids." 3 Ideas to Share & Save Hello, friends! Last week's newsletter was all about simplifying our money messages. And this week's edition focuses on using money to buy ourselves (and our kids) a little happiness. I hope you enjoy it! — 1 — Being Kinder to Ourselves: When my kids act impulsively and don't willingly shunt their money into a savings account or a Roth IRA, I get anxious. (My negative inner monologue doesn't help. 😬) We're already not kind to our future selves. So being unkind to our current selves is a double whammy. Where's the happiness in that? While we can and should teach our kids the opportunity cost of buying a Frappuccino, our lesson doesn't make that sweet elixir less appealing to them. Elizabeth Dunn and Michael Norton of Happy Money explain why: "Mike-of-Today may see Mike-of-the-Future almost as a different person. So, he might as well buy himself a Frappuccino today."
- Elizabeth Dunn & Michael Norton, Happy Money
Did you catch that? You see your future self as a different person! Understanding this thinking helps reframe what we perceive as impulsive or counterproductive behavior. However generous I'd love my kids to be, I can't expect them to save for someone else's future! A study shared in Happy Money helps us better understand how our Veruca Salt ("I want it now!") brains work: "Consider how happy you would be if someone gave you a $25 Starbucks gift card today, or if you received the same surprise on a random day three months from now. Unless your love for Frappuccinos slowly withers with each passing day, you should probably expect to be about as happy regardless of whether you receive the gift card today or in three months. Free coffee is free coffee. But when people contemplate these scenarios, they predict that receiving the gift card would provide more joy now than it would if they received it in three months. Due to the power of now, people overvalue the present, making it difficult to appreciate the potential benefits of delay."
- Elizabeth Dunn & Michael Norton, Happy Money
So how do you help your kids learn to treat their future selves better? You can start with this video from our Adolsecent$ program's "Good Money Habits" series: After watching this short with your kids, you could ask them one thing they can do to help their future selves. (Yes, I've done this. 😉) You might be surprised by their responses! And if you'd like more help, download this video's lesson plan. By the way, these materials are all part of our Art of Allowance Project program for financial institutions.
— 2 — Pleasure and Pain: While experience is the best teacher, modeling is a close second. Leading family money researcher and Art of Allowance Podcast guest Ashley LeBaron-Black explains: Planning a vacation is fun—no surprise there. And Happy Money research helps us understand why. First up, when we prepay for vacation expenses like flights, lodging and rental cars, we separate the pain of paying from the pleasure of consuming. Sprinkle in the antici-cation (anticipation of a vacation 😅), and we have a wonderful way money can buy us happiness. We also needn't worry so much about the duration of the vacation. Even a short time away can be powerful: "The length of an experience has little impact on the pleasure people remember deriving from it."
- Elizabeth Dunn & Michael Norton, Happy Money
(And don't forget that behavioral psychology research tells us the beginning and the ending of an experience matter the most.) There's even one more benefit: "Indeed, research shows that satisfaction with experiential purchases tends to increase with the passage of time, while satisfaction with material purchases tends to decrease."
- Elizabeth Dunn & Michael Norton, Happy Money
So you get a "three-fer" with your vacation happiness boost: antici-cation while planning, enjoyability no matter the length and higher satisfaction compared to stuff! 🤯 But why did I mention modeling at the start of this idea? We can involve our kids in vacation decisions so they can see first hand how we might buy ourselves a little future happiness. If you trust them, give them a budget to help choose lodging, cars and flights. Happy trails!
— 3 — Weekly Wisdom: "We are happy with things, until we find out there are better things available."
- Elizabeth Dunn & Michael Norton, Happy Money
This tendency doesn't mean you can't enjoy some luxuries, as podcast guest Will Rainey, the author of Grandpa's Fortune Fable$, explains: But limiting luxuries does require controlled consumption. And if you haven't read this week's heavily referenced book, Happy Money, I encourage you to do so. Dunn and Norton share so many additional ideas within it about how we can use money to buy ourselves a little more happiness. As always, enjoy the journey! John, P.S. Please consult with a financial or investment professional before engaging in any decisions that might affect your own financial well-being.
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3 Ideas to Share & Save
Every Monday I share 3 ideas to help you and your family on the money-smart journey. I created "The Money Mammals" for kids and wrote The Art of Allowance book for parents like you. Won't you join me on the money-smart journey?
In this issue: Determining how much is enough, forgoing "loud budgeting" for "quiet compounding" and identifying the foundations of successful journeys. "Helping parents raise money-smart kids." 3 Ideas to Share & Save(Click the link above 👆 to read this week's edition on the web.) Hello, friends! Before we dive into this week's ideas, I want to remind you that you can still receive my books in time for the holidays. While I'm a bit biased, I think they're great family gifts. 👉🏻 The Art of...
In this issue: Seeking shelter from the marketing monsoon, progressing towards a protopia and being more mindful of what we give and receive. "Helping parents raise money-smart kids." 3 Ideas to Share & Save(Click the link above 👆 to read this week's edition on the web.) Hello, friends! I hope you had a nice Thanksgiving weekend. Can you feel the marketing monsoon blowing us towards the holidays? Since it's Cyber Monday, I want to let you know about a few gifts to consider to help you and...
In this issue: Navigating to key points of my latest podcast conversation, holding social media giants and app developers to a higher standard and learning to relinquish control by watching a sunset. "Helping parents raise money-smart kids." 3 Ideas to Share & Save(Click the link above 👆 to read this week's edition on the web.) Hello, friends! My latest podcast conversation went live this morning. Guest Josh Golin, the Executive Director of Fairplay, has dedicated his professional life to...