06 Sep How to buy happiness!
by Susan Maushart for The Australian
“DO you believe sex is dirty?” a therapist is said to have asked Woody Allen. He thought for a while before replying, “Only if you?re doing it right.”
I thought about that joke again last night. But don_ã_t be mad, dear. This time it was prompted by an academic research paper irresistibly titled If Money Doesn_ã_t Make You Happy then You Probably Aren_ã_t Spending It Right.
Everybody knows money can_ã_t buy you love. But it can earn you substantial reward points, insists University of British Columbia psychologist Elizabeth Dunn in a forthcoming issue of the Journal of Consumer Psychology. Surveying a wealth of new research, she and her fellow researchers formulate what amounts to a financial planning strategy for high-yield happiness. _ã–Psychologists,_ã they observe, _ã–can teach people to spend their money in ways that will indeed increase their happiness._ã Well, I guess we_ã_ve all heard that one before. Only this time, I_ã_m happy to report, writing out cheques to your therapist has nothing to do with it.