Happy Money – Podcast 61
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In this podcast Carol and Katie talk about women’s relationship to money in order to prep you for the upcoming webinar: A Woman’s Money Story with special guest Dr. David Kruger, MD. Register for the Webinar here.
They also talk about the book Happy Money- The Science of Happier Spending by authors Elizabeth Dunn and Michael Norton.
Can Happiness Buy Money? David Krueger MD
- Didn’t we already (sort of) settle the inverse of this question in my earlier blog, Money And Happiness: The Real Relationship?
- While happiness is a result and not a goal, consider these assorted findings:
- Several thousand college freshmen were rated according to their cheerfulness. Two decades later, those who ranked at the top of the cheerfulness measures earned an average income 31% higher than those with lower scores.
- A study of employees at three U.S. companies found that those with increased happiness measured over an 18-month period had higher salary increases during that period.
- People with greater left prefrontal cortex activity – the area of the brain that generates happiness – produce more antibodies and have stronger immune systems. Greater activity in this part of the brain also relates to lower levels of stress hormone. (Neuroscientist Dr. Richard Davidson)
- Dutch men and women who laughed more often and had more positive views of the future had a 25% lower risk of mortality than those less optimistic.
- Expansiveness and extroversion correlate with a lower risk of diabetes.
- Employees with a more consistently good mood miss fewer days of work.
- And happiness can help keep money. Unhappy people – specifically those who are sad – become self focused and spend as much as 300% more for the same item. (Dr. Cynthia Cryder) The act of spending stimulates the pleasure center of the brain and temporarily counters both sadness and anxiety.
- Although not definitive, these findings suggest that happiness – a register of positive energy – can increase the most tangible and universal emblem of energy – money.