Think about your favorite material possession you bought this year. Now think about your favorite experiential purchase. Which gave you more happiness?

Investing In Traveling

By Lucas Compan, a guest storyteller

If you said the experiential purchase, you're in good company, according to Thomas Gilovich, professor of psychology at Cornell University and co-author of The Wisest One in the Room: How You Can Benefit from Social Psychology's Most Powerful Insights (Free Press, 2015).

Science says it's totally fine to invest your money on traveling. You can't argue with facts. Thomas Gilovich explains what the latest research shows about wisdom, happiness, and personal biases.

According to Dr. Gilovich, who has been studying the question of money and happiness for over two decades. "We buy things to make us happy, and we succeed. But only for a while. New things are exciting to us at first, but then we adapt to them, and one of the enemies of happiness is adaptation."

Recent research from Cornell University In New York (2015) has confirmed that the key to happiness comes through experiences rather than things.

So rather than buying the latest digital devices or a new Porsche, Gilovich suggests you'll get more happiness spending money on experiences like going to art exhibits, doing outdoor activities, learning a new skill, or traveling.

A Wise Guy's Guide to Happiness

Click on the link below to listen to the podcast.

Gilovich's research has implications for individuals who want to maximize their happiness return on their financial investments, for employers who want to have a happier workforce, and policy-makers who want to have a happy citizenry.

How about taking the thoughts provoked by this research to heart? It should mean a shift in how you spend your discretionary income. Investing your money in experiences like going to art exhibits, doing outdoor activities, learning a new skill, or traveling would bring you much more happiness.

Happy traveling. Happy Life.

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