We’ve all heard the phrase a million times: “Money can’t buy happiness.” But let’s be honest, whoever coined that phrase probably wasn’t living paycheck to paycheck.
But scientists have found that money actually can absolutely buy happiness, we’ve just been spending it all wrong. The catch? You need to know what types of purchases actually trigger that lasting and sustainable kind of happiness.
Research shows that strategic spending absolutely pumps up your happiness levels, but not in the way you may think.
As a happiness researcher, there are eight things you shouldn’t feel guilty about spending money on. I would argue that investing in these categories will actually benefit your well-being in the long run.
1. Live music
There’s something magical about belting out lyrics with thousands of strangers. It’s not just fun, it’s science.
When we sing together, our brains release oxytocin (the bonding hormone) and endorphins that create what sociologist Émile Durkheim called “collective effervescence” — that buzzy feeling of connection that washes over a crowd.
Studies show group singing reduces cortisol levels and creates a sense of belonging that can last for days after the final encore.
2. Novel experiences
Our brains are novelty-seeking machines. Neuroscience shows that new experiences cause our brains to release dopamine and create denser memory formation, which is why time seems to crawl during your exciting vacation, but flies during your routine workweek.
Even small novel experiences like checking out a new farmer’s market, calling a friend you haven’t spoken to in ages, painting your nails an unexpected color, can create what researchers call “time abundance,” making life feel richer and more textured.
And when you share these experiences with friends? Neuroscience shows it supercharges the happiness effect — shared joy literally multiplies rather than divides.
3. Time-saving purchases
That shiny gadget you just had to have so often becomes forgotten within weeks. Possessions can just become background noise.
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Buying time on the other, is akin to buying sanity. That meal delivery service or house cleaner isn’t a luxury, it’s a mental health investment. Research shows that time-saving purchases reduce stress more effectively than material splurges.
When you outsource tasks you dread, you’re not being lazy — you’re being brilliant. Your future self, the one not frantically cleaning before guests arrive, will thank you.
4. Activities that boost your relationships
After tracking people for more than 80 years, Harvard researchers discovered something surprising: close relationships predict happiness better than genetics, wealth, or fame.
That dinner with friends or plane ticket to visit your sister? It’s not just a purchase — it’s a deposit into your emotional retirement account, paying dividends for decades.
5. Being generous to others
Here’s a brain hack: Your reward circuits fire more intensely when you spend on others versus yourself.
Scientists call it the “helper’s high,” that warm rush when you cover a friend’s lunch or donate to causes you care about. Your brain literally rewards generosity more richly than self-indulgence.
6. Small joys
Your brain’s pleasure systems prefer multiple small hits over one big one. That $4 specialty coffee twice weekly delivers more cumulative joy than one $400 splurge.
These modest, regular pleasures create happiness rhythms your brain comes to anticipate and savor.
7. Counterintuitive challenges
Counterintuitively, challenging experiences — plunging into cold water, completing tough hikes, mastering difficult skills — create lasting satisfaction.
These “earned pleasures” trigger achievement circuits in your brain that passive comforts simply can’t reach. The struggle literally becomes part of your identity story.
8. Making plans in advance
Booking experiences in advance creates a happiness triple play: anticipation joy, experience joy and memory joy. Your vacation starts delivering happiness the moment you book it, months before you pack your bags.
The smartest money you’ll ever spend isn’t on things that impress others, but on experiences that transform how you feel about your life. That’s not indulgence — it’s intelligent investing in what actually matters.
Jessica Weiss is a keynote speaker and executive coach who teaches people and businesses how to find more happiness, fulfillment and satisfaction at work. With a background in positive psychology, she’s spent 15 years working with global brands like Coca-Cola, Johnson & Johnson and American Express. She is the author of the upcoming book, “Happiness Works: The Science of Thriving at Work.” She earned her BA from the University of Pennsylvania and an MBA from Columbia Business School.
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