According to research, this is the best place to spend your money
Every year, every month, every week I tell myself again: I will handle money more wisely. That gap is finally going to be closed. No idea who I'm fooling, because I'm now 33 and I haven't managed it for even a month in my life. Unfortunately. But hey, I've received beautiful things in return, I write while looking at my beautiful Louis Vuitton bag. Materialistic? Maybe a bit, but that's mainly because I'm going on vacation in a month. Until then, I have to find happiness in things instead of experiences.
The cliché quote that you often come across on every travel account on Instagram seems to actually be true according to research: ‘Travel is the only thing that you can buy that makes you richer’. Yep, according to psychologists, we are happiest when we spend money on vacations. I can completely agree with that.
The explanation for this is very simple: when we spend our money on things, on objects, we get used to those items. The novelty wears off and we soon take it for granted. You then forget the value of it a bit and the feeling of happiness quickly fades away.
But with memories of vacations, it's different: we can keep thinking back to them with a warm feeling, a feeling of gratitude, and a feeling of happiness. This often has to do with the fact that making a purchase is often a solo activity, while a trip is often made together with people, or you meet people there. This way, you keep recalling memories, which makes the feeling of happiness last much longer and be triggered more often.
I must say that this does not apply to everyone: the poorer someone grew up, the more happiness that person will derive from material things. There is also a very simple explanation for this: in the past, many of these objects were a far-off dream, so it's something you looked forward to for a long time and the emotional satisfaction is enormous. If you grew up richer, the chance is greater that you never experienced this lack, and thus you derive that satisfaction from creating memories and gaining experiences in the form of vacations.
Both can be true, but it seems clear to me that we just need to book that vacation en masse. The weather here doesn't exactly make you cheerful, and no purchase can compete with that in my opinion.
