Epilogue-confessions of a closet materialist: Lessons learned about money, possessions, and happiness

Abstract

Learning about ways of dealing with money and possessions so as to enhance well-being has also been a process of self-discovery. I survey the literature, with pauses to reflect on how my ways of consuming match up with the advice from the research. Thus, I learned that more money adds little to happiness but being thrifty does. In the interests of well-being, it is good to spend on experiences, to give to others, to enhance pleasure by delaying it, to have small ongoing pleasures, and to buy for intrinsic reasons. The extrinsic motives for money and possessions likely have more to do with social standing than personal happiness. Materialism is associated with lower well-being: the continual striving without fulfillment, the time material pursuits take from relationships, and the childhood roots in insecurity that motivate material compensations. However, material objects benefit us too, we imbue them with meaning and spirit, and possessions help express our identity. We are happier when we value possessions for the intrinsic benefits and pleasure they provide more than for their costliness or social cachet, and maintaining awareness of their benefits can forestall adaptation. Shopping, although posing risks for the materialistic, can be pleasurable and support well-being through informed consumption.