From Here to Financial Happiness

Day Sixteen Older and Wiser

Research suggests that happiness through life tends to be U‐shaped. We start our adult lives reporting a fairly high level of happiness, but our happiness slips through our twenties and thirties, hits bottom in our forties, and then rebounds from there.

What explains this decline and recovery? Nobody knows for sure. One possibility: Early in our adult lives, we tend to be heavily focused on external rewards. We want the promotions and pay raises, as well as the material symbols of success, such as owning a beautiful home and driving a pricey car. And many folks achieve these things, only to discover they don't bring the sense of contentment they expected.

In fact, just the opposite may prove true. We get the promotion, but discover we're more stressed. We buy the home we lusted after, only to find ourselves constantly dealing with maintenance and repairs. Our dissatisfaction often peaks in our forties – the classic midlife crisis.

That is when many folks start to rethink their lives. Maybe striving for promotions isn't the road to happiness. Instead, maybe what matters is doing work we love. Perhaps more possessions won't make us happier. Instead, perhaps we should spend our money on experiences, especially experiences enjoyed with family and friends, because those occasions seem to deliver a big boost to happiness.

The upshot: As we age, we become less interested in earning the approval of others, whether by getting ahead at work or by flaunting ...