If you were given a choice between having more money and having more time, what would you pick?
Many people might be convinced by the choice of money, thinking it could solve their problems – in spite of the well known saying to the contrary.
But a new study has shown people who pick time over money are generally happier.
The researchers, based at UCLA’s Anderson School of Management, in California, asked thousands of Americans whether they would prefer to have more money or more time.
“Although the majority of people chose more money, choosing more time was associated with greater happiness,” the authors said. Of the 1,226 people who participated in the study, 60.9 percent chose more money and 39.1 percent chose time.
Participants then reported their subjective happiness and life satisfaction, followed by the measures of subjective and objective available time and money and demographics.
The respondents who indicated the strongest preferences for more time were also the most happy. As the researchers put it, “the more people preferred time over money, the happier they were”.
The link between a preference for time and happiness was also not specific to a type of additional time, but time in general.
The study found in order to be happier, people should focus on how to spend their spare time and money, rather than focussing on not having enough. “Whereas focusing on not having enough time or money may not be conducive to happiness, focusing on how one would spend additional amounts of these resources is associated with greater happiness. Life frequently presents time versus money trade-offs,” the researchers said.
“We distilled these decisions into a singular choice and showed that the way people answer this question predicts their happiness. Although time and money are both valuable resources that give hope for greater happiness, choosing time over money promises a happier life.”
New technology will also allow people to track their own satisfaction themselves. Pebble is launching an update to their Health application with a new mood-tracking app called Happiness. The firm recently took aim at their rival, Fitbit, launching two new devices – the Pebble 2 and Pebble Time 2 – that can track heart rate and the wearer’s activity. Pebble’s latest move in tracking moods is designed to set it apart from rivals, who don’t have a similar feature on their devices.