Moe and Michael catch up to discuss fascinating and cutting-edge research in behavioral science to explain how money can buy happiness—if you follow five core principles of smart spending.
Money and Happiness
One of the defining characteristics of this generation is their commitment to social wellbeing. More than any other generation, being in the service of those most in need has ignited a spark, so infectious, that high school and college students the world over are eagerly tackling some of the world’s most pressing problems. One such example is the great initiative launched in 2012 by Microsoft – YouthSpark. A commitment launched at the 2012 Clinton Global initiative – the focus is to create jobs, education and entrepreneurship opportunities for 300 million youth by 2015.
Run by volunteers and associates at Microsoft, the program provides software and hardware technology to disadvantaged youth, and has reached almost 80 million young people in its first two years. As described by Johnnie Lovett, the 25-year-old founder of Fresh Connection Brand, “In every city of America, there are low-income students who have access to technology but who don’t have the skill,” he says “…we can give them the opportunity where they can learn tech and build those skills to understand how they can scale their ability and that, in turn, helps them build enterprises.”
When I spoke with Harvard Business School professor Michael Norton last year about his book – Happy Money: The Science of Smarter Spending – I was more convinced that ever that my greatest satisfaction in life comes with my contribution to others. Here’s Michael discussing the 4 other disciplines of smart spenders.