Elizabeth Dunn > Quotes

“Looking back on their past decisions about whether to purchase experiences, 83 percent of people sided with Mark Twain, reporting that their biggest single regret was one of inaction, of passing up the chance to buy an experience when the opportunity came along.”
― Elizabeth Dunn, Happy Money: The Science of Smarter Spending

“Mark Twain: “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do.” This”
― Elizabeth Dunn, Happy Money: The Science of Happier Spending

“We are happy with things, until we find out there are better things available.”
― Elizabeth Dunn, Happy Money: The Science of Happier Spending

“stop trying to get more money, our goal is to help you use the money you have to get more happiness.”
― Elizabeth Dunn, Happy Money: The Science of Happier Spending

“The Big Ben Problem suggests that introducing a limited time window may encourage people to seize opportunities for treats. Imagine you’ve just gotten a gift certificate for a piece of delicious cake and a beverage at a high-end French pastry shop. Would you rather see the gift certificate stamped with an expiration date two months from today, or just three weeks from now? Faced with this choice, most people were happier with the two-month option, and 68 percent reported that they would use it before this expiration date.25 But when they received a gift certificate for a tasty pastry at a local shop, only 6 percent of people redeemed it when they were given a two-month expiration date, compared to 31 percent of people who were given the shorter three-week window. People given two months to redeem the certificate kept thinking they could do it later, creating another instance of the Big Ben Problem—and leading them to miss out on a delicious treat. Several years ago, Best Buy reported gaining $43 million from gift certificates that went unredeemed,26 propelling some consumer advocates and policy makers to push for extended expiration dates. But this strategy will likely backfire. We may have more success at maximizing our happiness when treats are only available for a limited time.”
― Elizabeth Dunn, Happy Money: The Science of Happier Spending

“Next time you reach for your wallet to buy a metaphorical rubber frog, don’t let the lure of the material induce you to forgo all the happiness benefits of the experiential.”
― Elizabeth Dunn, Happy Money: The Science of Happier Spending

“The same region of the brain that responds when we anticipate something good (the nucleus accumbens) loses interest once we’ve gotten it.”
― Elizabeth Dunn, Happy Money

“This simple study illustrates one of the major barriers to increasing human well-being. We are happy with things, until we find out there are better things available.
Luckily, this tendency may be limited to things.”
― Elizabeth Dunn; Michael Norton , Happy Money: The Science of Smarter Spending

“Research shows that experiences provide more happiness than material goods in part because experiences are more likely to make us feel connected to others.”
― Elizabeth Dunn; Michael Norton