Spending on experiences and other people

Experiences and spending on others tend to bring a little more happiness than more things for yourself. The effects are real but small, and they depend on your situation.

• Evidence: Some

The idea

How you spend money may matter as well as how much you have.

Experiences. In two surveys, people from a range of backgrounds said their experiential purchases, things bought mainly for the experience, had made them happier than material ones. In a lab follow-up, simply thinking about an experiential purchase led to more positive feelings [1]. A later review of this research suggests three reasons. Experiences bring you closer to other people, they become part of who you are, and you compare them less with what others have [2].

That picture has been refined since. When researchers tracked people’s feelings over two weeks, things and experiences delivered happiness differently. Material purchases gave smaller boosts more often, and experiences gave bigger boosts on fewer occasions [3]. The experience advantage also seems to depend on money. Across several studies, people from higher social classes were happier with experiences, while people with fewer resources were happier with material purchases or equally happy with both [4]. A reliable car or a good coat can matter more than a concert when money is tight.

Other people. The original study found that people who spent more of their income on others were happier, and that people randomly given money to spend on someone else felt happier than those told to spend it on themselves [5]. Most early studies were small, so the same team ran large preregistered replications. In the first, 712 students who bought something for a stranger in need felt happier than those who bought for themselves. In the second, 1,950 adults who remembered spending on others were no happier. In the third, a revised version with 5,199 people, recalling prosocial spending did increase happiness, but only slightly [6]. In a survey of 15,545 Americans, spending on others was linked to happiness across ages, genders and incomes [7].

How to use it

• Cover the basics first. If money is tight, buying what makes daily life work is a sensible choice [4].
• When you have money to spare, lean towards doing. A day out, a class, a trip, a meal with friends.
• Choose experiences you share. Much of the benefit seems to come from time with other people [2]. Buy two tickets, not one.
• Buy things you’ll use often. If you do buy an object, pick something that will give you small, frequent pleasure, like a good kettle or a comfortable chair [3].
• Spend a little on someone else. A coffee for a colleague, a small gift for no reason, a donation to a cause you care about. It doesn’t need to be large.

Common mistakes

• Expecting a big lift. The replication found the effect of prosocial spending was real but small, and one of its three experiments found none [6].
• Feeling guilty about buying things. Material purchases have their own benefits [3]. The aim is a better balance, not giving up on objects.
• Stretching your budget for experiences. Debt for a holiday is unlikely to leave you happier.
• Giving only out of obligation. Gifts you feel pushed into are a different situation from the ones studied here, and probably won’t feel the same.

Evidence

Rated Some. The experience advantage comes from many studies by a few research groups, much of it based on people’s memories of purchases. Newer work shows it depends on circumstances [3][4]. The prosocial spending effect passed a large, preregistered replication, which is better than most findings in this field, but it was small and showed up in only two of the three experiments [6].

Topics: Money, Spending, Experiences, Generosity, Happiness

Sources checked 4 October 2026. Spot a mistake? Tell us.