New Research Uncovers Money Habits that Drive the Greatest Happiness

In recent trials, the ZavFit app has improved the wellbeing of hundreds of people and is currently expanding to include tens of thousands more. Our last article ‘ZavFit Reduces Money Stress – The Science!’ talked about how the app has helped people significantly reduce their money stress in just two weeks.

Today, we are diving into some fascinating data on what types of purchases make people happiest in life. We’ll also share examples from ZavFit users of how they’ve reframed the way they think about and use their money.

?ZavFit's Chief Science Officer, Erman Misirlisoy, PhD says

"Think less about how much money you have and more about what you're doing with your money. ZavFit boosts your awareness of your money habits and gives you more control over making the best possible decisions for your health and happiness."

Breaking down the happiest and unhappiest spending categories

Using behavioural and emotional data from the ZavFit app, we can look at how people spend their money and how those spending patterns create better or worse wellbeing. Here are a few surprising trends from a diverse audience between the ages of 18-55.

The ZavFit app analyses happy and unhappy spends based on two central features:

1. MoneyMoods: This feature gamifies an important CBT-based principle: making sense of personal experiences and difficulties in how we think and act. It does this by allowing people to tag their bank transactions with emotional responses in order to boost their awareness of their money habits and their impact.
2. Happiness per Pound(TM) [HPP]: this revolutionary wellbeing metric tracks how much happiness people get out of each pound they spend. It’s an educational and motivational tool that supports new ways of thinking about money and ultimately helps people build happier money habits. Over time on the ZavFit journey, this score should increase!

Where do people get the greatest happiness from their spending??

When people spent their money on buying gifts for friends or donating to charity, they reported the highest levels of happiness, more than any other spending category. The overall MoneyMood rating was 16% higher than the average of all other categories, and Happiness Per Pound(TM) scores were 19% higher. This is consistent with prior scientific literature showing that spending money on other people tends to give you greater happiness than spending money on yourself.?

Which spending produces the least happiness??

Spending on bills and transport produced the lowest Happiness Per Pound(TM). Perhaps unsurprisingly, people generally didn’t get much happiness from dull but necessary expenses like commuting. Although these kinds of expenses can be frustrating, they can be psychologically reframed in ways that increase Happiness Per Pound(TM). For example, one ZavFit user said:

“I do spend a lot of money [on TfL] but I realised I have to go to places … it's money well spent … I was [mood] rating it in the beginning mostly negative, negative, negative. Then I realised. I have to go to places, so I have to pay for transport, and I shouldn't be feeling that bad about it”

This demonstrates that emotions about our spending habits are not set in stone, and we can reframe how we feel. If an unnecessary expense is making us unhappy, we can stop that expense and save money. If a necessary expense is making us unhappy, we can think about what beneficial role it serves in our life.

Gambling spends also produced low Happiness Per Pound(TM)

In addition to general life expenses, gambling returned low Happiness Per Pound(TM). Since this is usually an entertainment expense, it should return sufficient happiness to be worth spending money on. Yet many people were able to identify it as both unnecessary and unhappy in their life. This allowed them to reconsider where they wanted to direct their entertainment budgets. As a proportion of their total discretionary spending, people spent significantly less money on gambling after using ZavFit for 2 weeks, showing that better awareness can change real-life behaviour.?

The surprising mood boosting effect of holidays and trips

Spending on holidays & trips produced the 2nd highest MoneyMoods but only 7th highest Happiness Per Pound(TM). Holidays and trips give us new experiences and some of our happiest memories, so it’s no surprise they return some of the highest MoneyMood ratings.

The problem is they tend to be very expensive. Once you account for those costs in the Happiness Per Pound(TM) calculation, their ranking drops dramatically relative to other spending categories. In other words, it’s not so clear if spending money on vacations is as good for your wellbeing as spending on relatively inexpensive self-care techniques like massage, beauty, or health supplements.

While self-care came in third in the HPP rankings, leisure activities took the silver medal. This includes activities like sports and music events, arts & crafts, games, and other hobbies.

Just like holidays & trips, leisure activities are typically experience-based activities, so they return a richer and more lasting sense of joy than products. Importantly though, leisure activities cost significantly less than booking a holiday, and we can find joy in doing them more regularly.??

One final tidbit about holidays and trips: what do you think delivers greater happiness – flights or hotels?

If you said "flights" you are correct!? It’s possible that the exciting feeling of anticipation that comes with flying to a holiday destination adds to the overall level of joy related to holidays. On the other hand, we may be more likely to regret high hotel expenses if the hotel doesn’t quite live up to our expectations once we get there, or if we start to wonder whether a neighbouring hotel would have been better!?

Book purchases were a consistent high performer for happiness?

Money spent on books was a standout happiness booster. This was true both when people classified book transactions as a “learning” and as a “shopping” expense. Books are a quick and inexpensive way of opening our minds up to new experiences via imagination and visualisation. While they might not have the same rich sensory quality as traveling or going to a concert, they provide enormous bang for buck when it comes to emotional health and wellbeing.?

The happiest spends in the Food & Drink category went to bars?

Food & Drink is always a popular spend category and we'd be remiss not to talk about where people get the greatest happiness here. While all food & drink spends performed well, social activity gave people an especially joyful buzz that was hard to rival. Compared to spending in categories such as restaurants, takeaways, & coffee shops, bars were the most sociable food & drink experience, and they also returned the greatest Happiness Per Pound(TM).

It’s easy to overspend on food & drink, so if you’re looking to save money in this category, it’s probably better to reduce takeaway orders via expensive delivery apps rather than sacrificing the social benefits you get from drinks with friends and family.?

Start your own Happiness Per Pound(TM) journey?

ZavFit is revolutionising how people think about money. Instead of the traditional obsession with wealth, impulse spending, and social comparison instincts, we want people to think about their money habits on a more conscious personal level.

Where is your money currently going and why? How much health and happiness are you getting from it? How could you gain more happiness from each pound you spend????

Everyone has their own unique circumstances to consider, so the journey needs to be a personal one. But based on the data, you might want to consider the following rules:?

• Spend more money on self-care, hobbies, experiences, and learning?
• Spend less money on gambling and seek less expensive options for products and services that you use regularly?
• Think carefully about the potential happiness value of a purchase before buying?
• Reframe annoying but necessary spends in terms of the happy value they add to your life?
• Spend more time and attention on friends and family?

?ZavFit is a health app for money stress. It connects the dots between your spending and your happiness. Developed by scientists, the app is designed to help reduce the stress, anxiety, guilt people feel with money. Simple everyday tasks to feel more positive. Evidence shows that people using ZavFit feel more confident, in control, and significantly happier about their spending and savings habits.

Contact Liz Engelsen to join our community; to offer ZavFit to your employees/customers or for more details about the latest Trial results.