Come On Get Happy

...because sad people spend more money. That's according to a recent article on the website Financial Highway that suggests good money management is a task more psychological than mathematical. The author cites the study “Misery is not Miserly: Sad and Self-Focused Individuals Spend More”, which found that "sad and self-focused individuals spend as much as 300% more for the same type of commodity."

The study seems to apply to situational sadness more than the generalized variety;when it was conducted, "the researchers randomly assigned people to either watch a sad video or an emotionally neutral video, after which they were asked to purchase a commodity (i.e. bottle of water). Participants in the sad group offered about 300% more than the neutral group for the same item."

So next time you go see a tearjerker, hands off the wallet as you leave the theater - or you could end up crying into a $7 bucket of popcorn.


Don't be like Dawson.