"if money does not make you happy, then you probably aren't spending it right"

A very interesting paper on what makes people happy in practice (from a link in the Brooks article below.)

Top of the list is "buy experiences instead of things". Others include "help others instead of yourself", "Buy many small pleasures instead of a few big ones", "buy less insurance", "pay now and consume later", and "think about what you are not thinking about it."