Interesting article, Mook. Repped for putting it on the board.
The question posited in the study is one that I've pondered ever since I started making money. I'm one of the odd ones who achieve the greatest psychic benefit from saving money over spending it. But if I have to spend money, I prefer purchasing goods (especially durable goods) over experiences. Interestingly, my wife is the same way. Moreover, we gain a tremendous amount of happiness from transactional utility, which is a fancy way of saying that we love getting a good deal.
When we got married, we made the decision that we would travel abroad as a vacation once a year. We've so far held up that end of the bargain, but we actually prefer low-budget travel over going the luxury route; you're less insulated from the local culture. We could have traveled abroad more than that, but my wife insisted that we allocate a percentage of our disposable income to charity. And good for her that she did; it's a better feeling than buying anything.
