Incomes are rising, but people feel more time-starved than ever — and it’s reducing happiness levels. New research shows that using money to buy time can help. Across four countries, people who spent on time-saving services reported higher life satisfaction. To establish causality, researchers found working adults felt happier after making a time-saving purchase than a material one. Buying time is an overlooked but useful path from money to happiness.

REFERENCE — A.V. Whillans, E.W. Dunn, P. Smeets, R. Bekkers, & M.I. Norton, Buying time promotes happiness, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 114 (32) 8523-8527, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1706541114 (2017).