George Kamel - 8 Things You Can Buy to Bring You Happiness

Episode Date: August 22, 2025

💵 Start your free budget today. Download the EveryDollar app!  Can money buy happiness? Well, according to a CNBC article, strategic spending pumps up your happiness levels. In today’s video, we’ll go over the eight spending categories that one happiness researcher says will benefit your well-being.  Next Steps:  🎥 Watch my video Budgeting for Beginners | The Only Budgeting Method You Need to Worry About!  📈 Are you on track with the Baby Steps? Get a free personalized plan.   📙 Order my book, Breaking Free From Broke, in hardcover.  📰 CNBC article: Don't 'feel guilty' for spending on these 8 things, says expert: 'Money can absolutely buy happiness'  Connect With Our Sponsors:  Get 20% off when you join DeleteMe.  Learn more about opening a high-yield savings account with Laurel Road.  Get up to 40% off Cozy Earth with code GEORGE.  Explore More From Ramsey Network:  🎙️ The Ramsey Show  🍸 Smart Money Happy Hour  💸 The Ramsey Show Highlights  🧠 The Dr. John Delony Show  💡 The Rachel Cruze Show  🪑 Front Row Seat with Ken Coleman  📈 EntreLeadership    Ramsey Solutions Privacy Policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Strategic spending pumps up your happiness levels. At least according to this CNBC article, written by the Happiness Expert. That's pretty cool. She says there are eight things you shouldn't feel guilty about spending money on, because investing in these categories will actually benefit your well-being in the long run.

But a wise man once said, don't believe everything you see on the internet. So today, I'll go over each of these eight spending categories that supposedly lead to happiness, and I'll tell you if it's legit or full of misnomer. Not me there. Okay, here we go. All right, number one on the list, live music.

Strong start. She says there's something magical about belting out lyrics with thousands of strangers, and when we sing together, our brains release oxytocin and endorphins, and studies show that group singing reduces cortisol levels and creates a sense of belonging that can last for days after the final encore. If the group is singing well, I mean, have you heard a group singing happy birthday lately? It sounds like it's someone's funeral. Birthday, dear you.

What do I feel about this? How do I feel about this? Hmm. Live music, the concept of live music spending money on a live concert experience. Uh, this might surprise you. I actually like this one with a huge caveat that if you go into debt for it or you buy tickets that are too expensive and derail your other financial goals like paying off debt, it's a real stinker.

And here's the stats on this. We just saw this with Coachella. 60% of ticket buyers used buy-now pay. later payment plans to pay for this concert experience, which means they're paying for it month after month after long after their terrible smartphone videos have gone into the abyss of their photo library. So for that reason, bad with debt, great with cash, when you can afford this type of luxury experience. All right, number two in the list, novel experiences. Let's see what that's about. Our brains are novelty-seeking machines, neuroscience shows, new experiences

causes our brain to release dopamine, create denser memory formation. Love it. Okay, let's see what is considered a novel experience. Checking out a new farmer's market. That's exciting. Calling a friend you haven't spoken to in ages, painting your nails in unexpected color. Funny bunny, who's with me?

It's a good color. When you have these experiences with friends, it looks like a supercharger for this effect. It multiplies rather than divides the joy. That's sweet. And you know what? Again, I'm a fan of novel experiences, and here's why. A lot of these don't have to be expensive.

So it's not like you're buying a really expensive item. This novel experience, like they said, could be calling a friend you haven't spoken to in ages. And I do think that it rewires our brain and adds some new synapses. I don't know the scientific words, but it just creates some new roadways when we do new things that challenge us, that excite us. You know, a little sense of adventure and impulse in the right ways without debt. Very smart. fan. Number three on the list, time-saving purchases. Okay, I do like to save time, and I do like purchases. It says the shiny gadget you just had to have so often becomes forgotten within weeks.

Possessions can become background noise. Buying time on the other is akin to buying sanity. That meal delivery service or house cleaner isn't a luxury. It's a mental health investment. Research shows that time-saving purchases reduce stress more effectively than material splurges. When you outsource tasks that you dread, you're not being lazy, you're being brilliant, your future self. Well, thank you. Okay, again, I'm going to go where there is a time in place for this, pun intended, to have the time-saving purchase. So overall, anything that buys back my time in this stage of my life as a dad of two little kids, I'm going to say is a huge, huge win. And so therefore, yeah, if you can afford it, if it's in the budget, if it's intentional and you're not going into debt,

then it's a huge win. And the house cleaner is a great example. Could I spend a few, hours every month, maybe or every week, trying to deep clean the house. I could. But I believe that time with my family, time to rest, is more important than that. So I'd rather outsource it to a local small business who loves to clean and is happy to show up once a month to scrub that shower grout. Because your boy's not scrubbing grout. I got back pain, man. I'm heading to 40, careening into 40 with lower back pain. My back hurts. So, uh, time's Yes, this does not mean door-dashing every day because it's a time-saving purchase because you would have cooked. So this is where I have some technical poopy beef with this one.

It can easily sway to this side if you're not careful, but if you do it right with intentionality and you're out of debt, sure, go for it. If you're out of debt with an emergency fund and you budget for this stuff, big win. But if you're using it as an excuse for bad habits like door-dashing, no thank you. Right, number four on the list. Activities that boost your relationships. I don't know what that is. Let's find out. After tracking people for more than 80 years, creepy,

Harvard researchers discovered something surprising. Close relationships predict happiness better than genetics, wealth, or fame. That dinner with friends or plane ticket to visit your sister, it's not just a purchase, it's a deposit into your emotional retirement account paying dividends for decades. Gosh, this is good, right?

This is very convincing journalism here. So let me think about this. activities that boost your relationships. So doing things with people, visiting people, eating with people, shared experiences. I think this is really tied to the last few that we covered. And I do think I would much rather you do activities with people you love versus just buy stuff for yourself. I think there is a very ephemeral joy, a very temporary happiness that comes with the stuff. I do think experiences are worth it. So depending on what this is, a dinner with friends, very different than a trip to Italy with your BFFs.

One can cost 50 bucks. One can cost $5,000. So again, this all comes down to intentionality and planning. Is it impulsive and you're going to have to put it on the credit card? Then no. Don't try to couch it as, well, it's my emotional retirement account. Yeah, but you won't have any money in your actual retirement account if you keep doing this stuff. So on occasion, absolutely.

Doing it with cash, let's go. Plain tickets to visit your family and loved ones. Love that for you. Surprise them, even better. But make sure that you're doing it intentionally. Make sure that you're on a budget. If you want to know my favorite budgeting app, it's called Every Dollar. I'll drop a link in the description below.

So where's my rating on this one? Activities that boost your relationships? If it's relational, it's experiential, you're doing it right. I'm going to give this one a big old smiley face. But if you're using it as an excuse to constantly go out with friends and overspend, no. But overall, yes, I think we're seeing a theme here. All of these are good things.

when done in moderation and with money you actually have. All right. Next up at number five, being generous to others. I'm really enjoying this. Let me just say, this is bringing me joy and it costs me nothing. Here's a brain hack, she says. Your reward circuits fire more intensely when you spend on others versus yourself. Ding, ding, ding, true statement.

Scientists call it the helpers high. That warm rush when you cover a friend's lunch or donate to a cause you care about. Your brain literally rewards generosity more richly than self-indulgence. This one is a resounding smiley face. I don't know that I have any negative notes on this one. There are people who are too generous. They don't have the money and they're going into debt to try to cover the meal for the friends at dinner to be nice. That's a nice gesture.

But overall, this is a huge win. And I'm so passionate about this that I have an entire chapter in my book, Breaking Free from Broke, called Generosity is Joy. And it's the final real chapter to talk about the power of generosity. and how it's the most fun you can have with money. Overspending, over-saving, generosity should be the goal, and I think we should all do more of it, and we'll be better off. I think we'll be better off financially, our mental well-being, emotional well-being.

Everything is better when we give. Big win. All right, at number six, we have small joys. I feel like this one's going to lean into little treat culture. Let's see if I'm right. Your brain's pleasure systems prefer multiple small hits over one big one. That $4 specialty coffee twice weekly delivers more cumulative joy than one $400 splurge. Ooh, so I guess it's the habitual little things, those habits, those routines actually create a joyful rhythm in our life versus a one big thing that we may or may not get long-lasting joy from.

I like this one. Yeah, modest, regular pleasures, create happiness rhythms. Guys, I feel like I'm really tracking with Jessica so far on this list. Big fan, big fan, let's go. Small joys, let's go, small joys. I do have a little caveat. $4 every day for that little treat because it's the only thing keeping your life together.

We got to get to the root of the problem there. And you're likely overspending in a lot of categories if you have habits that you kind of know you could do better on. But I also know that the $4 latte is not what's keeping you from buying a house. Okay, I don't fall into that camp. Don't try to boomer me with that mentality. But I do think these small joys add up over time, and if we're not careful, we waste hundreds and hundreds of dollars that could have gone towards our actual goals

that could create more meaningful joy long term. That's all I'm going to say about it. Nothing more, nothing less. Now, spending money can be fun, but science shows that saving money is even better for our brains, and I do think you should save wisely with a high-yield savings account from Laurel Road, one of the sponsors of today's video. You see, when you have your money parked in a high-yield savings account,

like the one with Laurel Road, it's going to grow for you instead of stay stagnant, growing at 0.001% interest in that brick and mortar bank. And with Laurel Road, there's no minimum balance required to open an account. All of your deposits are FDIC insured, meaning they're safe and secure. And there's no monthly maintenance fees to worry about, which means more money for little treats in your life. So if you want to check them out, go sign up at Laurelroad.com slash George or click the link in the description below. Now, one thing I do think is worth spending a little money on is keeping my personal info away from spammers and scammers.

And the way I do that personally is with Delete Me, another sponsor of today's video. It seems like every other day there's a new scam, a fraud, AI, harassment thing to watch out for. But Delete Me helps cut the risk by removing my info from hundreds of these data broker sites, and they will do the same for you. And they don't just set it and forget it. They work behind the scenes all year long with real privacy experts, and they'll even send you personalized reports so that you know what they removed from where and how much time they've saved you.

And with my special link, you can get a discounted plan that come out to just about $9.9 a month. So to get that deal, that 20% off, go to join deleteme.com slash George or click the link in the description below. All right, let's get back to the list. At number seven, we have counterintuitive challenges. Tell me more, Jessica. Tell me more. Counterintuitively challenging experiences, plunging into cold water, completing tough hikes, mastering difficult skills, create lasting satisfaction. These earned pleasures trigger achievement circuits in your brain that passive comforts simply can't reach. Struggle literally becomes part of your identity story.

Oh, that's so deep. Put that on a, like, a poster in my middle school. That's really good. So I'm trying to connect the dots here, because the article's about spending money on these things will bring you joy. So spending money on the cold plunge. Spending money on the equipment in gear you need for the hike.

Spending money to master the difficult skill. Maybe that's buying the guitar and paying for the guitar lessons. I don't know what that could be, But I do agree there is more lasting satisfaction in the journey than there is in some kind of mountain top getting there. And I do think these are very healthy habits. We are wired for growth as humans. So if we're not growing, if we're not being challenged, I think that's when we can get complacent and feel like we lost our mojo a little bit. So I do think it's worth spending our money on these things, especially if they're enjoyable, healthy habits in our lives.

Like art, creativity, physical fitness, all of that good stuff. So I got no problem with this unless it becomes some sort of unhealthy obsession that takes over your finances and your relationships. So sports betting doesn't count, guys. Sorry. But all this other stuff on her list, big fan, way to go, smiley's all around. All right. Last on the list. Making plans in advance. Tell me more, Ashante. Booking experiences in advance creates a happiness triple play, anticipation joy, experience joy, and memory joy. Your vacation starts delivering happiness the moment you book it months before you pack your bags. The smartest money you'll ever spend isn't on things that impress others, but on experiences

that transform how you feel about your life. That's not indulgence. It's intelligent investing in what actually matters. Hmm, I like this one. So booking the experience, okay, this happened to me the other day. I wanted to go see a comedy show for a guy I've been wanting to see a long time, and I bought the ticket. There was immediate joy in just seeing that. It was available, getting the ticket, and seeing that in my inbox. And then I'm going to experience joy this weekend when I go see said comedy show. And then I'll have joy after the fact reminiscing on said comedy show. So I love this one.

And it especially tracks with a vacation. I love researching where I'm going to eat. What are the menus? Where are the places I'm going to go? What are the activities I'm going to do? Let's create a little schedule. I love nerding out and going full type A on these experiences. And that is truly part of the joy.

And then getting to experience that in real time with people that I love, you can't beat that. And so I do think there is a lot of good science and emotion behind making plans in advance to achieve that happiness. And again, you'll notice experiential. It wasn't a thing you bought. It was an experience that you're looking forward to. And for that, I say smiley face.

But again, don't book this on the credit card. Don't try to gamify and get the points enough to get the vacation. Just pay for it in cash and budget for it. And you'll feel even better because the worst thing you can do is pay for in advance with a credit card and then pay for it six months down the line with payments. That was going to decrease your joy every single month, whether it's buy now, pay later, a car loan, personal debt, credit card debt, you name it. Okay, what I love about this list is this last line, she said, that really sums it all up.

The smartest money you'll ever spend isn't on things that impress others, but on experiences that transform how you feel about your life. And I do think too many people, whether it's consciously or subconsciously, are trying to flex, trying to impress others or make other people happy. And too many of their financial decisions are based on what other people want for them, what other people think they should do, and how it's going to reflect on them if they don't do it. And I think that is a very unhealthy habit to create in your life. So the more you can lean into this, spending on experiences that transform how you feel in the present and in the future, that's a huge win. And so props to Jessica for really

taking the time to make a thoughtful list to help us all think a little more clearly about the way we spend and why we spend. And if you wanted to know more about this, I did write a whole chapter in the book called Spending His Self-Control and Marketing Is Consumorism in my book Breaking Free From Broke, that really break this down to a whole other level. So check that out. I'll drop a link in the description if you want to read more. And all in all, I'd say these are great ways to spend your money. Thank you to Jessica for writing this awesome article. But do not use this as an excuse to spend money you don't have. Don't go, well, George said, I should spend my own experiences. Never use debt to pay for these things. Make sure it's in the budget before you buy two plane tickets

to Seattle so that you and your bestie can do a cold plunge slash marathon after you see Carly Ray Jepson live in concert. That is the ultimate trip, though. Let me just say it out loud. And again, the app that I use to budget and track my expenses is called every dollar. It's a free download, super easy to use. It does the math for you, and you can set up all your line items and goals right there with syncing funds to track your savings over time. So if you want to check it out, click the link in the description, or go to Everydollar.com slash George. And if you want to see me walk through step by step

how to create your first budget, click this video to watch it next or click the link in the description. And if you want to check out that article from Jessica Weiss, I will link that in the description as well. That's it for today. If you enjoyed it, hit those like and subscribe buttons, and share this video with someone you know who could use a little more happiness in their life.

Maybe they can watch this while working through their misnomer. Thanks for watching. We'll see you next time.