Experiences provide more happiness than material goods. That’s why vacations are a good value in terms of happiness-per-dollar spent, says Dr. Amit Kumar, a social psychologist at the University of Chicago, who studies the relationship between money and happiness.
One reason is that people have more of a tendency to talk to their friends and family about experiences than about the things they have purchased, Kumar explained in an article in The New York Times Magazine.
“When people buy an experience, they seem to be buying themselves a story as well,” she said . “So, one way vacations continue to provide hedonic benefits even after they’ve long since passed is because they live on in the stories we tell.”