By: Roshawn Watson
Misconceptions about what it means to be rich are abundant. Many often think of jet-setting socialites. Interestingly, rich people do report being more happy than the poor, so it would seem reasonable that the wealthy would spend more time doing pleasurable activity.
However, a recent study by Nobel Laureate behavioral economist Daniel Kahneman found that this is not necessarily the case. He was recently quoted by the Washington Post as saying “being wealthy is often a powerful predictor that people spend less time doing pleasurable things, and more time doing compulsory things and feeling stressed.”
According to Kahneman, a person earning less than $20,000 will spend more than 33% of their than doing leisurely activities (i.e. watching television) whereas those earning greater than $100,000 will spend less than 20% of their time in leisure. “Instead the rich spend more time in leisure activities that were active, structured and often stressful — shopping, child care and exercise.”
My Thoughts
Although this example is interesting, it does NOT seem to prove that the rich are more stressed. It does speak to the fact that the middle-class may be more stressed. Earning a high income is a lot easier for most than building a high net worth, and just because one makes over $100,000 per year does not mean that he or she is anywhere close to rich. I wonder what corrections the authors did for levels of wealth. Are those who generally earn millions per year and have a high net worth more or less likely to have more leisure than the average person making less than $20,000 per year? It is just a guess, but I truly believe the answer would be a lot different than surveying the middle-class or even middle-class millionaires.
Also, I typically do not think of shopping as stressful, except on Black Friday.
I have some reservations about the study’s validity despite it being written by a high-profile researcher and being published in a high profile journal (as you might expect these typically go hand-and-hand).
As the famous old quote goes, “I’ve been rich and I’ve been poor. Believe me, rich is better.”
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