MONEY can buy you happiness after all – but only if you spend it on other people.
Researchers have found those who lavish friends and family with gifts and donate to charity are happier than those who spend on themselves.
Great Scottish philanthropists such as Sir Tom Hunter and Andrew Carnegie are among those likely to have be
nefited from such feelings of happiness with their multi-million pound charitable donations.
Yesterday, Sir Tom backed the findings, and said: "I have never had as much fun in my life as when I invested in the common good."
The research, published in the journal Science, found people experience greater happiness if they spend their money "pro- socially" – on gifts for others or charitable donations.
Lead researcher Professor Elizabeth Dunn, from the University of British Columbia (UBC), said: "We wanted to test our theory that how people spend their money is at least as important as how much they earn."
The researchers, from UBC and Harvard Business School, looked at a sample of 630 people who were asked to rate their general happiness.
This was then compared with their annual income and a breakdown of their monthly spending, including bills, gifts for themselves, gifts for others and donations to charity.
Prof Dunn said: "Regardless of how much income each person made, those who spent money on others reported greater happiness, while those who spent more on themselves did not."
The researchers also looked at levels of happiness among employees of a firm in Boston before and after they received their profit-sharing bonus, ranging between $3,000 (£1,500) and $8,000 (£4,000).
Prof Dunn said happiness was not affected so much by the size of the bonus, but how the money was spent.
Staff who devoted more of their bonus to gifts for others or towards charity consistently reported greater benefits than those who spent the money on their own needs.
In another experiment, the researchers gave volunteers either $5 or $20, telling them to spend the money either on themselves or others. Those who spent the cash on others reported feeling happier than those who spent the money on themselves.
Prof Dunn said: "These findings suggest very minor alterations in spending may be enough to produce real gains in happiness on a given day."
However, Sheila Panchal, a psychologist, said people did not necessarily have to spend money to get the same benefits from giving: "You could give your time or emotional support. It is about the act of giving – that does not mean it always has to be in financial terms.
"Giving is a two-way positive emotion because it makes both the giver and receiver feel good. It is a win-win situation."
Ms Panchal said such research should encourage people to give to others however they could.
She added: "It does not have to be big things. It could be small things like holding a door open for someone. It is small acts of kindness, where you put someone else before yourself."
THE GREAT GIVEAWAYGIVING huge sums of money to others is commonplace for many.
Singer Sir Elton John has donated time and money to fighting Aids, while Microsoft chairman Bill Gates has given billions for causes to help developing countries.
Last year, Margie Moffat became one of Scotland's leading philanthropists by giving £50 million to charity.
She helped set up the travel agency AT Mays.
The full article contains 580 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
