So this is the last episode of our season.

這是我們這季的最後一集。

And it turns out, we have some extra money in the budget, and I want to spend that money on myself.

結果，我們的預算剩下一些額外的錢，而我想將這些錢花在自己身上。

So for this episode, we're going to figure out how a person, in this case, me, can spend money to increase their own happiness.

所以對於這一集，我們要弄清楚一個人，在這種情況下，就是我，如何花錢來增加自己的幸福感。

Now I know what you're thinking, "Money can't buy happiness." And you're right.

我知道你們在想：「金錢買不到快樂。」 而你是對的。

Sort of.

一部分是啦。

Studies have found that while having more money greatly affects the happiness for people living in poverty,

研究發現，雖然擁有更多的錢會極大地影響貧困人口的幸福感，

once someone earns around $75,000 a year, the amount of happiness they get from additional funds flattens out.

一旦一個人的年收入約為 75,000 美元，他們從額外金錢中獲得的幸福感就會變得平淡。

So someone who makes on average $200,000 a year isn't necessarily that much happier than somebody who makes a middle-class salary, like me.

因此，平均年薪 20 萬美元的人不一定比像我這樣的中產階級薪水的人快樂得多。

So it's kind of unbelievable to hear that, you know, me doubling my salary wouldn't make me any happier.

所以聽到這個消息有點難以置信，我的薪水翻倍竟然不會讓我更快樂。

But while more money doesn't necessarily mean more happiness, how we spend our money does.

但是，雖然更多的錢並不一定意味著更多的幸福，但我們花錢的方式會帶來影響。

And like any good reporter, I did a Google search, and watched a TED Talk on happiness by this man, Dr. Robert Waldinger.

跟其他優秀的記者一樣，我用谷歌進行搜索，並觀看了 Robert Waldinger 博士關於幸福的 TED 演講。

He's the director of the Harvard Study of Adult Development, a study that started in 1938, and continues until this day,

他是哈佛成人發展研究的主任，這項研究始於 1938 年，一直持續到今天，

making it possibly the longest study of human happiness ever to have been conducted.

可能是迄今為止對人類幸福進行的最長研究。

We found that many of the things we expect to predict well-being do, like taking care of yourself, taking care of your health, not smoking, not abusing alcohol, okay, exercising.

我們發現我們期望預測幸福的許多事情都會做，比如照顧好自己、照顧好自己的健康、不吸煙、不酗酒、運動。

But the surprise was that the quality of our relationships with other people actually keeps us healthier and keeps us alive longer.

但令人驚訝的是，我們與他人的關係品質實際上讓我們更健康，讓我們活得更久。

So we looked at their cholesterol, we looked at their blood pressure at age 50, and we looked at their marital satisfaction.

所以我們觀察了他們的膽固醇，我們觀察了他們 50 歲時的血壓，我們觀察了他們的婚姻滿意度。

And what we found was that their marital satisfaction was by far the strongest predictor of what they were gonna be like when they were 80.

我們發現，他們的婚姻滿意度是迄今為止最能預測他們 80 歲時會是什麼樣子的指標。

Happiest marriages at 50, predicted better health and happiness at age 80.

50 歲時擁有幸福快樂的婚姻預示著 80 歲時會有更好的健康和幸福。

But to be able to predict across 30 years, that's a big deal, that begins to get at causation.

但要能夠預測 30 年後的事情，這是一件大事，要找到因果關係。

So relationships, it's like exercise in a way, you don't just do it one week, and then you're done, right?

所以與人之間的關係，在某種程度上就像運動，你不會只做一個星期，然後你就完成了，對吧？

That relationships have to be tended to.

與人之間的關係是需要被細心照料的。

So your marriage, your friendships, they take work, they take constant attention over time, or they wither away.

所以你的婚姻，你的友誼，它們需要付出努力，它們會隨著時間的推移而不斷受到關注，或者它們會消失。

So how can I buy good relationships?

那麼如何才能買到好的人際關係呢？

Well, you can't, but, but, that is a question you should ask of the researchers who actually study this.

你不能，但是，這是你應該向實際研究這個的研究人員提出的問題。

Luckily, these researchers also had TED Talks.

很幸運的是，這些調查員也有在 TED 上演講。

And have been focusing on that very question: How spending our money affects our happiness?

並且一直專注於這個問題，也就是「花錢如何影響我們的幸福感？」

The reason why I believe it's actually very interesting to study spending is because it's so ubiquitous,

我認為研究支出實際上非常有趣的原因是因為它無處不在，

we all spend and we all actually have a lot of control over our spending.

我們都在花錢，實際上我們都對自己的開支有很大的控制權。

We are going to spend some of our money because we have to, and are we really thinking about spending it in ways that might actually make us happy?

我們會花一些錢，因為我們必須這樣做，我們是否真的以可能讓我們快樂的方式在花錢呢？

And if yes, what can we learn as researchers to help people?

如果是的話，作為研究人員，我們能學到什麼來幫助人們？

So there's a lot of methodology and findings that come from research done by people like Sandra and Michael, but I wanted to boil down some of the biggest takeaways.

從 Sandra 和 Michael 這樣的人所做的研究中發現很多方法和研究結果，但我想總結一些最大的收穫。

First off, and this shouldn't come as a surprise, but spend money on building social relationships.

首先，雖然這不足為奇，但是要花錢建立社會關係。

Though there is built into our close relationships this element of reciprocity, of giving back and forth,

儘管在我們的親密關係中，這種互惠、回饋的元素，

What we're trying to do in our research is say, you can do more of it, actually.

我們在研究中試圖做的其實就是你可以做更多的事情。

So it's probably not useful to give someone $5 and say, "Will you be a closer friend of mine?" because that's not how it works.

因此，給某人 5 美元然後說：「你願意成為我更親密的朋友嗎？」可能沒有用，因為事情不是這樣發展的。

But it does work to say, "Hey, I really like you, and I'd like to take you out to lunch."

但是說：「嘿，我真的很喜歡你，我想帶你出去吃午飯。」確實有效。

So if you buy coffee, maybe you might want to spend it on buying coffee for yourself and your friend.

所以如果你買咖啡，也許你可能想把它花在為自己和朋友買的咖啡上。

Because we know that if you spend it on someone else, you also gain greater happiness.

因為我們知道，如果你把錢花在別人身上，你也會獲得更大的幸福。

The next big point is to spend more money on experiences and less on things.

下一個重點是在體驗上花更多的錢，而在事情上花更少的錢。

Tom Gilovich and his colleagues at Cornell, for about a decade now, have been doing research showing that, on average, buying stuff for yourself doesn't do much for your happiness.

Tom Gilovich 和他在康奈爾大學的同事們大約十年來一直在做的研究表明，平均而言，為自己買東西對你的幸福沒有多大幫助。

But buying experiences seems to make us happier.

但花錢在體驗上似乎讓我們更快樂。

What we see when it comes to actually buying material goods versus experiences is that when we buy our second watch, for example, we might get the spike in happiness,

在實際購買東西與體驗時，我們看到的是，例如，當我們購買第二塊手錶時，我們可能會獲得幸福感，

but at some point, this, actually, this effect of happiness goes away.

但在某個程度上，這種幸福的影響實際上消失了。

And to some extent, we might even regret at some point spending, investing that much money.

在某種程度上，我們甚至可能會後悔在某個時候花了那麼多錢。

Whereas if we have experiences, we can go to a concert, there's this effect of anticipated happiness, and we look forward to going to the concert for two weeks, even like building up to the experience.

而如果我們有經驗，我們可以去聽音樂會，有這種預期的幸福的效果，我們期待著去聽兩週的音樂會，甚至像積累經驗一樣。

And then after the experience, we can always go back to it.

而在這個體驗過後，我們還是可以再回味。

So we have a memory of the experience.

我們在這個體驗裡得到回憶。

We might even share it with friends, come back to it every once in a while, you know, when we get together for a fun night.

我們甚至可以與朋友分享它，當大家聚在一起度過一個有趣的夜晚時，偶爾回想。

And finally, if you've been thinking, "I do want that Apple Watch, and I know it would make me happy," then good, buy it, you should know what makes you happy.

最後，如果你一直在想：「我確實想要那隻 Apple Watch，而且我知道它會讓我開心。」那麼好啊，買它吧，你應該知道什麼會讓你開心。

If people manage to spend their money in a way that is aligned with their own psychological needs and preferences as reflected by their personality, that seems to be making people happier.

如果人們設法以符合他們個性所反映的心理需求和偏好的方式花錢，那似乎會讓人們更快樂。

If I'm an extrovert, I might be better off spending my money on going out with friends, kind of, having a very social time, spending it on exciting stuff.

如果我是一個外向的人，我最好把錢花在和朋友一起出去玩，有一個社交的時間，把它花在令人開心的事情上。

Versus like a friend of mine who's probably more introverted, what they could do instead is spend it on things that improve their quality me time, so to say.

與可能更內向的朋友相比，他們可以做的就是把時間花在提升他們與自己相處的事情上。

The first thing that we recommend that people do is literally do an audit of your spending.

我們建議大家要做的第一件事就是對審視支出。

And what's important to you is completely up to you, so I can't say these are the things that should be important to you in life, but you know the things that are important to you in life.

而對你來說，重要的事情完全取決於你，所以我不能對你指點哪些是生活中對你重要的事情，但你自己應該要知道生活中對你重要的事情。

And typically, when you look at your spending in this way, you say, "Wow, I should really shift some money from that big category over to this big category."

通常，當你以這種方式審視自己的支出時，你會說：「哇，我真的應該將一些錢花在別的類別上。」

So to recap the big takeaways, in order to spend money to get happiness, first off, know yourself.

所以總結一下，為了要花錢得到幸福，首先必須先了解自己。

Are you an introvert, an extrovert? How do you want to spend your money?

你是個性內向還是個性外向的人？你想要如何使用你的錢？

Second, use your money to build social relationships.

第二，使用你的錢去建立社交關係。

And third, put an emphasis on experiences over things.

第三，將重點放在經驗而不是物品上。

So if I were to analyze myself for my money, if I'm getting the best return,

所以如果我要分析自己的花費是否得到最好的回報，

I am a person who loves my family and I love sharing experiences with them around food.

我是一個愛家的人我喜歡和他們一起分享美食經驗，

So I'm thinking I will spend that extra budget money, you know, for the purposes of the show, to take my mom with me to Italy and we have some fantastic meals.

所以為了節目，我想我會將額外的預算資金用於帶我媽媽一起去義大利，我們可以享受大餐。

What are we looking at? Yeah, it's--

我們來看一下，這——

So, it turns out we got like $35.20 left in the budget, so...

結果我們的預算只剩下 35.20 美元，所以...

Hey, Mom, do you want to go to the Olive Garden tonight?

嘿媽，妳今晚想要去 Olive Garden 吃飯嗎？（Olive Garden 為美國的義大利料理餐廳）