How the Wealthy Spend Their Time and Whether It Influences Life Satisfaction and Happiness

Who do you think is more satisfied with their life: someone who’s extremely wealthy such as Bill Gates or someone who receives an average salary?

Many people would assume Bill Gates just because of the opportunities his money can provide for him such as vacationing in expensive, private, beautiful places for example. However, a 2019 study in the Netherlands suggests that life satisfaction is determined by how wealthy individuals like Gates spend their time.

In this edition of Consumer Behavior Insights, we dive into this question of who has a higher life satisfaction (wealthy or not wealthy individuals) by focusing on the 2019 study by Paul Smeets of Maastricht University, Ashley Whillans of Harvard Business School, Rene Bekkers of Vrije University, and Michael Norton of Harvard Business School.

This study explores whether wealthy individuals spend their time in happier ways compared to the general population by examining daily time use and job autonomy in two parts.

Methodology: Wealth and Life Satisfaction

Study 1: Daily Time Use of Millionaires and the General Population. The first study focused on daily life and how millionaires and the general population spend their time to see if that impacts life satisfaction.

In the Netherlands, 1,232 adults answered two questions:

How would you rate your satisfaction with life in general on a scale from 1 to 10?
How did you spend your time on various activities within the last 24 hours (in minutes)?

The researchers classified responses as active leisure, passive leisure, necessities, work and commuting, eating, time on the phone, time on the computer, or other. By definition, active leisure activities use mental or physical energy while participating in recreational activities, often outside of your home. In this study, active leisure refers to praying, socializing, intimate relations, exercise, hobbies, and volunteering. Passive leisure, on the other hand, is activities involving using little to no physical or mental energy and is usually done by oneself. In this study, this included watching TV, napping, resting, relaxing, or not doing anything. Necessity activities are activities important to everyday life like childcare, shopping, cooking, chores around the house. It’s important to note that in this first part of the experiment, wealth was defined as the total net assets excluding one’s home.

In summary, wealthy participants reported greater life satisfaction compared to the general population. Time spent on active leisure positively correlated with life satisfaction, whereas passive activities had a negative correlation. Results showed similar results between how the wealthy spend their time and the general population. However, the wealthy spent more time on active (socializing) leisure activities and less on passive (napping) than the general population. Although non-wealthy participants also spent time on leisure activities, they spent it differently. In addition, in both working and retired groups, wealthy individuals reported working more.

Study 2: Job Autonomy. There were 690 participants that partook in the second study, which explored whether wealthy people have greater job autonomy. Job autonomy is the flexibility and control one has in their work environment. Compared to study 1, this experiment defines wealth as net assets including the value of their homes. Participants were prompted with the same life satisfaction questions above but also reported how many hours they worked yesterday and what percentage of those hours they decided what to do versus being told what to do by someone else.

The results of study 2 suggest that there is greater autonomy for wealthy individuals. Among all of the employed participants, everyone reported eight hours of work, but the wealthy participants reported having more job autonomy. Additionally, wealthy participants reported higher life satisfaction.

Results and Implications of Wealth and Happiness on Consumer Behavior

Overall, this study suggests that wealthy individuals are more satisfied with their life compared to the general population. However, the researchers believe this is because wealthy individuals spend more time in active leisure activities. This relationship is supported by the positive correlation found in the study between active leisure and life satisfaction.

Gates might be happier than the general population, but because he spends his free time in active leisure activities—like playing tennis, bridge, and touring unusual locations with his son.

Your Pop Neuro Consumer Behavior Insights:

Wealthy individuals report being more satisfied with their life
There’s a correlation between spending time in active leisurely activities and life satisfaction
Wealthy participants reported spending more time in active leisurely activities

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References

A look at Bill Gates’ daily routine—Business Insider. (n.d.). Retrieved October 22, 2020, from https://www.businessinsider.com/bill-gates-daily-routine-2017-8#while-spending-time-with-his-family-is-gates-favorite-past-time-he-also-enjoys-playing-bridge-on-the-weekends-15

Smeets, P., Whillans, A., Bekkers, R., & Norton, M. I. (2020). Time Use and Happiness of

Millionaires: Evidence From the Netherlands. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 11(3), 295–307. https://doi.org/10.1177/1948550619854751

The 3 Types of Active Leisure (& How They Can Help Your Mental Health). (n.d.). Retrieved October 7, 2020, from https://blogs.psychcentral.com/your-mind/2020/06/the-3-types-of-active-leisure-how-they-can-help-your-mental-health/