In pursuit of happiness

One academic study on happiness has generated a storm of posts ever since it was published in 2014. Look at this recent and this older post. In the abstract of the paper, the authors conclude:

Experiential purchases (money spent on doing) tend to provide more enduring happiness than material purchases (money spent on having) … We argue that waiting for experiences tends to be more positive than waiting for possessions. Four studies demonstrate that people derive more happiness from the anticipation of experiential purchases and that waiting for an experience tends to be more pleasurable and exciting than waiting to receive a material good…Consumers derive value from anticipation, and ... value tends to be greater for experiential than for material purchases.

So, it is not only my imagination - even academic research has proven that accumulating stuff does not make you happy. Therefore, instead of shopping, we should accumulate memories of great times and plan/anticipate new adventures. 

This reminds me of something I read long time ago and cannot find any reference of: an original way of applying a retirement plan in some German companies. These companies allowed their younger employees to take 1-2 years of paid retirement before the actual retirement age. The employees were to compensate the "free time at younger age" by working 1-2 additional years after the usual retirement age. The rationale was simple: people best enjoy their lives when still young and healthy. 

Considering that today most people are not life-long employees of any company, this concept is difficult to apply. But probably we could use a "borrowed" year of social security while still young, and return the borrowed time when we are older? Then we can get away from the crazy routine, and have some time to "smell" the roses, peonies, surf, sea, mountains, or whatever else we fancy. We will also have time to stop and think what to change in our lives in order to avoid the most common regrets on deathbed.