Can spending money with different priorities actually make you more or less happy? Clichés notwithstanding, it seems that it actually can. Social scientists Liz Dunn Michael Norton make a compelling, scientific case for the spending choices we make driving us to or away from greater happiness and satisfaction. This is of course predicated on the idea that spending for basic needs such as food, clothing, shelter, and transportation is well supported by your income or wealth. If you’re hungry, the only thing that’s going to bring greater happiness in the short term is spending on food! We can … [Read more...] about Happy Money
Blog
Risk and Uncertainty
Nearly all business decisions involve elements of both risk and uncertainty. This is just the nature of predicting the future course of events. They are not the same thing, but how do you identify which is which and how do you move forward, knowing that there is an element of both present? The basic distinction between these two features is this: in predicting the outcome of a decision, how much information can be known beforehand, and how much of that information do you know? If you know most of the data points, then you are dealing primarily with risk. If you do not know most of the data … [Read more...] about Risk and Uncertainty
Opportunity Cost
Operating a private practice, or any private business, means that you as the owner are frequently faced with choices about how best to spend your resources, money and time. Most of the time, you will not have a complete set of information about how to best decide. Analyzing the opportunity costs of any decision will help you prioritize and make a wise decision more likely. What is opportunity cost? This concept is rooted in the self-evident and simple idea that you are operating with finite resources. This may be time, money, access to capital, people, etc. But, none of … [Read more...] about Opportunity Cost
Facts and Interpretations
Confusing Facts and Interpretations is a common and time-honored way of acting in a way that will later be thought of as a judgment error. Sometimes it’s not so easy to tell these things apart and sometimes it’s not so easy to defer action until you are sure your interpretation is right. Developing these two skills is an important part of being a business owner and/or manager, so let’s look at a few features. Fact v. Interpretation A fact is something that has been shown by proof or repeated observation to be true and is not dependent on the context or the messenger. It’s … [Read more...] about Facts and Interpretations