While different things make people happy, Housel argues that everyone wants to have freedom and independence. Housel cites psychologist Angus Campbell, who found that happy people of very different educational, financial, and geographical backgrounds all had a good sense of control over their lives. Housel argues that the best aspect of accruing wealth is the freedom it can give you. For example, having savings may enable small things such as sick days, being able to leave a stressful job, or taking a longer job search to find the right position, or enjoying a more comfortable retirement. For Housel, this freedom is considerably more important than buying material things. He writes, “Using your money to buy time and options has a lifestyle benefit few luxury goods can compete with” (79, emphasis added).

Housel examines the paradox between Americans’ growing wealth and quality of life with the fact that most Americans report feeling more stress and worry than citizens from other countries. Housel claims, “Part of what’s happened here is that we’ve used our greater wealth to buy bigger and better stuff. But we’ve simultaneously given up more control over our time. At best, those things cancel each other out” (81, emphasis added).