Buying overpriced indulgences may feel good in the short term, but you pay the price later. Or at least that’s the conventional wisdom.

But a study by a couple of business-school professors says splurging now makes you happier later. Even more surprising: Not splurging now gives you pangs of regret later.

Anat Keinan, an assistant professor at Harvard Business School, and Ran Kivetz, a professor of marketing at Columbia Business School, make their case for the vice lifestyle in an article in the Harvard Business Review.

One of their studies polled college students and alumni on the subject of spring breaks. Regret about not having spent more money or traveling during breaks increased with time, whereas regret about not having worked, studied, or saved money during breaks decreased with time.

The authors write: “We saw a similar pattern in a study of how businesspeople perceived past choices between work and pleasure. Over time, those who had indulged felt less and less guilty about their choices, whereas those who had been dutiful experienced a growing sense of having missed out on the pleasures of life.” (As the old saying goes, nobody dies saying “I wish I’d spent more time at the office.”)

The authors also did a study of mall shoppers, asking about their regret about buying an expensive item of clothing. Those who anticipated short-term regret bought less-expensive items, while those who anticipated long-term regret splurged. “Thinking about short-term regret drives consumers to be virtuous, while thinking about long-term regret leads them to be extravagant,” the authors write.

Luxury-goods makers, of course, will eat this up. I can see the slogan now: “Luxury: It’s Good for Life.” Or “Cartier: You’ll be sorry you didn’t.” Whether luxury is good for your finances is another matter. (Nobody goes bankrupt saying “I wish I’d spent more on Gucci bags).

Wealth Report readers, what do you think? Do the long-term benefits of indulgence outweigh the short-term risks of regret?

出手闊綽地購(gòu)買奢侈品，短期內(nèi)可能你的自我感覺(jué)還不錯(cuò)，可好景不長(zhǎng)，不久后你就會(huì)為自己的一擲千金付出代價(jià)。果真如此嗎？也許這只是傳統(tǒng)看法。

幾位商學(xué)院教授進(jìn)行的研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，當(dāng)下?lián)]金如土能增加你日后的幸福感。還有更意想不到的研究結(jié)果：如果現(xiàn)在不奢侈一把，往后會(huì)令你追悔莫及。

哈佛大學(xué)商學(xué)院(Harvard Business School)助理教授阿奈特•凱南(Anat Keinan)與哥倫比亞大學(xué)商學(xué)院(Columbia Business School)營(yíng)銷學(xué)教授瑞恩•科維茨(Ran Kivetz)在《哈佛商業(yè)評(píng)論》(Harvard Business Review)的一篇文章中證明了這一“墮落”生活方式的確有如此功效。

他們就春假的話題對(duì)在校大學(xué)生和畢業(yè)的校友進(jìn)行了調(diào)查。調(diào)查發(fā)現(xiàn)，對(duì)于在春假期間未能花掉更多錢或是未能出門旅游的受訪者，他們的后悔情緒隨著時(shí)間的推移與日俱增，而那些當(dāng)初后悔沒(méi)能在假期好好工作、學(xué)習(xí)或是存錢的人，這種感覺(jué)則隨著時(shí)間慢慢淡化。

凱南和科維茨在文章中寫道：我們?cè)谘芯可虅?wù)人士如何看待自己過(guò)去在工作和娛樂(lè)之間作出的選擇時(shí)也有類似發(fā)現(xiàn)。隨著日子一天天過(guò)去，那些曾經(jīng)沉溺于吃喝玩樂(lè)的生意人，他們的負(fù)罪感會(huì)越來(lái)越弱；而那些一直兢兢業(yè)業(yè)工作的人，他們心中因失去享受生活樂(lè)趣而產(chǎn)生的后悔感會(huì)越變?cè)綇?qiáng)。還記得那句老話嗎？沒(méi)有哪個(gè)即將離世之人會(huì)說(shuō)出“我希望能再加加班”這樣的話。

兩位作者還對(duì)商場(chǎng)購(gòu)物者的心理進(jìn)行了研究，詢問(wèn)他們購(gòu)買一件價(jià)格不菲的衣服后的后悔情緒。結(jié)果表明，那些覺(jué)得自己短期內(nèi)會(huì)后悔的人買下了價(jià)位適中的衣服，而認(rèn)為自己很長(zhǎng)時(shí)間后會(huì)后悔的購(gòu)物者則出手大方。他們寫道：前一種情緒刺激了消費(fèi)者的節(jié)約動(dòng)機(jī)，而后一種情緒則將購(gòu)物者推向奢侈浪費(fèi)。

當(dāng)然，奢侈品廠家對(duì)人們的這種心理也是諳熟于心。我可以想像這樣的標(biāo)語(yǔ)：“奢侈品：有益人生”，或是“卡地亞：不擁有它將是你的憾事”。不過(guò)奢侈品是否有助于你的財(cái)務(wù)狀況，這一問(wèn)題就另當(dāng)別論了。（沒(méi)有人會(huì)在破產(chǎn)時(shí)說(shuō)“我真后悔沒(méi)多買幾個(gè)古奇包”。）

讀者們，你們?cè)趺纯矗可莩迬��?lái)的長(zhǎng)期益處會(huì)讓你甘于承擔(dān)短期后悔的風(fēng)險(xiǎn)嗎？