Each year, across North America, millions of graduates are faced with similar decisions about trade-offs between time and money as they plan their next steps. Despite the importance of these choices, we know surprisingly little about how people navigate major life decisions that involve making more money at the expense of having less time, and vice versa.
We asked more than 1,000 college students from the 2015 and 2016 classes of the University of British Columbia in Vancouver whether they generally prioritized time or money more. We then followed up with them within two years of graduation and asked them to report their current happiness, the primary activity that was taking up most of their time (for example, school or work), and the reason they were doing this activity.
What we found was that students who prioritized time were happier than those who prioritized money. Even when we accounted for how happy students were when they started our study, those who valued time were happier and more satisfied with their lives and careers one to two years after graduation.
