From Aeon: While research shows that having financial resources contributes to our happiness and satisfaction, borrowing money and being in debt add to our dissatisfaction and stress.
“To drill down deeper, our team analysed a large sample of college students and the impact of their student loans on subjective wellbeing. Much of what we found seemed self-evident: if a debt felt manageable, it was less damaging to an individualâs sense of wellbeing than if the debt felt overwhelming. A personâs sense of wellbeing varied with the source of the borrowed funds. Money borrowed from people or places charging less interest or offering more flexibility â subsidised student loans, for instance â results in less stress than money borrowed from financial institutions with exorbitant interest rates and no forgiveness policies. The emotional toll taken by debt varied with the degree to which an individual had other financial resources…”
