The US economy has experienced some incredible gains over the last 40 years. Our GDP (the size of our economy) has tripled. The S&P 500, when you include reinvested dividends, has risen more than 9,000%. Since the 1980s, average household income in the U.S. has risen by one-third after inflation.

Couple all that tremendous economic growth with the huge advancements we’ve made in health care and technology, and it goes without saying that people are much, much happier today than they were a few decades ago. Right?

Wrong!

According to many surveys and studies, the overall happiness of people in the US has flatlined even as we’ve seen so much improvement in our standard of living and quality of life. The level of financial satisfaction people report has actually dipped a bit, despite the stock market’s long-term upward trajectory.

To be sure, media scare tactics and the 24/7 financial news cycle keep folks more on edge about their money than they need to be. But the data also shows that increased return on investment, in and of itself, doesn’t make people happier or their lives more fulfilling.

On today’s show, we discuss a new way to think about what your money is really for: improving Return on Life. We also debut a brand-new assessment tool on our homepage, the ROL Index, that you can take. Give it a try – I think the results are going to surprise you!