There are things that you need. Without those, you’d likely be in a miserable shape. You need a roof over you. Being homeless would likely make you extremely unhappy. You need a way to keep yourself warm when it’s cold, and cool when it’s hot. You need to eat a minimum amount of calories everyday. It’s almost always a good idea to spend money on whatever you need. I am willing to bet that the majority of the happiness you feel stems from fulfilling your needs.
There are things that you want. May be it’s a new phone. May be you want two cars instead of one. But there are certainly somethings that you want, but not really need. These could act as short-term happiness boosters. But usually these wants will not make a significant contribution towards your long-term happiness.
There are things that you like. May be you would really like a new carpet in your living room. Or a more pleasing work-station. Your likes probably also make contributions towards your short-term happiness. But probably not so much towards the long-term one.
There are things that you love. These are the things that you’d love to do if you had a large amount of resources whether time or money. May be you love travelling so much that for the ease of travel you’re willing to throw $100,000 on a better travel document. May be you really wanted to see the northern lights. May be, you want to travel twice every year for as long as you’re alive.
I’ve come to a realization that the kind of happiness that money can buy is often found in two things that are farthest from each other on our quadrant; need & love. Your happiness is either stemmed in the basics, or probably in the extravaganza. Everything in between is probably not worth your money.