Live for today. Plan for tomorrow. Join us at an estate-planning seminar.

Chart of the Day: Bronze Happier Than Silver

Samuel A. Kiburz, Senior Vice President, Chief Investment Officer Feb 18, 2025

Graph showing the happiness level of Olympic bronze (red) and silver medalists (yellow) on a scale of 1 (lowest) to 10 (highest)

Today’s Chart of the Day has data from the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology used by our partners at BlackRock (the company that owns iShares) for a presentation they recently provided to our clients. It shows the happiness levels for Olympic bronze medal versus silver medal winners on a rating of 1 being the lowest to 10 being the happiest.

Interestingly, the bronze winner scored 7.1 on the happiness meter while the silver winner only scored 4.8, which illustrates the concept of “regret of what could have been.” The silver winner feels that if they had just performed a little better, they would have won the gold, while the bronze medalist is simply grateful to be on the podium.

This can also relate to investing since investors often look back and kick themselves wishing “if I only had invested in stock XYZ” versus finding happiness in achieving one's goals (making it the podium) by being patient and prudent over the long run.

Chart of the Day

About the Author

Samuel A. Kiburz, Senior Vice President, Chief Investment Officer

Samuel serves as Senior Vice President, Chief Investment Officer for the Crews family of banks. He manages the individual investment holdings of his clients, including individuals, families, foundations, and institutions throughout the State of Florida. Samuel has been involved in banking since 1996 and has more than 20 years experience working in wealth management.

Investments are not a deposit or other obligation of, or guaranteed by, the bank, are not FDIC insured, not insured by any federal government agency, and are subject to investment risks, including possible loss of principal.