When Americans measure success, they’re not often thinking about their net worth or account balances.

About 59% of polled Americans say that happiness — specifically, the ability to spend money on things that make them happy — is the most important benchmark of success, according to a new report by Empower, a financial services company. Respondents were asked to pick the top three types of success they most valued.

Meanwhile, 35% of respondents pointed to having free time to pursue their interests. The same share cited physical wellbeing.

“Few people view wealth itself” as the best benchmark, said Rebecca Rickert, head of communications at Empower. 

Only 27% believe wealth is the highest measure of success, the report found.

Empower surveyed 2,203 U.S. adults in September.

In the third quarter of the year, almost half of survey respondents agreed with the statement “I am living paycheck to paycheck,” according to a recent report by Bank of America.

An analysis of the bank’s internal data found 26% of households are living paycheck to paycheck. That includes 35% of households earning less than $50,000 a year, and 20% of households earning more than $150,000.

Other factors, including inflation and higher interest rates, have made it more difficult for people to make ends meet. About 35% of polled Americans believe the economy is the top barrier to success, followed by income instability at 30%, the Empower report found. 

Those challenges are inherently “forces that are out of your control,” Rickert said.

But in some ways, “people are their own secret to success,” she said.

Creating a financial plan can help you save for long-term goals and make space in your budget for near-term wants.

“You have to strike a balance,” said Clifford Cornell, a certified financial planner and associate financial advisor at Bone Fide Wealth in New York City.

“It’s great to sock away money for retirement,” a priority in financial planning, he said. “But at the same time, we need to live today. Tomorrow’s not a given.”

Joyful purchases can be as small as going to a coffee shop occasionally instead of making coffee at home, Cornell said.

“For some people, that can almost be medicinal,” he said. “They really enjoy the whole experience.”

Some recommend the 50-30-20 rule, a budget framework that allocates 50% of your income toward essentials like housing, food and utilities, 30% toward “wants” or discretionary spending and the remaining 20% to savings and investments. 

The structure can be a great starting point, but it can be difficult to follow, especially given high costs for expenses like housing and child care. For example, half of renters in the U.S. were “cost burdened” in 2022, meaning they spent more than 30% of their income on rent and utilities, according to the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University.

If a young person is just starting out their career out of college, saving 20% of their income might not be feasible, said Cornell.

“Maybe we’re really stretching the dollar just to get 5% or 10% saved,” he said.

Shaun Williams, private wealth advisor and partner at Paragon Capital Management in Denver, the No. 38 firm on CNBC’s 2024 Financial Advisor 100 List, agreed: “I don’t really like the 50-30-20 rule, and almost no one follows it.”

Instead, figure out a proportion that works best for you and your current financial picture.

Another way to find room in your budget for joyful spending is to take inspiration from “cash stuffing,” which allocates money for expenses into different envelopes. Decide how much you plan to spend on a given activity for a certain time frame, whether that’s a few months or years, and set up a savings account for that goal, Williams said.

For long-term plans, try to think about the kind of lifestyle you want to live and figure out what the needs, the wants and the dreams might cost, said Williams.

Douglas Boneparth, a certified financial planner, agreed with Buffett’s advice to reveal your estate plan.

“These are tough conversations to have, but they’re meaningful and when approached correctly, can strengthen relationships,” said Boneparth, who is the president and founder of Bone Fide Wealth in New York City and a member of CNBC’s Advisor Council.

Your want your children to have realistic expectations about their inheritance, Boneparth said.

“Kids’ imagination can run wild with what they think they should be getting,” he said. As a result, you should be as clear and thorough as possible about who will receive what and why.

People might worry about hurting their kids’ feelings, or hearing from one that they think something is unfair. Well, that’s exactly why you want to discuss it, and not “punt that mess for when you’re not around,” Boneparth said.

In his letter, Buffett recalled that over the years he witnessed “many families driven apart after the posthumous dictates of the will left beneficiaries confused and sometimes angry. Jealousies, along with actual or imagined slights during childhood, became magnified.”

If the inheritance is not split equally between siblings, you’ll want to explain why, Boneparth said. Maybe one child will receive more because another got help with a down payment on a house or attended a far more expensive college, he said. A child with a spending problem might inherit a trust, Boneparth added, in which they receive their bequest in regular installments.

If one child is in a much better financial situation than another, you might explore with the more comfortable one if they’d be OK with you leaving them less, said CFP Carolyn McClanahan, founder of Life Planning Partners in Jacksonville, Florida.

You might ask the well-off child, McClanahan said, “‘Do you really care how I leave our assets? Because your brother is an artist and could use a little more help.'”

“That way that child is not slighted when they actually find out,” she said.

In Buffett’s letter, he writes: “There is nothing wrong with my having to defend my thoughts. My dad did the same with me.”

Buffett’s point that adult children should be invited to weigh in on the will is usually good one, said McClanahan, who is also a member of CNBC’s Advisor Council.

“When you’re creating your estate document, ask your children in advance what’s important to them,” McClanahan said. “That way, you can keep that in mind.”

In rare cases, it’s best for parents to withhold certain information in their will, McClanahan said.

For example, she would recommend a parent be more cautious if a child has exploited them financially. Meanwhile, if a child is irresponsible with jobs or money, learning that they stand to inherit a lot may further erode their work ethic and ambition, McClanahan said.

“If you have children who are not mature, sharing that information can be damaging,” she said, adding that she may recommend clients in these situations write a letter to their children, which they won’t see until after they’ve passed, explaining their estate decisions.

“Every family is different,” McClanahan said. “That’s why there should be no set rule.”

Chip Leighton knows how funny kids can be.

As the creator of “The Leighton Show,” his social media posts, which have collectively been seen more than 250 million times, hilariously highlight some of the texts teenagers send their parents. Many are related to money.

“A mom told me the other day that when she told her teenager that she’d registered for a 401(k) at her new job, the response was ‘How much is that in miles?'”

Leighton, who has two children of his own, receives thousands of messages from parents of teenagers across the country — some of which he uses for content. “There’s definitely a lot of good money ones,” he said.

Often questions are the most basic, from “Do I need to tip the eye doctor?” to “Hey, is the ATM going to be open later?”

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Leighton said it’s not necessarily that kids know less about financial topics today, it’s simply that these questions are more likely documented in a text now.

“I tell parents not to sweat it, but there are a few doozies in there,” he said.

Among other recent queries: “What is generational wealth and why don’t we have it?” and “Do I have a trust fund?” Another classic: “What is my net worth?”

His new book “What Time Is Noon?” covers some of the best — or worst — texts from teenagers.

One section is devoted entirely to money-related topics, often related to a first job or taxes. With no shortage of material, a sequel is likely to follow, he said.

Leighton retired from a corporate career last year. Being a social media content creator is now his full-time second act.

As of 2024, only half of all states require or are in the process of requiring high school students to take a personal finance course before graduating, according to the latest data from Next Gen Personal Finance, a nonprofit focused on providing financial education to middle and high school students.

“In the absence of a national or state-wide strategy to teach youth about personal finance in schools,” there is something to be said for online communities that “openly talk about money and finances,” said Billy Hensley, NEFE’s president and CEO. Hensley is also a member of the CNBC Global Financial Wellness Advisory Board.

However, there should an “overall strategy for your individual financial management,” he said.

Further, students with a financial literacy course under their belt have better average credit scores and lower debt delinquency rates as young adults, according to data from the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority’s Investor Education Foundation, which seeks to promote financial education.

In addition, a 2018 report by the Brookings Institution found that teenage financial literacy is positively correlated with asset accumulation and net worth by age 25.

Among adults, those with greater financial literacy find it easier to make ends meet in a typical month, are more likely to make loan payments in full and on time and less likely to be constrained by debt or be considered financially fragile.

They are also more likely to save and plan for retirement, according to data from the TIAA Institute-GFLEC Personal Finance Index based on research collected annually since 2017.

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