Health, wealth and happiness are the three crucial aspects of living. But which one is the most indispensable of the three?

Ask Richard H. Thaler, the American economist whose guidance is manna to many in the corporate sector, and he’d say ‘proper wealth management is the need of the hour.’

A professor of Behavioural Science and Economics at University of Chicago, Richard and his wife France Leclerc were in Kochi after delivering a talk on economics and psychology at Delhi and Mumbai recently.

Economics and psychology? You may wonder. But the man best known for his book Nudge, a bible on proper choices in wealth management he co-authored with Cass Sunstein, says, “Many of your decisions can be influenced by the exact way you think and many a time it’s just a nudge that you need to put you on the right track.” A theory that has won him many accolades across USA.

Richard, a columnist in New York Times, has also been informal adviser to the Obama administration on several crisis management projects.

This inevitably leads us to a query on the economical downslide that’s gripping the western world. “We sure had a big fall but then we are on the path of recovery which will take some time,” says the economist.

He is now working on a major project to bring in a change in the American society which in general cares less about saving money.

“Contrary to people out here, many in the US don’t save for their retirement and there is a reluctance to join pension schemes,” he says, pointing out one aspect that has made life miserable for many in the US.

“It’s an automatic involvement where I ask them to fill up some forms if they don’t want to join a saving scheme,” says Richard, admiring the beauty of Kochi with his wife France, a shutterbug and former professor at the Chicago University, who chucked her job, all for the love of the camera.

Her second trip to India, France says the movie Slumdog Millionaire opened to them many unknown aspects of India.

Amidst the hustle and bustle of Mumbai, what interested her was the crowd that thronged the VT station, where France waited with bated breath to see something she enjoyed in the movie.

“Each time the crowd swelled, she thought a dance would break out as in the movie,” beams Richard, as he goes on to say that a houseboat ride in Alappuzha proved to be an antidote after visiting the too-saturated city of Mumbai.