The findings in the Princeton study suggest that, to some extent, happiness has less to do with how much money people make than with how they compare to others. ... Beyond that point, though, working more hours makes people less happy, probably because it takes time away from other activities they enjoy.
You know the phrase: money can't buy happiness. It turns out, that's not entirely true. Money can buy a certain degree of life satisfaction, depending on how much wealth you have and how you spend it. Research shows that emotional well-being rises along with income, up to a point.
2010 study: money doesn't buy happiness after $75,000
The study found that money did have an impact for how people evaluate their lives when they think about it; that people with more money feel better about their lives. ... Beyond that, people were no happier with higher salaries.
Researchers have learned that earning more than $75K a year does, in fact, make you happier. More than 10 years ago, researchers suggested that money can buy happiness, and that it costs about $75,000 a year.
THE Easterlin paradox, named for economist Richard Easterlin, reckons that higher incomes do not necessarily make people happier. Moving from rich to richer seems to raise happiness just as much as moving from poor to less poor. ...
You can easily spend money on others.
Studies have also suggested that people generally feel happier when they spend money on others, rather than spending on themselves.
Mainly Because Good Looks Help Them Get Rich. Beauty is the path to happiness—by way of money. ... Now, researchers have reached the conclusion that beautiful people are happier, and a big reason why they're happier is that they have more money: “Personal beauty raises happiness,” says Hamermesh.
Americans earning more than $85,000 a year are happier than those who earn less. A study in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that the more you earn, the happier you are. Previous research found that happiness plateaued when earning $75,000 a year.
As they wrote, respondents with "a net worth of roughly $10 million or more--reported greater happiness than those with a net worth of 'only' $1 million or $2 million. The effect is significant, but small, with the very wealthy roughly [0.25 points] happier on a 10-point scale.
How Money Affects Happiness. ... There is a strong correlation between wealth and happiness, the authors say: “Rich people and nations are happier than their poor counterparts; don't let anyone tell you differently.” But they note that money's impact on happiness isn't as large as you might think.
However, there are many invaluable things money can't buy.
Make time for friends. Spending time with friends may promote greater happiness than spending time with family, at least according to a recent study. For the study, researchers used an app called the Mappiness app to determine how much happier people were when they were with their friends, parents, and children.
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