THE HAPPINESS PROJECT
Can Money Buy Happiness?
A new study says it can
“Money can’t buy happiness”: How often have you heard that? Why have you heard that? And what is the truth?
You’ve probably heard about the disconnect between money and happiness all your life. “The best things in life are free.” “Money can’t buy you love.” “True happiness comes from within.” Meanwhile, the best things in life include being able to buy healthy food and pay the rent, true happiness doesn’t just bubble up after another 60-hour workweek when you missed your kid’s soccer game again, and I don’t know where that “within” even is.
It’s nonsense. But what could cause your otherwise sane and sensible grandmother or uncle to spout such nonsense?
In the tradition of the best detective shows, let’s follow the money. Let’s ask who benefits from your being convinced that money is not the be-all-and-end-all?
Oh, right. Those for whom money is the be-all-and-end-all, otherwise known as the super-rich. Yeah, those in the top 1 percent, who could not care less about your ability to have a nice place to live, put healthy food on the table, or spend quality time with your kids, much less your happiness. They’re happy to have you in a constant, futile search for happiness while working away for their happiness.
So, what really is the truth about money and happiness?
Two often-quoted research studies contradict each other.
- Results from the first study indicate that more money will bring you more happiness, but only up to somewhere between $60,000 and $90,000 a year.
- The second study found a gradual increase in overall well-being — which is how the scientists define happiness — which increases gradually up to and even beyond $200,000 a year.
Both studies seem to prove that “you can buy happiness.” The first study differs from the second only because you have to add “up to a certain point.”
This brings me to the newest study on happiness, Income, and emotional well-being: A conflict resolved. If you check out the study, reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, you find a lot of charts and graphs and scientific lingo that can be summarized as: If you’re among the 15 percent of us the researchers call unhappy, you are less unhappy with more money. And if you are already happy, you are happier with more money.
We can further summarize this as: Whether you are happy or unhappy, you will be happier with more money.
So, pay no attention to that “money can’t buy happiness” crap. The super-rich know what they’re talking about when they’re talking about money.
