Despite the old saying to the contrary, there is evidence that money can indeed buy happiness. A new study reveals that individuals with extremely high net worth are “substantially and statistically significantly happier” than even those with incomes exceeding $500,000 per year.
The analysis – conducted by Matt Killingsworth, a senior researcher at the Wharton School in Pennsylvania – challenged not only the traditional belief that money is not directly correlated with happiness but also a commonly cited statistic that happiness levels off at a certain income threshold.
“The difference between wealthy participants and those with average incomes was nearly three times greater than the difference between average and low-income participants, contradicting the idea that middle-income individuals are close to the peak of the financial happiness curve,” Killingsworth wrote.
Perhaps somewhat counterintuitively, the happiness gap between average and wealthy participants in the study was, in fact, larger than the difference between average and low-income individuals.
In previous analyses, Killingsworth partially attributed this difference to the diminished control associated with having less wealth.
“When you have more money, you have more options about how to live your life. You probably saw this during the pandemic. People living paycheck to paycheck who lose their jobs have to take the first available job to stay afloat, even if it’s one they don’t like,” he told PennToday in 2021.
“People with a financial ‘cushion’ can wait for one that is more suitable. In all decisions, big and small, having more money gives a person more options and a greater sense of autonomy.”
In summary, according to the study, the more money you have, the happier you will be.
Source: Quartz