We may say that money does not buy happiness, sociological studies tend to prove the opposite: an increase in wealth seems to be associated with an increase in well-being. But if money brings happiness, how much do you have to earn to be happy? If you answer “as much as possible”, you will be surprised…
Studies conducted over the past twenty years have clearly established that: money makes happinessbut only up to a point!
Researchers have tried to accurately assess the position of this point. How much ringing and stumbling does a person need to be happy? Until then, the answer seemed obvious: as much as possible!
does money buy happiness ?
If money makes you happy, does more money make you happier? Is there a clear correlation between well-being and income? Or is there a blocking level where earning extra income no longer increases the level of happiness?
In a 2010 study, Daniel Kahneman, a psychologist, and Sir Angus DeatonNobel Prize in Economics in 2015, had found that after a certain ceiling (near in the United States of $75,000 per year), the feeling of happiness reaches a kind of plateau.
Happiness costs more to women
In a more recent meta-study, a group of American psychologists from Indiana and Virginia Universities analyzed data collected with 1.7 million people worldwide between 2005 and 2016 by theGallup polling institute.
As expected, the analysis showed that people in rich countries needed more money to be happy than those in poor countries. It also revealed that in all regions of the world, it is believed that there is an “ideal income” beyond which people believe that the quality of life no longer increases.
On average, the ideal level of income (the annual salary of a person) is thus estimated at $95,000 per year to be able to make all your dreams come true and between $60,000 and $75,000 to be simply happy in life.
Scholars have nonetheless established notable gender differences when looking at the global average, happiness seems to cost less for men ($90,000) than for women ($100,000). It is also lower for people without a diploma ($70,000) than for those with a high level of education ($115,000).
Money brings happiness… but only up to a point!
Another lesson from this study is that people around the world have a notion of an income ceiling which, if exceeded, reduces feelings of happiness individuals. For what reasons ?
The desire to be rich necessarily requires hard work. And, perverse effect, the increase in wealth entails the desire to amass always more.
This creates a vicious circle: the more you want to earn, the more requirements you have to meet, the longer it takes and the less time you can allow yourself to enjoy and have positive experiences. According to those interviewed, materialistic values fuel competition between individuals and cause lower quality of life.
Money brings happiness but only up to a point. So there would be an income threshold beyond which the individual can no longer do what is essential to fuel the feeling of happiness: spending time with loved ones, escaping stress, taking care of their health, enjoying free time and simply enjoying small pleasures of life.
No limit?
A study published in January 2021 by Matthew Killingsworth from the University of Pennsylvania seems to challenge this tipping point. The academic sought to determine whether the level of happiness increases with income. It sent the same question to respondents every day via a mobile app.
The question ” how are you feeling right now? was asked randomly during the day to the 33,000 participants who had to choose an answer varying between “very badly” and “very well”. The data was then cross-referenced with the income level of the respondents.
Conclusion: the feeling of well-being felt by an individual increases according to his income, and, in the sample studied in any case, there seem to be no limits. The more you earn, the richer you are, the happier you are. It’s almost sad…
