Study: More Money Really Could Make You Happier
A new study has found that not only can money buy happiness, but the more money a person makes, the happier they may be.
The results conflict with a study from 2010 which found that the more money people make, the happier they feel, but only up to about $75,000 a year. Another study from 2018 found that, across all countries, the ideal average income for life satisfaction is $95,000 a year.
The new study followed participants for seven years, using a smartphone app to collect data from over 33,000 people aged 18 to 65, with incomes of between $10,000 and $625,000 a year. At random times during the day, the app would ask them questions like, "How do you feel right now?" and "Overall, how satisfied are you with your life?"
By asking the questions more than once, at different times on different days, the researchers say they were able to get more accurate information about how people really felt in the moment, and about their lives overall, than in other studies.
The results showed that both how a person felt and how satisfied they were with their life improved as their income increased, even for those making several hundred thousand dollars a year.
Matthew Killingsworth, the study's author, said that one reason for this might be that "when you have more money, you have more choices about how to live your life." However, Killingsworth also said that income is only one of many things that might affect a person's happiness.
