Money can buy you happiness, says study suggesting more is more
Money can buy you happiness, says study suggesting more is more
Data shows happiness gap between wealthy and middle-income people wider than between middle- and low-income ones
Data shows happiness gap between wealthy and middle-income people wider than between middle- and low-income ones.
I’ve always thought the most important delineator was to have enough money that you don’t need to worry about money. I’m sure that line is somewhere between the middle income group and the wealthy. Those middle income people are definitely still worried about expenses.
A friend and I were talking and they mentioned different levels of "worry about money". First level is that you don't really worry about grocery costs. Second is you don't worry about the price of a meal out. Third is you don't worry about the cost of vacation. Fourth is you don't worry about the cost of luxury.
Yeah I’m middle income. I don’t have to worry about eating out if I keep it remotely under control. But I have to worry about retiring and other serious finances
I think that’s sort of what the article references at the end. Who knows which is true?
People who don't have to worry about money, one of the biggest stressors in the average persons life, are happier?
😲
Who knew!?
If you can't buy happiness you can certainly buy your way out of a lot of unhappiness.
Instead of more is more I think that enough is enough.
I make a good income, I could work harder to change jobs and make even more money, but there's no point to it anymore, I'm now focused on my friends and activities that make me happy.
I work in this area of research. The issue is the headline findings from all of these studies will get reported and people will comment on how it's obvious or offer their own explanation. The truth is that it's a very technical / stats heavy field with a lot of the results depending on the assumptions you make and how you treat the data. The results then have to be qualified with 'there is a positive relationship, given x y and z'. But of course that's usually too complicated to report so all of those details get omitted, and all we are left with is a simple statement followed by hot takes from the general public.
Do you recommend any sources so that we can dive deeper in this topic?
It's tricky to know where to start but I'd recommend searching for papers by Andrew Clark on Google Scholar. Then you can read other referenced studies if interested etc.
What you are looking for here are studies looking at the relationship between income and subjective well-being (sometimes shortened to SWB). This is the general term for self reported measures of well-being, though of course this can be broken down further into more detailed factors such as affective (how are you right now) and cognitive (how satisfied you are with your life overall).
Okay this is a pet peeve of mine.
All you fucking "money can't buy you happiness, but..." people need to FUCKING STOP. STOP WITH THAT SHIT. YES MONEY BUYS HAPPINESS. FULL STOP. NO "BUT"S. IT DOES. THAT'S IT. THAT IS ALL.
My conspiracy theory is that the saying "Money can't buy happiness" was created by the rich to make being poor seem like a good thing.
I thought for sure this was an article from The Onion
News just in, bear does in fact shit in woods.