Researchers refute the saying “Money does not bring happiness.” In fact, the higher the income, the higher the level of happiness. But there is an exception: rich, but unhappy people, for whom additional income does not matter.

A study published in 2010 by Daniel Kahneman and Angus Deaton of Princeton University found that daily happiness increases with annual income up to 75,000. But after exceeding this number, happiness levels stabilize and even begin to decline.

In contrast, a paper published in 2021 by Professor Matthew Killingsworth of the University of Pennsylvania found that happiness increases steadily even after incomes rise well above $75,000 a year without reaching a plateau.

The higher the income, the happier we are

To find out why these differences occur, two researchers from Princeton University and Professor Matthew Killingsworth jointly conducted a new study – Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences – in which they also included a third opinion, Professor Barbara Mellers from the University of Pennsylvania.

New work has found that, on average, higher incomes are associated with increasingly higher levels of happiness. But when it comes to large sums, the connection between money and well-being becomes more complicated. Specifically, within this general trend of a sharp increase in happiness for incomes up to $100,000 per year, there is a cohort of unhappy people in every income group.

“Simply put, this means that for most people, higher incomes are associated with higher levels of happiness. The exception is people who are financially wealthy but unhappy. For example, if you are rich and unhappy, extra money will not help you. But for the rest of the people, large sums of money are associated with a high degree of happiness,” explained Professor Killingsworth from the University of Pennsylvania and lead author of the paper.

The happiest people earn more than $100,000 a year

Professor Mellers delves into the latter concept, noting that the emotional well-being affected by money has several degrees. In particular, for the least fortunate group, well-being increases with income up to $100,000 per year and then plateaus.

For people with average levels of emotional well-being, happiness increases linearly with earnings, and for the happiest group, emotional well-being increases with earnings above $100,000 a year. The researchers decided to work together after noticing that their previous studies had come to different conclusions. Kahneman’s 2010 study found that there is a happiness plateau after reaching a certain amount, while Killingsworth’s 2021 study states that there is no plateau.

A new hypothesis to resolve conflicting findings

Competitive collaboration of this type is aimed at resolving scientific disputes or disagreements by involving the parties with the help of a mediator. So Killingsworth, Kahneman, and Mellers focused on the new hypothesis that there is both a happy majority and an unhappy minority. For the former, they suggested, happiness continues to increase as money increases.

And the happiness of those who belong to the second group increases with increasing income, but only up to a certain threshold, after which it stops. To test this new hypothesis, they analyzed the model used by Killingworth. To collect data, he used an application he created called Track your happiness. Several times a day, the program asks participants at random times to answer questions such as: How they feel on a scale from “very good” to “very bad”.

By averaging participants’ levels of happiness and income, Killingsworth came to conclusions about how these two variables are related to each other.

The joint conclusion of two contradictory studies

In the new study, researchers realized that the data collected in the 2010 study actually measured levels of unhappiness, not overall happiness.

“It’s easiest to understand with an example. Imagine a cognitive test for dementia that most healthy people pass easily. Although such a test can detect the presence and severity of cognitive dysfunction, it will not reveal much about general intelligence because most healthy people will score equally well,” Killingworth explained. Similarly, the 2010 data showing a plateau in happiness mostly had perfect scores, so they tell us about a trend in the distribution of unhappiness, not a trend in overall happiness.

“Understanding this, we realized that two seemingly contradictory studies are not necessarily incompatible. And what we discovered confirmed this possibility in an incredibly beautiful way. When we looked at the happiness trend of unhappy people in the 2021 data, we found exactly the same pattern as in 2010; happiness rises relatively sharply with income and then plateaus. Two findings that seemed completely contradictory are actually the result of remarkably consistent data,” added Killingworth.

Conclusion: money is not the only source of happiness

According to Killingsworth, these findings have real-world implications. In this way, employers would have an idea of ​​the level of happiness of the staff depending on the income. In addition, any person will be able to balance this aspect when choosing a profession.

However, researchers come to the conclusion that money is not everything in life. “Money is only one of many factors that determine happiness. Money is not the secret to happiness, but it can probably help,” Killingworth concluded.

“Money can buy time”

According to psychotherapist Mary Pirigoi, happy people are those who clearly and harmoniously choose their personal values ​​and follow them. There are people who have the courage to listen to their desires and make them come true, there are those who choose for them in a simple and assumed way, there are those who move from the city to the countryside because they do not want “noise” anymore, there are those who chooses a low-paying job only because they have “cool” colleagues there, there are those who prefer hiking instead of an “all-inclusive” vacation.

“Happy people are those who choose for themselves. Money does not bring happiness and does not contribute to it, but it can buy time, and happy people decide to spend it doing what they like and in the company of those with whom they are good,” emphasized psychotherapist Mary Pirigoi for smartliving. ro.