Money Can Buy Happiness, But It Isn't The Most Important Factor, New Study Finds | The State
People who compare income level with success are less happy.
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ASHRAF SHAZLY / AFP / Getty Images
A popular phrase suggests that “money cannot buy happiness”, yet research in 2010 showed that people tend to feel happier when they earn more money to the point that they make about $ 75,000 a year.
A new study from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, notes that the well-being of people increases with the amount of money winning, even above $ 75,000.
The money gives people autonomy to make decisions about how to live their lifesaid in a statement Matthew Killingsworth, author of the study and specialist in human happiness.
For this new study, the researchers asked 33,391 employed people between the ages of 18 and 65 to use a smartphone application that asked them to check their emotions throughout the day. The application asked them to rate some questions such as how satisfied you are in your life or how do you feel.
The data was analyzed over seven years and showed that all forms of well-being continued to increase in coordination with income across a wide range of salary levels and didn’t stagnate at $ 75,000, according to Killingsworth.
“This suggests that as people advance in their careers and their income increases, they have the potential to really make their life better,” says Killingsworth. That is, at a higher social level, this could mean that economic growth can still have the ability to improve people’s well-being.
The study notes that during the coronavirus pandemic, income could matter a little more in the happiness level of people since if you have a financial cushion or an emergency fund, you will be able to cope with a period of unemployment and if you have a well-paid job, it is more likely that you can work from home and keep your job, which would give you a quality of life higher.
Related: How money affects happiness, according to a study.
However, the author notes that the income they are just one factor that influences a person’s happiness, but it is not the most important.
There are many factors other than money that contribute to a person’s happiness. Other research has shown that Social relations and their connection are the factors that contribute the most to a person’s happiness, according to the Harvard School of Health.
Some studies suggest that people who compare their income level with success are less happy than those who do not share that opinion. There are simpler things that have been shown, when a person has a job that offers meaning or purpose, people are happier, regardless of the amount of money they earn.
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