🤑 Money brings happiness far up the income scale

• New research shows that the relationship between money and happiness continues far up the economic ladder.
• Billionaires report higher life satisfaction than people with annual incomes of $500,000.
• The difference in happiness between the richest and middle-income earners is almost three times greater than the difference between middle- and low-income earners.

Large differences in life satisfaction

New research from the Wharton School shows that the relationship between wealth and well-being does not level off when people reach a certain income level. Matthew Killingsworth, who studies the causes of human happiness, found that both millionaires and billionaires are significantly happier than people earning more than $500,000 per year.

“The results suggest that the positive association between money and well-being continues far up the economic ladder,” says Killingsworth.

In the study, people with net worth in the millions or billions of dollars reported an average life satisfaction between 5.5 and 6 out of 7 possible. This can be compared to a rating of about 4.6 for those earning around $100,000 per year and just over 4 for those earning between $15,000 and $30,000 per year.

The difference in happiness between the richest and middle-income groups was almost three times larger than the difference between middle- and low-income groups.

“The magnitude of the difference between the low and high end of incomes is gigantic,” says Killingsworth. “Within the bounds of what money can explain, a huge amount of that difference occurs above the median income.”

Comprehensive study with detailed results

Killingsworth combined data from his previous research with a 2018 study of 4,000 people with a median wealth of $3 to $8 million from 17 countries, as well as a 1985 survey of Forbes' list of the richest Americans.

The results show that variations in income and wealth explained more than half (about 58 percent) of the difference in happiness between low-income earners and the maximum level on the scale.

Killingsworth suggests that the results indicate that the positive link between money and happiness continues far up the economic ladder, and that the magnitude of the differences can be significant.

Now that we know money can buy happiness, I wonder if there's a discount for bulk purchases?

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