Princeton, NJ – After $75,000, Money Can’t Buy Day-to-Day Happiness

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    Princeton, NJ – People say money doesn’t buy happiness. Except, according to a new study from Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School, it sort of does — up to about $75,000 a year. The lower a person’s annual income falls below that benchmark, the unhappier he or she feels. But no matter how much more than $75,000 people make, they don’t report any greater degree of happiness.

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    Before employers rush to hold — or raise — everyone’s salary to $75,000, the study points out that there are actually two types of happiness. There’s your changeable, day-to-day mood: whether you’re stressed or blue or feeling emotionally sound. Then there’s the deeper satisfaction you feel about the way your life is going — the kind of thing Tony Robbins tries to teach you. While having an income above the magic $75,000 cutoff doesn’t seem to have an impact on the former (emotional well-being), it definitely improves people’s Robbins-like life satisfaction. In other words, the more people make above $75,000, the more they feel their life is working out on the whole. But it doesn’t make them any more jovial in the mornings.

    The study, by economist Angus Deaton and psychologist Daniel Kahneman, who has won a Nobel Prize for Economics, analyzed the responses of 450,000 Americans polled by Gallup and Healthways in 2008 and 2009. Participants were asked how they had felt the previous day and whether they were living the best possible life for them. They were also asked about their income.

    The authors found that most Americans — 85% — regardless of their annual income, felt happy each day. Almost 40% of respondents also reported feeling stressed (which is not mutually exclusive with happiness) and 24% had feelings of sadness. Most people were also satisfied with the way their life was going.

    So, where does the $75,000 come into play? Researchers found that lower income did not cause sadness itself but made people feel more ground down by the problems they already had. The study found, for example, that among divorced people, about 51% who made less than $1,000 a month reported feeling sad or stressed the previous day, while only 24% of those earning more than $3,000 a month reported similar feelings. Among people with asthma, 41% of low earners reported feeling unhappy, compared with about 22% of the wealthier group. Having money clearly takes the sting out of adversities.

    At $75,000, that effect disappears. For people who earn that much or more, individual temperament and life circumstances have much more sway over their lightness of heart than money. The study doesn’t say why $75,000 is the benchmark, but “it does seem to me a plausible number at which people would think money is not an issue,” says Deaton. At that level, people probably have enough expendable cash to do things that make them feel good, like going out with friends. (The federal poverty level for a family of four, by the way, is $22,050.)


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    14 Comments
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    enlightened-yid
    enlightened-yid
    12 years ago

    $75,000 is not enough to stay stress free and happy if you want to live in the city, considering the expenses.

    CountryYossi
    CountryYossi
    12 years ago

    Whatever the amount is Money does NOT make anyone happy…Money makes you live in misery with Comfort…

    Fullabulla
    Fullabulla
    12 years ago

    It seems the frum household is quite content at $75,000 (or less). This way they can finagle another $75,000 in tax payer sponsored social benefits.

    stevenberger
    stevenberger
    12 years ago

    ohev kesef lo yisba kesef

    UseYourHead
    UseYourHead
    12 years ago

    For the average frum family in the metro NY area, the $75,000 is probably more like $200,000.

    ikleinit
    ikleinit
    12 years ago

    Adjust to +35-50k of u live in nyc. & +50-75k if u live in Manhattan or are orthodox Jewish with more than 2 kids per family

    WiseDude
    WiseDude
    12 years ago

    $75,000 barely covered the annual tuition costs of our children for quire a number of years.

    LEEAVE
    LEEAVE
    12 years ago

    75,000 is good for about 5-6 months,

    chosen-nation
    chosen-nation
    12 years ago

    tell this to the OWS hippies

    Brian
    Brian
    12 years ago

    Or in the frum community, after $75,000 per month money doesn’t make one happy. Or on a serious note, a frum family needs $30,000 per head to truly live worry free.

    ALLAN
    ALLAN
    12 years ago

    Someone may wish to debate this point but I say that no matter how rich one is, it is no guarantee of good health and a long life. More wealth may buy better medical care and comforts but when your time is up…well.