Yes, money really does make you happier, but it’s wealth, not income, that really makes a difference
Ever been told that money can’t buy happiness? Well, there’s now definitive proof the people who said that are just wrong.
How much we earn strongly affects our happiness levels, new figures from the Office for National Statistics show. Looking at how money affects things like life satisfaction, happiness and anxiety levels, the report found that:
All aspects of an individual’s well-being have a significant relationship to the wealth of the household in which they live.
Not all money is the same, though.
Money is especially good at buying happiness when it comes in the form of household wealth, the data showed, sending not just happiness and life satisfaction soaring, but also your sense of self-worth.
Surprisingly, perhaps, a fat paycheck makes less of a difference.
A higher income won’t do all that much for your sense of self-worth (although it is still likely to make you happier, so that’s something).
Anxiety, meanwhile, has a “significant” negative correlation with money, plummeting the higher our salaries get.