Newsweek ran an arti­cle last year on the link between hap­pi­ness and money. Here’s an exec­u­tive summary:

  • Money will make you hap­pier, up to a point. After that, it makes no dif­fer­ence. That point is the won­der­fully quan­ti­ta­tive ‘point of com­fort’.
  • If you’re happy you’ll typ­i­cally earn more than those less happy than you.
  • If you’re mate­ri­al­is­tic, you’re more likely to develop men­tal health issues.

So, once you’re com­fort­able don’t go strain­ing after that pro­mo­tion — you’ll only get stressed. Oh, and throw out your iPod.

If money doesn’t buy hap­pi­ness, what does? Grandma was right when she told you to value health and friends, not money and stuff. Or as Diener and Selig­man put it, once your basic needs are met “dif­fer­ences in well-being are less fre­quently due to income, and are more fre­quently due to fac­tors such as social rela­tion­ships and enjoy­ment at work.” Other researchers add ful­fill­ment, a sense that life has mean­ing, belong­ing to civic and other groups, and liv­ing in a democ­racy that respects indi­vid­ual rights and the rule of law. If a nation wants to increase its population’s sense of well-being, says Veen­hoven, it should make “less invest­ment in eco­nomic growth and more in poli­cies that pro­mote good gov­er­nance, lib­er­ties, democ­racy, trust and pub­lic safety.”

(Curi­ously, although money doesn’t buy hap­pi­ness, hap­pi­ness can buy money. Young peo­ple who describe them­selves as happy typ­i­cally earn higher incomes, years later, than those who said they were unhappy. It seems that a sense of well-being can make you more pro­duc­tive and more likely to show ini­tia­tive and other traits that lead to a higher income. Con­tented peo­ple are also more likely to marry and stay mar­ried, as well as to be healthy, both of which increase happiness.)

via Mind Hacks