Once upon a time, back in 1964, the Beatles told us in their legendary song that love cannot be bought for money - but they said nothing about whether money can buy happiness. Now scientists have found an answer to this question, which probably will not come as a surprise to many. Yes, money can really make a person happier.
But more surprisingly, our happiness is influenced more by the origin of this wealth. The inheritance of a fortune or a successful marriage of convenience gives a person less happiness than if he made a lot of money himself.
A study done with 4,000 millionaires showed that wealth matters, but after you reach a certain level of income, the additional increase in money makes the person less and less happy.
This is because the main reason money brings happiness is because people get more autonomy. Money gives them more freedom to choose how to spend their free time, and frees them from the worries associated with their lack, the researchers said.
Once a certain level of prosperity is reached, a person's wealth has fulfilled its main function of making people happy, and a further increase in income is unlikely to greatly affect the feeling of happiness.
“Rich millionaires feel happier than millionaires with lower levels of wealth, although the differences are moderate,” said study author Grant Donnelly of Harvard Business School. “That said, millionaires who have earned their wealth are moderately happier than those who inherited it,” he added.
The research is published in Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin.
Sergey Lukavsky
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