Stop The Presses: Rich People Happier

Researchers from Penn State and Harvard found that money can buy happiness–but only if you have more of it than your peers.

“According to the findings, an individual who earns $20,000 more than the peer group average is 10% more likely to be very happy than someone who earns $20,000 less than the average. The absolute size of an individual’s income had only a small effect on happiness.”

It turns out though, that money is only one of the factors that affect happiness. Physical health is the best single predictor of happiness, followed by income, education, and marital status.

This is the sort of study that is absolutely fascinating to me, because I believe that there are few things more important than being happy.

Now I know that the secret to being happy is to work out, eat right, keep learning, stay happily married, and recruit poor friends who will make me feel better about my income!