BREAKING NEWS: MONEY DOESN’T BUY HAPPINESS

“Money has never made man happy, nor will it; there is nothing in its nature to produce happiness.” -Benjamin Franklin

“Can money buy happiness?” has been one of the most pondered uncertainties in history and as expected, one of the top searched questions on Google. Throughout our childhoods we were told that materialistic things don’t buy happiness, however, recent studies now suggest that there is a direct relationship between money and one’s happiness, but to an extent. Most attribute their happiness to close, loving relationships with friends and family; with beloved actor Robin Williams as a recent precedent, countless celebrities with beyond imaginable fortune and fame often find themselves drifting into chronic depression and with some eventually giving up and ending it all.

Happiness can be interpreted in two different fashions, “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.” Money often accommodates the former, "High incomes don't bring you happiness, but they do bring you a life you think is better" . Day to day happiness, the real reason someone wakes up in the morning excited for the day ahead, is usually attributed to the community surrounding them. Daily Mail Reporter conducted an experiment, in which scientists “analyzed articles in newspapers; looking at which words occurred most often in articles that also included the word 'happiness'. Researchers found words like 'iPhone', 'millions' and ‘Google’ almost never appear with the word 'happiness', instead…pronouns such as 'you', 'me', and ‘us’ appeared most often in the same articles as the word 'happiness' ”. The study concluded that “true happiness lies in rewarding relationships, not material wealth”. Dr. Danilo Garcia, a scientist at Sahlgrenska Academy's Center for Ethics, Law and Mental Health in Göteborg, Sweden conducted the same experiment in his home country of Sweden and received remarkably similar results. “The study, [which] looked at more than 1.5 million words, showed that terms such as 'grandmother' and personal pronouns such as 'you', 'me', 'us', and 'them' often appear in the same article as the Swedish word for happiness.” These finding also concur with other findings worldwide in “happiness” research.

Other studies claim that money does bring happiness, but to an extent. The most notable study is the study conducted by Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School; the investigation insisted that money does make you happier… up to $ 75,000/year that is. “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.” . As an individual rises in the ranks of salary, they feel more and more accomplished, but when they get to that peak of $ 75,000/year, “the happiness value of the next dollar you earn is always worth less than the one you earned before it.” In a study done by economist Angus Deaton and psychologist Daniel Kahneman, they analyzed the responses of 450,000 Americans polled…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… Researchers found that lower income did not cause [the] sadness itself but made people feel more ground down by the problems they already had.” . When they polled individuals making money about the $ 75,000 /year benchmark, they found that the effect vanished, “[$ 75,000 /year is] a plausible number at which people would think money is not an issue," says Angus Deaton. . So then what? How did they continue being happy if it just “stops”? Well, many turn to charity. In the 2010 “Do Good Live Well Survey, 4,500 American adults were polled and of those who volunteer, 89 percent reported that it ‘has improved my sense of well-being’ (e.g., happiness)”.

Another shocking global survey taken in 2010 produced some interesting data. In a conventional 1-7 point survey, people are asked to rank their happiness level on a scale of 1-7, where 1 indicates "not satisfied with my life at all" and 7 "perfectly satisfied.” “Of the American multimillionaires who responded, the average happiness score was 5.8. Homeless people in Calcutta came in at 2.9. But before you assume that money does buy happiness after all, consider who else rated themselves around 5.8: the Inuit of northern Greenland, who do not exactly lead a life of luxury, and the cattle-herding Masai of Kenya, whose dung huts have no electricity or running water…slum dwellers in Calcutta—one economic rung above the homeless—rate themselves at 4.6.” .

In conclusion, money cannot buy happiness; however, it can rent it. The sense of happiness received is only temporary compared to the long term happiness acquired from friends and family.