Money

The most cited study suggests that money cannot truly buy happiness, or at least its effect is limited to a certain threshold.

They say that there is a small connection between money and happiness until you get to about $75,000, which at that time was the average salary for a middle class family in the United States.

Further, they concluded that high income buys life satisfaction but not happiness, and that low income is associated both with low life evaluation and low emotional well-being.

Money provides security, access to necessities like food and healthcare, and a certain level of control over our lives up to this point. However, beyond this threshold, additional money is believed to have little impact on our overall happiness.

This research suggest that Kahneman and Deaton (Research 1) might have reached the correct conclusion if they had described their results in terms of unhappiness rather than happiness.

They argue that this flattening effect (threshold of 75,000) only holds true for the least happy people, while happiness increases steadily with income among happier people and even accelerates in the happiest group

Other studies suggest that money can continue to contribute to happiness even beyond this threshold.

The key factor lies in how people choose to spend their money. It is argued that individuals often make the mistake of focusing on personal consumption and materialistic possessions, which may not bring sustainable happiness. Instead, spending money on others or investing in experiences can potentially enhance our well-being and increase happiness.