Empirical Evidence on Income and Happiness (2015) found no relationship between income and daily happiness in the American Time Use Survey (ATUS), which has recently been found for other happiness measures, too (Casinillo et al., 2020, 2021) The finding from Kushlev et al.
Once you hit an annual household income of $75,000 (£62,000), earning more money didn't make you any happier. In 2021, the happiness researcher Matthew Killingsworth released a dissenting study, showing that happiness increased with income and there wasn't evidence of a plateau.
While the results don't definitively point to wealth contributing to happiness, there is a strong correlation across the board. Broadly speaking, the world's poorest countries have the lowest happiness scores, and the richest report being the most happy.
Millionaires are happy, but not extremely happy.
It might seem ludicrous to hear that anyone from this pool of millionaires responded as lower than a “10 out of 10” on happiness. But the results showed that millionaires were around an 8 out of 10 on their self-reported happiness.
The survey also finds that the gap between rich and poor goes far beyond income. Adults who self-identify as being in the upper or upper-middle class are generally happier, healthier and more satisfied with their jobs than are those in the middle or lower classes.
Research shows that wealthy countries do experience higher rates of depression, Marcum says. Also, children of wealthy parents may have a higher chance of developing mental health conditions like depression and anxiety. However, the reasons for the higher rates aren't clear.
Having lower income was associated with higher prevalence of depressive symptoms. The prevalence of depressive symptoms was 39.3% for participants with family income under $20,000, 25.5% for participants with family income from $20,000–$75,000, and 14.9% for participants with family income greater than $75,000.
Regardless of other living conditions, a higher income was consistently linked to a reduced self-rated level of loneliness.
Key Takeaways. Sudden Wealth Syndrome (SDS) refers to a psychological condition or an identity crisis in individuals who have become suddenly wealthy. Sudden Wealth Syndrome is characterized by isolation from former friends, guilt over their change in circumstances, and extreme fear of losing their money.
“One of the key drivers of people's desire for wealth (and material possessions) is the innate human tendency to compare ourselves to others – and to try to win,” Norton said. According to entrepreneur and author of The Unlikely Entrepreneur Alan Manly, ambition is one of the keys to business success.
A growing literature has studied empirically whether the rich are more selfish than the poor, both in behavior and in underlying preferences. The evidence is mixed: Some studies report more selfishness among the rich (5–7), others that the rich are not different from the rest of society or even less selfish (8–11).
A 2015 study published in Psychological and Cognitive Sciences found high levels of economic inequality leads the rich to be less generous than lower-income people. However, there was no correlation between generosity and income when inequality was generally low.
No matter how rich or poor you are, money doesn't make you happy. Of course, it gives you a cushion to enjoy the life you live, but focus on the life you live, the experiences you have, the people around you and the things you do. That's what will give you the most rewards, not the things you bought.
Specifically, for the least happy group, happiness rises with income until $100,000, then shows no further increase as income grows. For those in the middle range of emotional well-being, happiness increases linearly with income, and for the happiest group the association actually accelerates above $100,000.
The Boston studies have consistently found respondents to be a generally dissatisfied lot, whose vast fortunes have contributed to deep anxieties involving love, work, and family. They are often even dissatisfied with the size of their fortunes.
Billionaires love what they do. They enjoy their business and the industry they're in. Naturally, this makes you happier than having to do what you don't like. And billionaires are free in the sense that they work not because they have to, but because they like doing it and find it important.
The personality traits of the super-rich
“This can come off as cold, but they don't tend to react in the way most people would. They also tend to be extroverted, outgoing and open to new experiences. "This defies a popular stereotype of the reclusive, introverted millionaire that is often portrayed.”
Extreme wealth, especially when it comes very suddenly, can leave people feeling detached from themselves, or as if they don't quite know how to identify themselves any more. “Sometimes there are conflicts about felt identity,” says Essig.
Rich child syndrome describes a child who is spoiled. The result of raising a child in excess. So this syndrome is not a condition associated with social class, but rather how parents raise the child and what kind of relationship they have.
Imposter syndrome and guiltiness. This frequently happens to people who were born wealthy or who believe they did not work hard enough to earn their wealth. They think they did not deserve to be rich in the first place. Even if others treat them well, they may feel stressed, anxious, and depressed.
In addition to those well-documented costs, it turns out that the poor not only experience more stress than the rich on a daily basis, but it is also more likely to be “bad” stress, which can have long-term effects on the ability to plan for and invest in the future.
Studies show that anxiety suffered by children in wealthy families is 20-30% higher than it is among the less affluent, and that affluent kids are more prone to substance and alcohol abuse. There is often a heavy price to pay for affluence.
Wealth Affects Mental Health When People Mask Problem Behaviors. Anxiety, isolation, worries about work and love, and fears over their children can all lead to problem behaviors for someone who's wealthy.
In the study, close to 15 percent of people in high-income countries said they experienced depression at some point in their lives. That compares with 11 percent in low- and middle-income countries. However, across nations, women were twice as likely as men to suffer from depression, the researchers said.
Women are more likely to have depression than men. An estimated 3.8% of the population experience depression, including 5% of adults (4% among men and 6% among women), and 5.7% of adults older than 60 years. Approximately 280 million people in the world have depression (1).