Most of us in Gen Z have very similar life goals. Work hard in school, get good grades, go to a good college, get a good job, earn lots of money, and then we’ll be happy, right? Turns out, money CAN buy you happiness, but only a certain amount.
In order to get that result, many researchers from the University of Purdue, along with the University of Virginia analyzed data from a World Gallup Poll, from over 2 million people in 150 countries, cross-referencing their income with life satisfaction. Although many variables shifted within these countries, such as the standard of living, the current state of the country’s economy, and traditions and customs, the researchers were able to come up with a bold conclusion. The average ideal salary for individuals across the globe was around 100,000$ per year, which included full life satisfaction, and 61,000 to 71,000 dollars per year to just ensure emotional well-being. This is, of course, without accounting for children in families, who would definitely increase the amount of money required. Seems obvious. The more money you have the happier you are, right? Turns out, it’s not that simple, and researchers have recently taken the steps to find the true answers.
The Correlation between happiness and individual GDP is not always directly proportional, but rather can “bounce back” if much wealth is accumulated. (Gallup World Poll)
Researchers defined life satisfaction as an overall assessment of how one is doing, while emotional well-being refers to a person’s day-to-day feelings such as happiness, sadness, excitement or anger, especially in regards to their career. This study, displayed in the educational magazine “Nature Human Behavior”, had another interesting discovery: further increases in income after the average ideal salary was reached were actually correlated with much-reduced happiness. People from wealthier countries were also less satisfied with their lives earlier in their careers. The reasons for this, as Andrew JebbW, the leading author on the study and a doctoral student at Purdue’s Department of Psychological sciences explains, “Evaluations tend to be more influenced by the standards by which individuals compare themselves to other people”. In essence, individuals that reach this goal, keep comparing themselves with others who they see as more wealthy, more successful, and more prosperous than they are. And unless they become wealthy enough to show up on the “Forbes Top 100” list, this everlasting W continues.
Turn’s out, the relationship between personal satisfaction and money earned is not linear, but rather looks like a negative parabolic association(Picture to illustrate more clearly). Turns out, Jebb found out that the more you have, the more you want. “The small decline puts one’s level of well-being closer to individuals who make slightly lower incomes, perhaps due to the costs that come with the highest incomes,” He states. This leads to the conclusion that money is only a small part of what makes people happy, and that there is a clear limit to what it can provide.
In the United States, Americans have had relatively stagnant and unimproving wages for the last 20 years, with average earnings that have been stuck 54-57 thousand dollars per year (adjusted for inflation). In the past year, however, there has been a turn-around, with the mean income of the United States increasing to 61 thousand dollars per year, an increase of 7% which has not been seen in ages. Unfortunately, personal satisfaction polling from Gallup and digital health company Sharecare displayed unfavorable results. Not a single state improved in well being by a significant amount, which is the first time that this has occurred in the 20 year history of the organization. The first year for the United States making significant strides in average wealth is also the first year that the United States hasn’t improved in personal satisfaction. Not only that, but renowned American Psychologist Ed Diener compared people on the Forbes list of wealthiest Americans with the general population, and found that they were only slightly happier than average, with 37% being less happy than the average American. Looks like chasing extreme wealth is a wild goose chase for happiness.
So what can make you happy? According to Dr. Diener, here are some things to do.
- Write a journal: Although it may seem silly to some, journaling daily events, successes, mistakes, and things to improve can massively increase your mood and productiveness.
- Learn to forgive your mistakes and move on: For some high school students, such as myself, receiving a B in a semester-long class may seem like the end of the world. Learn to let go of the things you can not change and instead look to improve in the future.
- Goals, both long and short term: Pursuing goals is probably the most energizing and exciting thing in the world, whether it is something as trivial as ranking up in League of Legends, or as important as getting accepted into your dream school. There probably aren’t many things that make you happier than achieving a target goal you have worked towards.
So, it’s clear that there are many more important things to look for in the world than money. Every time you sign up for a rigorous and time demanding AP course, ask yourself if it is the best decision for yourself, rather than a decision based on a desire to satisfy your notions of success. If everyone puts effort into their desired fields, the world will become a much happier, livelier, and passionate place.