Thursday, Dec. 09, 2010
$75,000
Annual household income needed to make a person in the U.S. "happy"
Can we buy happiness? According to a study released this year, yes, we can, and it costs $75,000. The study, by economist Angus Deaton and psychologist and Nobel Prize winner Daniel Kahneman, analyzed Gallup surveys of Americans regarding their day-to-day contentment (basically, how you're feeling about your day) and overall life assessment (a deeper satisfaction with where your life's headed). It showed that $75,000 is the magic annual salary. But any earnings beyond that, according to the study's authors, have no effect on well-being.