I am currently writing a book on the topic of happiness, titled FINDING YOUR HAPPINESS, which is due for release later this year (2026). Writing a non-fiction book requires me to do a lot of research and explore my thoughts, opinions and feelings about what the research suggests. This is something I love about writing.
A question that has caused me to do a lot of thinking and feeling recently is the question: Can money buy happiness? I didn’t know the answer to this question, so I looked into the research. In this blog post, I share with you the section I’ve written for FINDING YOUR HAPPINESS, free of charge, because I’ve found it fascinating.
Your Money
The question that I often get asked is:
Can money buy happiness?
Research suggests that having more money does increase the likelihood of a person being happier, up until a certain annual income.
Once a person reaches around £75,000 (around $100,000 USD) per year, money no longer has any impact on how happy the person is, when compared with other people that have the same income.
I would like to acknowledge here that this is a very high level of income and that most people don’t have an income this high. At this point, I am answering the question above based on available research.
This amount of money stated above is correct for the year 2026. This annual income amount is likely to increase year on year, as the cost of living is ever increasing.
According to research, the reasons why more money increases the likelihood that a person will be happier include:
- Basic needs are met: Enough food, clean water, decent housing, appropriate clothing, access to healthcare and access to education. This significantly reduces a person’s level of stress and can provide a person with a greater sense of security.
- Increased choice and autonomy. The person has more options and freedom of choice in their life.
- The person has money for comfort, pleasure, leisure and fun. This includes money for travelling and new experiences.
- The person can use money to give them more free time. For example, they could hire a cleaner, cook, pay for childcare, all freeing them up from the time they would have spent undertaking these activities.
Some people who reach this high level of income or exceed and still seek to increase their income. Why do they do this?
One reason could be that they have a strong belief that more money = more happiness. This belief likely comes from their past experiences. Earlier in their career, increases in income probably did contribute to making them feel happier.
Although the research does suggest that more money increases the likelihood of being happier, it also points out that having any amount of money doesn’t guarantee happiness.
You could earn the amount stated above (or more) and still be miserable. You could equally earn a lot less and yet be incredibly happy.
My view is that no amount of money can buy happiness. Happiness is a feeling. A feeling we get through a wide variety of experiences. Yes some of these experiences require money, but others do not.
The best way to keep informed of the release of FINDING YOUR HAPPINESS is to sign up to my newsletter here. You’ll receive just 1 email per month covering: details of my new books/articles as I release them, notification of my latest blog posts and the very occasional special offer. This is not a spammy sales newsletter, but an opportunity to stay up to date.
Write soon,
Antony
My published non-fiction books include:
- Funny Emails To My Friend is a collection of emails to a friend. These emails were intended to entertain my friend and also make him laugh. Topics included: Jokes, Puzzles, Inspirational Quotes, Future Technology to Be Excited About, How to Fight A Shark, How to Woo A Turtle, etc.
- Ways The Human Body Can Go Wrong is a book about all the ways the human body can go wrong. It includes symptoms and treatments/cures. It also includes some useful learning for medical and nursing professionals.
- The Alcohol Therapy Workbook is a therapy-based workbook for people who are struggling with alcohol or have struggled with alcohol in the past.
- SpellCast – Folk Magic for the 21st Century is a book all about magic, written by a Druid and a Witch.
- Mental Health Wisdom – Developing Understanding & Empathy is a book all about mental health and mental illness. It contains everything you need to know on the subject.
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