The smarter-than-your-average-bear people over at Gallup are out with a new global poll warning that while a lot of money can indeed buy happiness, an awful lot of money probably won’t.
Watch the Oscars this weekend, if your wife insists. See if those cadres of self-congratulatory celebrities seem happy or stricken by having too much ostentatious wealth for pretending.
For those of us who do not yet need wealth managers, having too much money seems like it might just be worth a try. After all, there appear to be plenty of folks around who’d help us shed some.
The new study is based on the Gallup World Poll which draws on surveys in 164 countries. According to Gallup, it shows there’s a “satiation point” where higher household incomes do not generate more happiness. Uh-huh.
Understandably, that point varies by country. One man’s satiation point is another man’s starting point. Raising my hand now.
Depending on the part of life being evaluated, the stats show that generally the global satiation point for positive things like smiling, laughing and happiness, you know, that enough-already point of wealth is sixty-grand.
Dead giveaway! Right there, this tells you that the data does not include anyone in California Zipcodes. Probably D.C. and NYC too, but who cares about them?
Sixty-K won’t even get your Hummer these days. Let alone a decent Range Rover to survive police spike-strips during a freeway chase.
So, what’s next? Well, the stats suggested that in terms of positive life evaluation, $95K was about right. Where? For that Botswana guy always emailing about a lottery fortune that awaits?
And Gallup ominously warns that there’s a dangerous satiation point for people above which you no longer get happier. Oooo, sounds terribly scary.
In fact, after having that much money you may even become sadder. Seriously sadder.
Globally, that sad amount of money point is determined to be $75,000. Having that much money, they suggest, likely produces a wide range of negative emotions to include worry, sadness and stress.
Oh, yeah?
Try me.
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