Money Can Buy Happiness: But Only If You Live In A Poor Neighborhood

Arguments over the happiness dividends of being rich may never end. But researchers in England have found that having lots of money only seems to make you happier if you have more wealth than your friends and colleagues. If you’re a millionaire in a neighborhood filled with millionaires, not so much.

"Our study found that the ranked position of an individual’s income best predicted general life satisfaction, while the actual amount of income and the average income of others appear to have no significant effect. Earning a million (dollars) a year appears to be not enough to make you happy if you know your friends all earn 2 million a year," observes lead researcher Chris Boyce from the University of Warwick’s Department of Psychology.