Being Rich
Sometimes Fast Company will put me in a good mood but there are others when it baffles me - 'there are actually people who think this?' is what corners my thoughts. But I'm sure you'll share my estrangement soon enough.
How To Lead a Rich Life is a serious article on the relationship between wealth and happiness. The start seems to be going in the familiar direction and then all of a sudden the author introduces the notion of "hapiness economics". An Andrew Oswald of the University of Warwick asserts that money will make you happier, all other factors held constant. He then goes further to be specific "happiness equations":
| Event Impact ( per Year ) |
| Marriage |
$100,000 |
| Children |
$0 |
| Losing job |
-$60,000 ( man ) |
| Widowhood |
-$245,000 |
| Poor health |
-$180,000 to -$220,000 ( Decline from excellent to good )
-$600,000 to -800,000 ( Decline from excellent to fair ) |
So if you are single and you lose your job but can come up with $160,000, your happiness level will stay the same. Oh, and don't have children - they won't impact your happiness level so why bother?
If you're interested in reading bad research you can get the whole PDF's worth of Andrew's research. Fast Company was bad enough for me...
5:37:14 PM 
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