A Rs 36 lakh salary 'can buy you true happiness'

We may call it 'cold' cash, but it sure seems to make a lot of people warm inside! Illustration: Uttam Ghosh

All those who say money can't buy happiness may have to bite their tongues, as a new study by American scientists suggests that 50,000 pounds (approximately Rs 36,00,000) can buy you all the joy you need.

The study asked 1,000 volunteers whether they had felt joyful, sad, stressed or angry the previous day and whether they'd smiled or laughed a lot.

The results showed that the lowest earners found life the biggest struggle, and the struggle eased with increasing salaries. Those earning between 75,000 dollars to 50,000 pounds seemed the happiest lot.

Surprisingly though, those earning 100,000 pounds and 150,000 pounds are no more happy than those earning 50,000 pounds.

"Perhaps $75,000 is a threshold beyond which further increases in income no longer improve a person's ability to do what matters most to their emotional well-being -- such as spending time with the people they like, avoiding pain and disease and enjoying leisure," The Daily Mail quoted the Princeton University researchers as saying.

The study also revealed that envy at being lower in the social pecking order tarnishes the satisfaction of being well-off.

Dr Chris Boyce, of the University of Warwick, said, "Earning 1 million pounds a year appears not to be enough to make you happy if you know your friends all earn 2 million pounds a year."

The study is published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Do you agree with the findings of the study? How much money a year would you say it would take to make you happy?

Or do you draw happiness from other sources -- spending time with your family, giving your dog a cuddle or chowing down on a double cheese pizza?

Share five tips that help you rediscover happiness with us! Write in to getahead@rediff.co.in (suject line: 'Happiness is') and we'll publish the best entries right here on rediff.com