You don’t have to be rich to be happy. Just upper middle class according to research scientists who specialize in this sort of stuff.  I gleaned some interesting info from the Gallup Management Journal.

 Dr. Angus Deaton and Dr. Daniel Kahneman looked for happiness in numbers. To be specific, they analyzed responses to the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index (GHWBI), a daily survey that asks roughly 1,000 U.S. residents an assortmentof questions about their well being.

After analyzing more than 450,000 GHWBI responses from 2008 and 2009, Dr. Deaton and Dr. Kahneman found that happiness is actually the result of the fulfillment of two abstract psychological states — emotional well being and life evaluation.   Huh?  What’s this all mean for us folks who find  ‘Are You As Smart As  A Fifth Grader’ challenging?

The most reported finding Dr. Kahneman and Dr. Deaton’s research has uncovered, is that people with an annual household income of $75,000 are about as happy as anyone gets. More specifically, those with annual household incomes under $75,000 give lower responses to both life evaluation and emotional well being questions. But people with an annual household income of more than $75,000 don’t have  higher levels of emotional wellbeing, even though their life evaluation rating continues to increase.  In other words, money can’t buy you love but if  there  is a anything close to a  magic number, its $75,000.

So you see, you don’t have to be a millionaire to find love love and happiness, $75,000 will do.  Anyone have an extra 75 grand to put under my Christmas tree?

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