Until you reach an annual salary of 50 grand, every penny counts in the human quest for happiness: after that, according to US scientists (or "top" US scientists, as I believe they like to be known), it really doesn't make much difference. You could be on £100k or £10m; your net joy will be the same. There is very little emotional difference between Jane Asher and Bill Gates.
It has the ring of bollocks, doesn't it? The researchers explain it by saying, "Money can provide only so much cushioning against the pressures of bringing up a family, running a home and holding down a job." What they really mean is, you can't delegate children entirely, unless you live in Victorian times. Running a home is very easy to delegate. So they should, as a control, remove people with children from the study, whereupon they would discover that parents just moan a lot, and money rocks.
This study represents an enough-is-as-good-as-a-feast approach, as you might take with food. In fact, money is more like booze: unless you are missing a gene or don't like the taste, you want whatever you've got in front of you, plus some more. Money was only invented as a metaphor for the human trait of insatiability.
Huh. So they are right. Fifty grand is all you need, for precisely this reason: no amount is ever enough for anyone. You will never be satisfied. But in this state of dissatisfaction, it helps for overall happiness if you're not also hungry and worrying about rent. They don't call them top scientists for nothing, you know.
Who earns close to £50K?
£55,921 Senior local government official
£51,789 Police chief inspector
£50,143 Software consultant
£49,466 Inner London headteacher/deputy head
£46,451 Inner London consultant midwife
Sources: ONS, police-information.co.uk, nhscareers.nhs.uk, tes.co.uk
