Pure happiness can be an educated 76 year old
Analysis by the Australian Unity Wellbeing Index shows that the happiest Australians are those over 76 with household incomes of between $61,000 and $90,000 but that the real power of money was to enable people to pursue core desires such as planned education.
Four out of the six happiest groups had household incomes of more than $150,000 but the index found that the very rich were not necessarily any happier than the rest of the population.
It appeared that money lost its ability to raise wellbeing or increase happiness beyond a household income of $100,000.
Overall, the relationship between money and happiness was relative. For people on less than $15,000 a figure of $7,143 being available was regarded as enough to increase happiness, although poverty was certainly a recurring factor among the unhappiest Australians.
The report’s author, Deakin University psychologist Bob Cummins, said that “the real power of money is in its ability to help us pursue core things we need in our lives such as education”.
The other factors found to be important today were getting married, volunteering, a secure job, home ownership, and moving to a rural community.