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Can Money Actually Buy Happiness? Here's What the Science Really Says

  • Writer: liveyourmoneystyle
    liveyourmoneystyle
  • 2 days ago
  • 2 min read
Does Money buy happiness?

"Money can't buy happiness." It's on Instagram captions, Thanksgiving tables, and a decade's worth of personal finance content — all citing the same 2010 Princeton study. The problem? That study had a flaw. And in 2023, the researchers came back together to reanalyze everything.


In this episode of Deeply Invested, Maddie and Meghan dig into the actual science of money and happiness — not to tell you that you need to earn more, but because the real findings are genuinely surprising and completely relevant to how you think about building wealth.


In this episode, we cover:

  • The famous $75,000 happiness plateau — where it came from, why it spread everywhere, and why the methodology was flawed from the start

  • What the 2023 adversarial collaboration actually found: for most people, happiness keeps rising with income well past $100K — but it's more nuanced than that

  • Why the research is really about the floor, not the ceiling — and how financial stress quietly drains your peace in ways that compound over time

  • The three things money actually unlocks that drive happiness: autonomy, security, and options

  • Why the comparison trap doesn't care how much you earn — and how defining your version of wealth is genuinely protective against it


Reflection prompt from this episode: If money gave you one thing right now — not something you'd buy, but a feeling — what would it be? More time? Less Sunday dread? The ability to say no? Your answer tells you more about what wealth means to you than any budget ever will.


Resources mentioned:


Research referenced: Kahneman & Deaton (PNAS, 2010) · Killingsworth (PNAS, 2021) · Killingsworth, Kahneman & Mellers (PNAS, 2023)

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