An individual income of $36000 per annum offers the highest level of satisfaction, a research report concluded after analysing the relationship between yearly income and life satisfaction levels of people. But getting beyond this amount will lead to a situation where fulfilment in life declines.
Going beyond that saturation point, in can make people less contented with their life probably because of changes in life aspirations. States with $18000 income per person had higher level of satisfaction than nations with $6700 per capita income. But when countries with $20000 per capita income were compared to those reaching $54000, the differences in their life satisfaction levels were minimal.
Philip Booth disagrees the study's findings. He rebuts their conclusions by saying that an increased income should always lead to a happier life. When the economy continues to grow in an already wealthy country, its citizens desire for more than what their current financial situation offers.
True, the more money, the more things you can buy that make you happy. The side effect will be that the continuous desire and pursuit will actually lower a person's satisfaction level. Needless to say, more desire means more sense of luck and dissatisfaction. As people get richer, their desires become more unstable due to many possibilities and choices available, thus affecting their satisfaction and enjoyment. They may end up always wondering what it would have been if they had chosen something else.
Money can satisfy materialistic needs such as clothes, food, shelter, luxurious car, travel and so forth. But one cannot buy health, good body figure, truthful friends, love, eternal life, ability, talent etc. Those things are also important factors that contribute to people's happiness.
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