How Much Does Happiness Cost?
Money can buy you happiness, and it costs $4.8 million, researchers claim. An average person needs $4,817,616 to have a car and dream house along with ideal holidays, and adopt the way of life one dreams about. Considering Western standards, this amounts to average pay for 94 years. Such are the results of a research conducted by Yahoo! Personal Finance. Women, it seems, need more money to be happy than men ($4.8 million compared to $4.7 million).
Moreover, the price of happiness rises as a person grows older. Those aged under 24 need only $4.6 million, while those between 44 and 55 require $5.2 million. In general, 2500 persons participated in the poll conducted in November and December 2003. Yahoo! asked its visitors to answer questions about their salaries, savings, a house they would like to have, food they would like to eat, clothes they would like to wear, etc. The price for happiness was calculated based on their answers. In addition, all participants were divided into four groups according to their earnings and lifestyles. It appeared that 45% would like to be playboys, drifting from one party to another. 39% were labeled showoffs: having not too much money, they would waste it just to demonstrate how cool they are. Another 15% were included in the “lucky” group: they would save and augment their wealth, simultaneously leading a lifestyle they like. Finally, 1% proved to be skinflints: they would not spend anything, earning more and more money instead.
The Day decided to find out about the financial demands of Ukrainians. We asked our experts a question, “How much money do you need to be happy and what would you do with it?”
Andriy KURKOV, writer:
“I can’t cite a specific sum. I just wish that my every desire met its financial equivalent in my wallet. I would invest in my dream, constructing a private residence to receive foreign writers. I think that in Ukraine a person needs around $800 to lead a decent life.”
Yury PAKHOMOV, Director of the World Economy and Foreign Relations Institute at the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine:
“I think it’s impossible to measure happiness with money. A person can be unhappy living in a palace, while another would be happy in spite of a modest income. Thus, what money can buy is only pleasure. If I had monthly salary equaling the European level, this would be enough for me. I do would better to keep secret how I would spend the money then.”
Hennady POPENKO, host of the “For Money” show on the Novy kanal (New channel) station:
“One cannot measure happiness with money. Happiness depends of one’s way of thinking. The notions money and happiness have very little in common. Money can buy you pretty trifles. I would be quite satisfied if I had the fairy-tale non-spending five-kopiyka coin. Maybe its value is too small for today, but we could equal it to a dollar or euro.”
