Money Brings Happiness — if You Give it Away

And finds that daydreaming is tied to bad moods

(NEWSER) - Turns out the all-powerful iPhone can also moonlight as your personal therapist, by way of the "Track Your Happiness" app. The app pings users at random times during the day, asking how they're feeling and what they're doing. Researchers looked at the responses of 2,250 adults and found a link between daydreaming and unhappiness: Responders said they were daydreaming almost 47% of the time, and the daydreamers were more likely to say they felt down in the dumps, Mashable reports. More»

Study finds people trade happiness for other benefits

(NEWSER) - Money cannot buy happiness, but most people would choose it anyway, says a new study of more than 2,600 people published in the American Economic Review . For example, if the choice is between a job that pays $80,000 a year and lets you get seven and a half hours of sleep a night, and a job that pays $140,000 a year but allows for just six hours' sleep, most people pick the higher-paying job. Other questions asked about salary versus living close to friends, going home for Thanksgiving versus saving for a vacation, and similar choices. More»

Eight tips for purchases that will boost your pleasure

(NEWSER) - Money may not be able to buy happiness, but if you spend wisely, you can at least avoid purchases that make you unhappy. SmartMoney lists eight tips for happy spending, based on new research published this month:

• Buy experiences, not things: People overwhelmingly report that they get more happiness out of things they did than things they bought.
• Buy lots of little things, not one big thing: Because we can so quickly grow tired of new possessions, or at least get used to them, it's better to focus on frequency than intensity. Think new underwear instead of a new TV, or a day trip instead of a weeklong vacation.

Satisfaction declines in late 20s; climbs in late 50s: study

(NEWSER) - We’ve learned that the world’s happiest person is 69 , and that we may be happiest in old age ; now a study suggests that we’re at our most miserable in middle age. Indeed, life satisfaction is “U-shaped,” the Telegraph reports: happiness can start to decline in our late 20s and doesn’t climb back until we’re over 50, a researcher in Belgium finds. Before our late 20s, we’ve got less to worry about and we’re optimistic; by our late 50s, we’ve accepted life’s difficulties. More»

Study finds that's the magic number

(NEWSER) - Money can't buy us love, but it can, apparently, buy us happiness—so long as we make $75,000 a year or more. A new study examined the responses of 450,000 Americans to a poll, and found that as income increased (from, say, $35,000 a year to $45,000), people reported increasing happiness and decreasing stress ... until income hit $75,000. Anything above that point didn't improve happiness any more, meaning it's a sort of "happiness sweet spot," reports the LA Times . More»