hr: Money

We all know that money can’t buy happiness. It’s one of the staples of our economy’s culture that people are affirm very strongly that it cannot. But does the reverse apply? How rich are happy people? In other words, Can Happiness buy Money?

Photo Credit: Hanataro

There are plenty of books that teach you to be happy. It seems that all agree that to be more happy is better. However, John Templeton has opined that “Maybe a little bit of dissatisfaction is OK”

Why would he say that? According to data from the World Values Survey, people who rank themselves as “Very Happy”, or score the highest on the Happiness scale earn less, and perform in a financially poor manner compared to those who were classified as “Just happy”.

The accepted reason for this (Perhaps not so expected) result, is that those who rate high on this scale, are over optimists, and tend to underestimate future risks. This leads them to put away less money for the future.  In addition, they were also less disciplined than their “Just Happy” counterparts. Also, it turns out that these happy individuals don’t have enough drive to make them adapt to situations that would be financially better for them. After all, if they’re happy, why change?

So this is a hint for those who dream of financial nirvana. Don’t get too satisfied wiht yourself, or you might see a drastic decrease in your bank balance.