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Does More Money Really Make Us More Happy?

Elizabeth Dunn
Chris Courtney

A big paycheck won’t necessarily bring you joy

Although some studies show that wealthier people tend to be happier, prioritizing money over time can actually have the opposite effect.

But even having just a little bit of extra cash in your savings account ($500), can increase your life satisfaction. So how can you keep more cash on hand?
Ask yourself: What do I buy that isn’t essential for my survival? Is the expense genuinely contributing to my happiness? If the answer to the second question is no, try taking a break from those expenses.
Other research shows there are specific ways to spend your money to promote happiness, such as spending on experiences, buying time, and investing in others.
Spending choices that promote happiness are also dependent on individual personalities, and future research may provide more individualized advice to help you get the most happiness from your money.

Where your work meets your life. See more from Ascend here .

How often have you willingly sacrificed your free time to make more money? You’re not alone. But new research suggests that prioritizing money over time may actually undermine our happiness.

ED Elizabeth Dunn is a professor of psychology at the University of British Columbia and Chief Science Officer of Happy Money, a financial technology company with a mission to help borrowers become savers. She is also co-author of “ Happy Money: The Science of Happier Spending ” with Dr. Michael Norton. Her TED2019 talk on money and happiness was selected as one of the top 10 talks of the year by TED.
CC Chris Courtney is the VP of Science at Happy Money. He utilizes his background in cognitive neuroscience, human-computer interaction, and machine learning to drive personalization and engagement in products designed to empower people to take control of their financial lives. His team is focused on creating innovative ways to provide more inclusionary financial services, while building tools to promote financial and psychological well-being and success.

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Happiness Economics: Can Money Buy Happiness?

It only costs a small amount, a slight risk, with the possibility of a substantial reward.

But will it make you happy? Will it give you long-lasting happiness?

Undoubtedly, there will be a temporary peak in happiness, but will all your troubles finally fade away?

That is what we will investigate today. We explore the economics of happiness and whether money can buy happiness. In this post, we will start by broadly exploring the topic and then look at theories and substantive research findings. We’ll even have a look at previous lottery winners.

For interested readers, we will list interesting books and podcasts for further enjoyment and share a few of our own happiness resources.

Ka-ching: Let’s get rolling!

Before you continue, we thought you might like to download our three Happiness & Subjective Wellbeing Exercises for free . These detailed, science-based exercises will help you or your clients identify sources of authentic happiness and strategies to boost wellbeing.

This Article Contains

What is happiness economics, theory of the economics of happiness, can money buy happiness 5 research findings, 6 fascinating books and podcasts on the topic, resources from positivepsychology.com, a take-home message.

Happiness economics is a field of economics that recognizes happiness and wellbeing as important outcome measures, alongside measures typically used, such as employment, education, and health care.

Economics emphasizes how specific economic/financial characteristics affect our wellbeing (Easterlin, 2004).

For example, does employment result in better health and longer lifespan, among other metrics? Do people in wealthier countries have access to better education and longer life spans?

In the last few decades, there has been a shift in economics, where researchers have recognized the importance of the subjective rating of happiness as a valuable and desirable outcome that is significantly correlated with other important outcomes, such as health (Steptoe, 2019) and productivity (DiMaria et al., 2020).

Broadly, happiness is a psychological state of being, typically researched and defined using psychological methods. We often measure it using self-report measures rather than objective measures that are less vulnerable to misinterpretation and error.

Including happiness in economics has opened up an entirely new avenue of research to explore the relationship between happiness and money.

Andrew Clark (2018) illustrates the variability in the term happiness economics with the following examples:

Happiness can be a predictor variable, influencing our decisions and behaviors.
Happiness might be the desired outcome, so understanding how and why some people are happier than others is essential.

However, the connection between our behavior and happiness must be better understood. Even though “being happy” is a desired outcome, people still make decisions that prevent them from becoming happier. For example, why do we choose to work more if our work does not make us happier? Why are we unhappy even if our basic needs are met?

An example of how happiness can influence decision-making

Sometimes, we might choose not to maximize a monetary or financial gain but place importance on other, more subjective outcomes.

To illustrate: If faced with two jobs — one that pays well but will bring no joy and another that pays less but will bring much joy — some people would prefer to maximize their happiness over financial gain.

If this decision were evaluated using a utility framework where the only valued outcomes were practical, then the decision would seem irrational. However, this scenario suggests that psychological outcomes, such as the experience of happiness, are as crucial as other socio-economic outcomes.

Economists recognize that subjective wellbeing , or happiness, is an essential characteristic and sometimes a desirable outcome that can motivate our decision-making.

In the last few decades, economics has shifted to include happiness as a measurable and vital part of general wellbeing (Graham, 2005).

The consequence is that typical economic questions now also look at the impact of employment, finances, and other economic metrics on the subjective rating and experience of happiness at individual and country levels.

Happiness is such a vital outcome in society and economic activity that it must be involved in policy making. The subjective measure of happiness is as important as other typical measures used in economics.

Many factors can contribute to happiness. In this post, we consider the role of money. The relationship between happiness, or subjective wellbeing, and money is assumed to be positive: More money means greater happiness.

However, the relationship between money and happiness is paradoxical: More money does not guarantee happiness (for an excellent review, see Graham, 2005).

Specifically, low levels of income are correlated with unhappiness. However, as our individual wealth increases and our basic needs are met, our needs change and differ in their importance.

Initially, our happiness is affected by absolute levels of income, but at a certain threshold, we place importance on relative levels of income. Knowing how we rank and compare to other people, in terms of wealth and material possession, influences our happiness.

The relationship between wealth and happiness continues to increase, but only to a certain point; at this stage, more wealth does not guarantee more happiness (Easterlin, 1974; Diener et al., 1993).

This may be at odds with our everyday lived experience. Most of us choose to work longer hours or multiple jobs so that we make more money. However, what is the point of doing this if money does not increase our happiness? Why do we seem to think that more money will make us happier?

History of the economics of happiness

The relationship between economics and happiness originated in the early 1970s. Brickman and Campbell (1971, as cited in Brickman et al., 1978) first argued that the typical outcomes of a successful life, such as wealth or income, had no impact on individual wellbeing.

Easterlin (1974) expanded these results and showed that although wealthier people tend to be happier than poor people in the same country, the average happiness levels within a country remained unchanged even as the country’s overall wealth increased.

The inconsistent relationship between happiness and income and its sensitivity to critical income thresholds make this topic so interesting.

There is some evidence that wealthier countries are happier than others, but only when comparing the wealthy with the poor (Easterlin, 1974; Graham, 2005).

As countries become wealthier, citizens report higher happiness, but this relationship is strongest when the starting point is poverty. Above a certain income threshold, happiness no longer increases (Diener et al., 1993).

Interestingly, people tend to agree on the amount of money needed to make them happy; but beyond a certain value, there is little increase in happiness (Haesevoets et al., 2022).

Measurement challenges

Measuring happiness accurately and reliably is challenging. Researchers disagree on what happiness means.

It is not the norm in economics to measure happiness by directly asking a participant how happy they are; instead, happiness is inferred through:

Subjective wellbeing (Clark, 2018; Easterlin, 2004)
A combination of happiness and life satisfaction (Bruni, 2007)

Furthermore, happiness can refer to an acute psychological state, such as feeling happy after a nice meal, or a lasting state similar to contentment (Nettle, 2005).

Researchers might use different definitions of happiness and ways to measure it, thus leading to contradictory results. For example, happiness might be used synonymously with subjective wellbeing and can refer to several things, including life satisfaction and financial satisfaction (Diener & Oishi, 2000).

It seems contradictory that wealthier nations are not happier overall than poorer nations and that increasing the wealth of poorer nations does not guarantee that their happiness will increase too. What could then be done to increase happiness?

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What is the relationship between income/wealth and happiness? To answer that question, we looked at studies to see where and how money improves happiness, but we’ll also consider the limitations to the positive effect of income.

Money buys access; jobs boost happiness

Overwhelming evidence shows that wealth is correlated with measures of wellbeing.

Wealthier people have access to better healthcare, education, and employment, which in turn results in higher life satisfaction (Helliwell et al., 2012). A certain amount of wealth is needed to meet basic needs, and satisfying these needs improves happiness (Veenhoven & Ehrhardt, 1995).

Increasing happiness through improved quality of life is highest for poor households, but this is explained by the starting point. Access to essential services improves the quality of life, and in turn, this improves measures of wellbeing.

Most people gain wealth through employment; however, it is not just wealth that improves happiness; instead, employment itself has an important association with happiness. Happiness and employment are also significantly correlated with each other (Helliwell et al., 2021).

Lockdown on happiness

The World Happiness Report (Helliwell et al., 2021) reports that unemployment increased during the COVID-19 pandemic, and this was accompanied by a marked decline in happiness and optimism.

The pandemic also changed how we evaluated certain aspects of our lives; for example, the relationship between income and happiness declined. After all, what is the use of money if you can’t spend it? In contrast, the association between happiness and having a partner increased (Helliwell et al., 2021).

Wealthier states smile more, but is it real?

World_Happiness_Report_2020_-_Ranking_of_Happiness_2017-2019_-_Top_20_Countries

If we took a snapshot of happiness and a country’s wealth, we would find that richer countries tend to have happier populations than poorer countries.

For example, based on the 2021 World Happiness Report, the top five happiest countries — which are also wealthy countries — are Finland, Iceland, Denmark, Switzerland, and the Netherlands (Helliwell et al., 2021).

In contrast, the unhappiest countries are those that tend to be emerging markets or have a lower gross domestic product (GDP), e.g., Zimbabwe, Tanzania, and India (Graham, 2005; Helliwell et al., 2021).

At face value, this makes sense: Poorer countries most likely have other factors associated with them, e.g., higher unemployment, more crime, and less political stability. So, based on this cross-sectional data, a country’s wealth and happiness levels appear to be correlated. However, over a more extended period, the relationship between happiness and GDP is nil (Easterlin, 2004).

That is, the subjective wellbeing of a population does not increase as a country becomes richer. Even though the wealth of various countries worldwide has increased over time, the overall happiness levels have not increased similarly or have remained static (Kahneman et al., 2006). This is known as a happiness–income paradox.

Easterlin (2004) posits four explanations for this finding:

Societal and individual gains associated with increased wealth are concentrated among the extremely wealthy.
Our degree of happiness is informed by how we compare to other people, and this relative comparison does not change as country-wide wealth increases.
Happiness is not limited to only wealth and financial status, but is affected by other societal and political factors, such as crime, education, and trust in the government.
Long-term satisfaction and contentment differ from short-term, acute happiness.

Kahneman et al. (2006) provide an alternative explanation centered on the method typically used by researchers. Specifically, they argue that the order of the questions asked to measure happiness and how these questions are worded have a focusing effect. Through the question, the participant’s attention to their happiness is sharpened — like a lens in a camera — and their happiness needs to be over- or underestimated.

Kahneman et al. (2006) also point out that job advancements like a raise or a promotion are often accompanied by an increase in salary and work hours. Consequently, high-paying jobs often result in less leisure time available to spend with family or on hobbies and can cause more unhappiness.

Not all that glitters is gold

Extensive research explored whether a sudden financial windfall was associated with a spike in happiness (e.g., Sherman et al., 2020). The findings were mixed. Sometimes, having more money is associated with increased life satisfaction and improved physical and mental health.

This boost in happiness, however, is not guaranteed, nor is it long. Sometimes, individuals even wish it had never happened (Brickman et al., 1978; Sherman et al., 2020).

Consider lottery winners. These people win sizable sums of money — typically more extensive than a salary increase — large enough to impact their lives significantly. Despite this, research has consistently shown that although lottery winners report higher immediate, short-term happiness, they do not experience higher long-term happiness (Sherman et al., 2020).

Here are some reasons for this:

Previous everyday activities and experiences become less enjoyable when compared to a unique, unusual experience like winning the lottery.
People habituate to their new lifestyle.
A sudden increase in wealth can disrupt social relationships among friends and family members.
Work and hobbies typically give us small nuggets of joy over a more extended period (Csikszentmihalyi et al., 2005). These activities can lose their meaning over a longer period, resulting in more unhappiness (Sherman et al., 2020; Brickman et al., 1978).

Sherman et al. (2020) further argue that lottery winners who decide to quit their job after winning, but do not fill this newly available time with some type of meaningful hobby or interest, are also more likely to become unhappy.

Passive activities do not provide the same happiness as work or hobbies. Instead, if lottery winners continue to take part in activities that give them meaning and require active engagement, then they can avoid further unhappiness.

Happiness: Is it temperature or climate?

Like most psychological research, part of the challenge is clearly defining the topic of investigation — a task made more daunting when the topic falls within two very different fields.

Nettle (2005) describes happiness as a three-tiered concept, ranging from short-lived but intense on one end of the spectrum to more abstract and deep on the other.

The first tier refers to transitory feelings of joy, like when one opens up a birthday present.

The second tier describes judgments about feelings, such as feeling satisfied with your job. The third tier is more complex and refers to life satisfaction.

Across research, different definitions are used: Participants are asked about feelings of (immediate) joy, overall life satisfaction, moments of happiness or satisfaction, and mental wellbeing . The concepts are similar but not identical, thus influencing the results.

Most books on happiness economics are textbooks. Although no doubt very interesting, they’re not the easy-reading books we prefer to recommend.

Instead, below you will find a range of books written by economists that explore happiness. These should provide a good springboard on the overall topic of happiness and what influences it, in case any of our readers want to pick up a more in-depth textbook afterward.

If you have a happiness book you would recommend, please let us know in the comments section.

1. Happiness: Lessons from a New Science – Richard Layard

Richard Layard, a lead economist based in London, explores in his book if and how money can affect happiness.

Layard does an excellent job of introducing topics from various fields and framing them appropriately for the reader.

The book is aimed at readers from varying academic and professional backgrounds, so no experience is needed to enjoy it.

Find the book on Amazon .

2. Happiness by Design: Change What You Do, Not How You Think – Paul Dolan

This book has a more practical spin. The author explains how we can use existing research and theories to make small changes to increase our happiness.

Paul Dolan’s primary thesis is that practical things will have a bigger effect than abstract methods, and we should change our behavior rather than our thinking.

The book is a quick read (airport-perfect!), and Daniel Kahneman penned the foreword.

3. The Psychology of Money: Timeless Lessons on Wealth, Greed and Happiness – Morgan Housel

This book is not necessarily about happiness economics, but it is close enough to the overall theme that it is worth mentioning.

Since most people are concerned with making more money, this book helps teach the reader why we make the decisions we do and how we make better decisions about our money.

This book is a worthwhile addition to any bookcase if you are interested in the relationship between finances and psychology in general.

4. Happiness: The Science Behind Your Smile – Daniel Nettle

If you are interested in happiness overall, then we recommend Happiness: The Science Behind Your Smile by Daniel Nettle, a professor of behavioral science at Newcastle University.

In this book, he takes a scientific approach to explaining happiness, starting with an in-depth exploration of the definition of happiness and some of its challenges.

The research that he presents comes from various fields, including social sciences, medicine, neurobiology, and economics.

Because of its small size, this book is perfect for a weekend away or to read on a plane.

5 & 6. Prefer to listen rather than read?

One of our favorite podcasts is Intelligence2, where leading experts in a particular field gather to debate a particular topic.

This show’s host, Dr. Laurie Santos, argues that we can increase our happiness by not hoarding our money for ourselves but by giving it to others instead. If you are interested in this episode , or any of the other episodes in the Happiness Lab podcast series, then head on over to their page.

There are several resources available at PositivePsychology.com for our readers to use in their professional and personal development.

In this section, you’ll find a few that should supplement any work on happiness and economics. Since the undercurrent of the topic is whether happiness can be improved through wealth, a few resources look at happiness overall.

Valued Living Masterclass

Although knowledge is power, knowing that money does not guarantee happiness does not mean that clients will suddenly feel fulfilled and satisfied with their lives.

For this reason, we recommend the Valued Living Masterclass , for professionals to help their clients find meaning in their lives. Rather than keeping up with the Joneses or chasing a high-paying job, professionals can help their clients connect with their inner meaning (i.e., their why ) as a way to find meaning and gain happiness.

Three free exercises

If you want to try it out before committing, look at the Meaning & Valued Living exercise pack , which includes three exercises for free.

17 Happines Exercises

If you’re looking for more science-based ways to help others develop strategies to boost their wellbeing, this collection contains 17 validated happiness and wellbeing exercises . Use them to help others pursue authentic happiness and work toward a life filled with purpose and meaning

17 Exercises To Increase Happiness and Wellbeing

Add these 17 Happiness & Subjective Well-Being Exercises [PDF] to your toolkit and help others experience greater purpose, meaning, and positive emotions.

Created by Experts. 100% Science-based.

As you’ve seen in our article, the evidence overwhelmingly clarifies that money does not guarantee more happiness … well, long-term happiness.

Our happiness is relative since we compare ourselves to other people, and over time, as we become accustomed to our wealth, we lose all the happiness gains we made.

Money can ease financial and social difficulties; consequently, it can drastically improve people’s living conditions, life expectancy, and education.

Improvements in these outcomes have a knock-on effect on the overall experience of one’s life and the opportunities for one’s family and children. Nevertheless, better opportunities do not guarantee happiness.

Our intention with this post was to illustrate some complexities surrounding the relationship between money and happiness.

Knowing that money does not guarantee happiness, we recommend less expensive methods to improve one’s happiness:

Spend time with friends.
Cultivate hobbies and interests.
Stay active and eat healthy.
Try to live a meaningful life.
Give some love (go smooch your partner or tickle your dog’s belly).

Diamonds might be a girl’s best friend, but money is a fair weather one, at best.

We hope you enjoyed reading this article. Don’t forget to download our three Happiness Exercises for free .

Brickman, P., Coates, D., & Janoff-Bulman, R. (1978). Lottery winners and accident victims: Is happiness relative? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology , 36 (8), 917.
Bruni, L. (2007). Handbook on the economics of happiness . Edward Elgar.
Clark, A. E. (2018). Four decades of the economics of happiness: Where next? Review of Income and Wealth , 64 (2), 245–269.
Csikszentmihalyi, M., Abuhamdeh, S., & Nakamura, J. (2005). Flow. In A. J. Elliot & C. S. Dweck (Eds.), Handbook of competence and motivation (pp. 598–608). Guilford Publications.
Diener, E., Sandvik, E., Seidlitz, L., & Diener, M. (1993). The relationship between income and subjective well-being: Relative or absolute? Social Indicators Research , 28 , 195–223.
Diener, E., & Oishi, S. (2000). Money and happiness: Income and subjective well-being across nations. Culture and Subjective Well-Being , 185 , 218.
DiMaria, C. H., Peroni, C., & Sarracino, F. (2020). Happiness matters: Productivity gains from subjective well-being. Journal of Happiness Studies , 21 (1), 139–160.
Easterlin, R. A. (1974). Does economic growth improve the human lot? Some empirical evidence. In P. A. David & M. W. Reder (Eds.), Nations and households in economic growth: Essays in honor of Moses Abramovitz (pp. 89–125). Academic Press.
Easterlin, R. A. (2004). The economics of happiness. Daedalus , 133 (2), 26–33.
Graham, C. (2005). The economics of happiness. World Economics , 6 (3), 41–55.
Haesevoets, T., Dierckx, K., & Van Hiel, A. (2022). Do people believe that you can have too much money? The relationship between hypothetical lottery wins and expected happiness. Judgment and Decision Making , 17 (6), 1229–1254.
Helliwell, J., Layard, R., & Sachs, J. (Eds.) (2012). World happiness report . The Earth Institute, Columbia University.
Helliwell, J. F., Layard, R., Sachs, J. D., & Neve, J. E. D. (2021). World happiness report 2021 .
Kahneman, D., Krueger, A. B., Schkade, D., Schwarz, N., & Stone, A. A. (2006). Would you be happier if you were richer? A focusing illusion. Science , 312 (5782), 1908–1910.
Nettle, D. (2005). Happiness: The science behind your smile . Oxford University Press.
Sherman, A., Shavit, T., & Barokas, G. (2020). A dynamic model on happiness and exogenous wealth shock: The case of lottery winners. Journal of Happiness Studies , 21 , 117–137.
Steptoe, A. (2019). Happiness and health. Annual Review of Public Health , 40 , 339–359.
Veenhoven, R., & Ehrhardt, J. (1995). The cross-national pattern of happiness: Test of predictions implied in three theories of happiness. Social Indicators Research , 34 , 33–68.

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More Proof That Money Can Buy Happiness (or a Life with Less Stress)

When we wonder whether money can buy happiness, we may consider the luxuries it provides, like expensive dinners and lavish vacations. But cash is key in another important way: It helps people avoid many of the day-to-day hassles that cause stress, new research shows.

Money can provide calm and control, allowing us to buy our way out of unforeseen bumps in the road, whether it’s a small nuisance, like dodging a rainstorm by ordering up an Uber, or a bigger worry, like handling an unexpected hospital bill, says Harvard Business School professor Jon Jachimowicz.

“If we only focus on the happiness that money can bring, I think we are missing something,” says Jachimowicz, an assistant professor of business administration in the Organizational Behavior Unit at HBS. “We also need to think about all of the worries that it can free us from.”

The idea that money can reduce stress in everyday life and make people happier impacts not only the poor, but also more affluent Americans living at the edge of their means in a bumpy economy. Indeed, in 2019, one in every four Americans faced financial scarcity, according to the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. The findings are particularly important now, as inflation eats into the ability of many Americans to afford basic necessities like food and gas, and COVID-19 continues to disrupt the job market.

Buying less stress

The inspiration for researching how money alleviates hardships came from advice that Jachimowicz’s father gave him. After years of living as a struggling graduate student, Jachimowicz received his appointment at HBS and the financial stability that came with it.

“My father said to me, ‘You are going to have to learn how to spend money to fix problems.’” The idea stuck with Jachimowicz, causing him to think differently about even the everyday misfortunes that we all face.

To test the relationship between cash and life satisfaction, Jachimowicz and his colleagues from the University of Southern California, Groningen University, and Columbia Business School conducted a series of experiments, which are outlined in a forthcoming paper in the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science , The Sharp Spikes of Poverty: Financial Scarcity Is Related to Higher Levels of Distress Intensity in Daily Life .

Higher income amounts to lower stress

In one study, 522 participants kept a diary for 30 days, tracking daily events and their emotional responses to them. Participants’ incomes in the previous year ranged from less than $10,000 to $150,000 or more. They found:

Money reduces intense stress: There was no significant difference in how often the participants experienced distressing events—no matter their income, they recorded a similar number of daily frustrations. But those with higher incomes experienced less negative intensity from those events.
More money brings greater control : Those with higher incomes felt they had more control over negative events and that control reduced their stress. People with ample incomes felt more agency to deal with whatever hassles may arise.
Higher incomes lead to higher life satisfaction: People with higher incomes were generally more satisfied with their lives.

“It’s not that rich people don’t have problems,” Jachimowicz says, “but having money allows you to fix problems and resolve them more quickly.”

Why cash matters

In another study, researchers presented about 400 participants with daily dilemmas, like finding time to cook meals, getting around in an area with poor public transportation, or working from home among children in tight spaces. They then asked how participants would solve the problem, either using cash to resolve it, or asking friends and family for assistance. The results showed:

People lean on family and friends regardless of income: Jachimowicz and his colleagues found that there was no difference in how often people suggested turning to friends and family for help—for example, by asking a friend for a ride or asking a family member to help with childcare or dinner.
Cash is the answer for people with money: The higher a person’s income, however, the more likely they were to suggest money as a solution to a hassle, for example, by calling an Uber or ordering takeout.

While such results might be expected, Jachimowicz says, people may not consider the extent to which the daily hassles we all face create more stress for cash-strapped individuals—or the way a lack of cash may tax social relationships if people are always asking family and friends for help, rather than using their own money to solve a problem.

“The question is, when problems come your way, to what extent do you feel like you can deal with them, that you can walk through life and know everything is going to be OK,” Jachimowicz says.

Breaking the ‘shame spiral’

In another recent paper , Jachimowicz and colleagues found that people experiencing financial difficulties experience shame, which leads them to avoid dealing with their problems and often makes them worse. Such “shame spirals” stem from a perception that people are to blame for their own lack of money, rather than external environmental and societal factors, the research team says.

“We have normalized this idea that when you are poor, it’s your fault and so you should be ashamed of it,” Jachimowicz says. “At the same time, we’ve structured society in a way that makes it really hard on people who are poor.”

For example, Jachimowicz says, public transportation is often inaccessible and expensive, which affects people who can’t afford cars, and tardy policies at work often penalize people on the lowest end of the pay scale. Changing those deeply-engrained structures—and the way many of us think about financial difficulties—is crucial.

After all, society as a whole may feel the ripple effects of the financial hardships some people face, since financial strain is linked with lower job performance, problems with long-term decision-making, and difficulty with meaningful relationships, the research says. Ultimately, Jachimowicz hopes his work can prompt thinking about systemic change.

“People who are poor should feel like they have some control over their lives, too. Why is that a luxury we only afford to rich people?” Jachimowicz says. “We have to structure organizations and institutions to empower everyone.”

[Image: iStockphoto/mihtiander]

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Does Money Buy Happiness? Here’s What the Research Says

March 28, 2023 • 5 min read.

Reconciling previously contradictory results, researchers from Wharton and Princeton find a steady association between larger incomes and greater happiness for most people but a rise and plateau for an unhappy minority.

Person running over stacks of money to illustrate whether money can buy happiness

Finance & Accounting

The following article was originally published on Penn Today .

Does money buy happiness? Though it seems like a straightforward question, research had previously returned contradictory findings, leaving uncertainty about its answer.

Foundational work published in 2010 from Princeton University’s Daniel Kahneman and Angus Deaton had found that day-to-day happiness rose as annual income increased, but above $75,000 it leveled off and happiness plateaued. In contrast, work published in 2021 from the University of Pennsylvania’s Matthew Killingsworth found that happiness rose steadily with income well beyond $75,000, without evidence of a plateau.

To reconcile the differences, Kahneman and Killingsworth paired up in what’s known as an adversarial collaboration, joining forces with Penn Integrates Knowledge University Professor Barbara Mellers as arbiter. In a new Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences paper , the trio shows that, on average, larger incomes are associated with ever-increasing levels of happiness. Zoom in, however, and the relationship becomes more complex, revealing that within that overall trend, an unhappy cohort in each income group shows a sharp rise in happiness up to $100,000 annually and then plateaus.

“In the simplest terms, this suggests that for most people larger incomes are associated with greater happiness,” says Killingsworth, a senior fellow at Wharton and lead paper author. “The exception is people who are financially well-off but unhappy. For instance, if you’re rich and miserable, more money won’t help. For everyone else, more money was associated with higher happiness to somewhat varying degrees.”

Mellers digs into this last notion, noting that emotional well-being and income aren’t connected by a single relationship. “The function differs for people with different levels of emotional well-being,” she says. Specifically, for the least happy group, happiness rises with income until $100,000, then shows no further increase as income grows. For those in the middle range of emotional well-being, happiness increases linearly with income, and for the happiest group the association actually accelerates above $100,000.

Joining Forces to Ask: “Does Money Buy Happiness?”

The researchers began this combined effort recognizing that their previous work had drawn different conclusions. Kahneman’s 2010 study showed a flattening pattern where Killingsworth’s 2021 study did not. As its name suggests, an adversarial collaboration of this type — a notion originated by Kahneman — aims to solve scientific disputes or disagreements by bringing together the differing parties, along with a third-party mediator.

Killingsworth, Kahneman, and Mellers focused on a new hypothesis that both a happy majority and an unhappy minority exist. For the former, they surmised, happiness keeps rising as more money comes in; the latter’s happiness improves as income rises but only up to a certain income threshold, after which it progresses no further.

To test this new hypothesis, they looked for the flattening pattern in data from Killingworth’s study, which he had collected through an app he created called Track Your Happiness. Several times a day, the app pings participants at random moments, asking a variety of questions including how they feel on a scale from “very good” to “very bad.” Taking an average of the person’s happiness and income, Killingsworth draws conclusions about how the two variables are linked.

A breakthrough in the new partnership came early on when the researchers realized that the 2010 data, which had revealed the happiness plateau, had actually been measuring unhappiness in particular rather than happiness in general.

“It’s easiest to understand with an example,” Killingsworth says. Imagine a cognitive test for dementia that most healthy people pass easily. While such a test could detect the presence and severity of cognitive dysfunction, it wouldn’t reveal much about general intelligence since most healthy people would receive the same perfect score.

“In the same way, the 2010 data showing a plateau in happiness had mostly perfect scores, so it tells us about the trend in the unhappy end of the happiness distribution, rather than the trend of happiness in general. Once you recognize that, the two seemingly contradictory findings aren’t necessarily incompatible,” Killingsworth says. “And what we found bore out that possibility in an incredibly beautiful way. When we looked at the happiness trend for unhappy people in the 2021 data, we found exactly the same pattern as was found in 2010; happiness rises relatively steeply with income and then plateaus.”

“The two findings that seemed utterly contradictory actually result from data that are amazingly consistent,” he says.

Does It Matter Whether Money Can Buy Happiness?

Drawing these conclusions would have been challenging had the two research teams not come together, says Mellers, who suggests there’s no better way than adversarial collaborations to resolve scientific conflict.

“This kind of collaboration requires far greater self-discipline and precision in thought than the standard procedure,” she says. “Collaborating with an adversary — or even a non-adversary — is not easy, but both parties are likelier to recognize the limits of their claims.” Indeed, that’s what happened, leading to a better understanding of the relationship between money and happiness.

And these findings have real-world implications, according to Killingsworth. For one, they could inform thinking about tax rates or how to compensate employees. And, of course, they matter to individuals as they navigate career choices or weigh a larger income against other priorities in life, Killingsworth says.

However, he adds that for emotional well-being money isn’t the be all end all. “Money is just one of the many determinants of happiness,” he says. “Money is not the secret to happiness, but it can probably help a bit.”

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When and How Money Buys Happiness

A new study investigates the effects of money-making motives on mental health..

Posted January 22, 2022 | Reviewed by Devon Frye

The relationship between money and happiness is complicated and may depend on a person’s financial situation and how the money is used.
Money buys happiness for people who are unable to meet their basic needs (e.g., for food, shelter, clothing).
Beyond meeting basic needs, more money increases happiness only if used to satisfy psychological needs (e.g., autonomy, competence, relatedness).

Does money buy happiness ? It depends. If you are poor and unable to afford basic necessities (e.g., food, shelter, clothes), then yes. But if you already have millions of dollars in the bank, whether more money will make you happier depends on how the additional money is spent.

For instance, materialists often end up spending money in ways that do not increase their happiness. Materialism refers to a value or belief system that gives greater importance to worldly ambitions and owning possessions. Using money to acquire material possessions for their own sake , however, is less likely to increase happiness than spending money to satisfy psychological needs — increasing one’s autonomy , building strong social bonds, learning new things, using one’s skills, etc.

So to understand the relationship between money and happiness, it's important to understand the reasons or motives for desiring wealth (i.e. I want more money to spend on... what ?) Building on previous research, a recent study uses self-determination theory to explore money-making motives, the impact of motives on well-being and mental health, and whether it is possible to promote “healthy reasons” for making money. This investigation, by researchers Manganelli and Forest, is to be published in the February 2022 issue of Applied Research in Quality of Life .

Investigating the Link Between Money and Happiness

Sample: 633 (66 percent women); average age of 34 years old.

Measures: Motives for Making Money Scale, which measures ten motives for making money. These motives are listed below (with sample items in parentheses):

Charity (To donate money to those who need it.)
Family support (To take care of the college education of my children.)
Freedom (To direct my own life with no interference from anyone else.)
Impulse (To spend money on impulse.)
Leisure (To spend time and money on my hobbies.)
Market worth (To get just compensation for my work.)
Overcoming self-doubt (To prove that I am not as dumb as some people assumed.)
Pride (To feel proud of myself.)
Security (To maintain a reasonable bank balance for emergencies.)
Social comparison (To have a house and cars that are better than those of my neighbors.)

Sample: 464 (55 percent women); average age of 31 years old.

Measures: Motives for Making Money Scale and five other measures, as described below.

Need satisfaction: The needs for autonomy (“I feel my choices express my true self”), competence (“I feel I can successfully complete difficult tasks”), and relatedness (“I feel close and connected with other people who are important to me”) were measured using the Balanced Measure of Psychological Needs Scale.
Need frustration: The frustration of the needs for autonomy (“I feel prevented from making choices with regard to the way I do things”), competence (“There are situations in which I am made to feel inadequate”), and relatedness (“I feel other people dislike me”) were evaluated using the Psychological Need Thwarting Scale.
Well-being: Positive affect (the frequency of experiencing positive emotions) was assessed using the short form of the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS-SF). General well-being was assessed with the Measure of Psychological Well-being (level of agreement with seven items such as “My life has meaning and purpose”).
Ill-being: The negative affect subscale of PANAS-SF assessed the frequency of experiencing negative emotions. In addition, symptoms of depression (e.g., fatigue, insomnia , poor appetite ) were measured using the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale short form.
Materialism: Assessed with the Materialistic Values Scale (level of agreement with nine items such as “I admire people who own expensive homes, cars, and clothes”).

The experimental group: 19 (15 women); average age of 41 years old.

The control group: 21 (12 women); average age of 24 years old.

Measures: Motives for Making Money Scale; in addition, a manipulation check was conducted to determine if the intervention (a workshop on motives for making money) had the expected effect. Specifically, participants in the experimental group were asked if the workshop had helped them identify their motives for making money, affected their spending habits, and changed their perception of money.

Healthy and Unhealthy Motives to Make Money

The research examined what motivates us to make money, the impact of these motives on mental health, and the possibility of encouraging people to adopt healthy motives for making money.

The first investigation concluded that money-making motives can be divided into three:

Self-integrated (including charity, freedom, market worth, pride, and leisure)
Non-integrated (including impulse, overcoming self-doubt, and social comparison)
Financial stability (including security and family support)

The second investigation found that self-integrated reasons for desiring money are associated with great satisfaction of psychological need for autonomy, competence, and relatedness—and thus with greater well-being. Amassing wealth for non-integrated reasons , in contrast, is associated with the frustration of psychological needs and greater ill-being.

The motive of financial stability was also linked with higher need satisfaction and well-being. Why? Perhaps because money spent to satisfy basic needs (for oneself and one’s family) often increases the sense of autonomy and competence and strengthens relationships, thus improving well-being.

Analysis of data indicated that need frustration explained the negative effects of materialism on mental health; however, these effects were “fully accounted for by the non-integrated motives for making money.” Specifically, materialism’s adverse effects on mental health occur because materialistic individuals tend to “spend money impulsively, especially to compensate for feelings of self-doubt as well as to appear better than others.”

Finally, findings from Study 3 suggest it may be possible to help people become more aware of their money motives and to discourage “non-integrated motives.” Study 3 had several limitations (e.g., small sample size), so the results await replication.

Money can buy happiness. This is true for two groups:

Those who cannot afford life’s basic necessities and want money to satisfy their physiological and safety needs (e.g., food, shelter, clothes).
Those who aim to use the money to satisfy their basic psychological needs—the need for autonomy, competence, and relatedness (e.g., to run their own business, master a skill, help a stranger).

Arash Emamzadeh attended the University of British Columbia in Canada, where he studied genetics and psychology. He has also done graduate work in clinical psychology and neuropsychology in U.S.

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Money, Happiness and Relationship Between Them Essay

Wealthy and poor can be equally unhappy, money cannot buy health, love, and friendship, earning money takes all of your time, money allows you to have what you want, money increases confidence, financial stability can consolidate the marriage, money can only buy happiness up to a certain point.

The research conducted in the different countries during which people were asked how satisfied they were with their lives clearly indicated the existence of a non-linear relationship between the amount of money and the size of happiness; if the money allows you to get out of the dire straits and enjoy the comfort of the middle class, it is possible that you will be happier; but it is unlikely you will experience something like this when there are millions and tens of millions dollars on your account.

Upon getting used to the money, wealthy people take it for granted; acquisition of goods does not bring as much content as it did, while the abundance of choices becomes tiresome. In this case, the amount of money does not affect the enjoyment of life; the general content with life depends on the various factors, such as health, family, the ability to take pleasure in ordinary activities, and so on. Although money can spare people from many problems, it cannot buy happiness.

Money itself is not able to make someone happy or unhappy. Monetary means only afford the opportunities, and these opportunities allow us to build the life that we want. Nevertheless, happiness is an inner state, and it does not depend on material wealth. One can be happy both with money and without it. Wealth itself is not able to bring happiness into your life; neither can poverty.

Although money allows purchasing medications and high-quality health services, it cannot buy health. Buying a comfortable bed will not buy healthy sleep. By paying money to a person, you will get an employee, but you cannot pay someone to be your friend. A big bright house can be bought, but the warmth of the family and the domestic hearth cannot.

People from wealthy families can graduate from any educational institution, even the most prestigious ones, but they cannot buy intelligence. With the money, you can have access to a variety of activities, but you cannot buy friendship and love. To summarize, “the consumption of durables, charity, personal care, food, health care, vehicles, and housing is not significantly associated with happiness” (DeLeire & Kalil, 2010).

Since money is time, wealthy people usually are quite busy. They spend all of their time working or supervising the work of their employees. Due to such a lifestyle, many of them do not have a family. If they are lucky to acquire one, it is very likely they will not have enough time to spend with their spouses and children.

The material benefits cannot be compared with the neglection the children experience when spending time with their nannies and private tutors instead of their parents. To justify themselves, parents tend to buy off with expensive toys and gadgets. Instead of family celebrations, trips to the country, and time happily spent together, and the children get new phones, tablet PCs, and branded clothing.

From the side, it may look like happiness, but the child, no matter how contemporary and tech-savvy he/she was, would be much happier taking a walk in the park with its parents. According to most economists, in order to be successful in the future, the children’s human capital requires the investment of both money and time (Mayer, 1997).

Money is a means with which people can afford high-quality food, medical care, as well as gym and fitness club membership. All of this helps them maintain their physical health. At the availability of funds, individuals can evolve intellectually, buy the necessary books, and earn a degree in the best universities around the world. With the necessary funds, people have the opportunity to travel, visit any places on the planet, get inspired, and develop the way they wish.

Money helps stimulate emotions that lead to positive results. For example, new clothes often make people more confident. The acquired self-confidence can help get the desired position, make a good bargain, or just add a little bit of abandon to your manner of walking. Money can buy fresh impressions and equipment, one’s favorite hobby.

Because of this, an individual develops his/her creativity and achieves balance. For those who are concerned about security, the availability of money on the bank account helps to gain confidence in the future, because these funds can be used to cover the unexpected expenses such as car repairs or an emergency medical care for a family member.

There are various examples when financial problems destroy the family. This statement was once again confirmed by Jeffrey Dew in his 2009 work, where he showed the relationship between financial problems and divorce. According to Dew’s research, couples with no assets were about 70 percent more likely to divorce over a three-year period compared to couples with assets of $10,000 (Dew, 2009).

What is more, being single and not having a partner casts many people down and drives them to despair; needless to say, a comfortable partnership becomes a source of happiness. In this case, money plays an important role in creating and maintaining good relations in marriage while minimizing stress. One can afford to hire a nanny, a charwoman, or other household staff in order to spend more time with the family and avoid being distracted by minor issues.

Despite this, one cannot just buy happiness itself. The work of Angus Deaton, the expert at Princeton University, and Daniel Kahneman showed that despite the fact that rich people have a more positive attitude to their life, there is no direct relationship between wealth and the emotional state of contentment (Kahneman & Deaton, 2010).

In addition, they found that the more significant performance measures of daily emotions are health, loneliness, smoking, but not money. The researchers argue that money can buy satisfaction but not happiness; however, the lack of sufficient funds has a negative influence on both.

Despite the fact that in the majority of cases, people associate happiness with material prosperity, it is the satisfaction with the financial situation, rather than happiness, that they feel. Although money has the capability of increasing one’s confidence, consolidating the matrimony as a result of financial stability and providing various opportunities for the development, it cannot buy true love, health, friendship, and faith of the people.

Sometimes, earning money may take all of one’s time, preventing the individual from building a relationship or spending time with its family and friends. In addition, money is not a guarantee of happiness, since people both with low and high income may be equally happy or unhappy.

DeLeire, T., & Kalil, A. (2010). Does consumption buy happiness? Evidence from the United States. International Review Of Economics , 57 (2), 163-176. Web.

Dew, J. (2009). Bank on It: Thrifty Couples are the Happiest . Web.

Kahneman, D., & Deaton, A. (2010). High income improves evaluation of life but not emotional well-being. Proceedings Of The National Academy Of Sciences , 107 (38), 16489-16493. Web.

Mayer, S. (1997). What Money Can’t Buy . Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.

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IvyPanda. (2024, February 29). Money, Happiness and Relationship Between Them. https://ivypanda.com/essays/money-happiness-and-relationship-between-them/

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IvyPanda . 2024. "Money, Happiness and Relationship Between Them." February 29, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/essays/money-happiness-and-relationship-between-them/.

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Bibliography

IvyPanda . "Money, Happiness and Relationship Between Them." February 29, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/essays/money-happiness-and-relationship-between-them/.

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Happiness Articles & More

Can money buy happiness it depends on why you’re spending it, according to new research, our purchases may make us happier when they're motivated by goals we care about..

Imagine that someone gives you a cash gift and tells you that, instead of saving or investing it, you need to spend it right now. What should you put your money toward if you want to make yourself happiest?

According to past research , we’ll be happier if we spend money on an experience than if we buy a material object—like traveling or going out for a meal instead of buying the latest product we see on social media. For example, people report more gratitude when they spend on experiences rather than possessions.

On the other hand, we can all probably think of times when we’ve spent money on an experience that ended up not being worth it. Maybe you bought pricey event tickets to avoid missing out, only to realize on the day of the event that you’d much prefer a cozy night at home. Or perhaps you went out to dinner with a friend at a fancy restaurant, only to find that your friend was more focused on posting the meal to Instagram than having a deep conversation.

It turns out that there might be another factor at play beyond whether we spend money on an experience or a material item: According to a new study published in the British Journal of Social Psychology , it may also matter how our purchases align with our goals.

In the study, researchers asked 452 participants in an online survey to describe a recent purchase. They were asked to write about something they had spent money on in the last three months (ranging from about $60 to $1,200), excluding everyday expenses such as bills and groceries. After describing it, people were asked to indicate the extent to which the purchase helped to fulfill different goals. They also noted how much they felt the purchase contributed to their happiness and life satisfaction.

According to self-determination theory , goals reflect our intrinsic and extrinsic motivations. Extrinsic goals are things that other people expect for us: for example, working hard at a job not because you’re passionate about the work, but because you need the money or want a high-status job to impress others. Intrinsic goals, on the other hand, are ones that we have a strong internal motivation to pursue. In the survey, extrinsic goals included gaining wealth or social status, whereas intrinsic ones included cultivating relationships, helping other people, and contributing to growth, learning, and development.

The researchers found that, the more a purchase reflected people’s intrinsic goals, the more they thought it improved their well-being. In other words, the greatest well-being occurred when people spent money on something that was personally important to them.

To compare this finding with past research, the current study also asked participants to indicate to what extent their purchase was an experience or a material item. As in past research, participants did report higher well-being from experiences. However, when the researchers looked at both factors together, they found that how much a purchase reflected intrinsic goals explained more of the differences in well-being than whether something was material or experiential.

So, what does this research mean for our spending habits? Olaya Moldes Andrés, lecturer at Cardiff University and the study’s author, points out that we’re under a lot of pressure to spend money these days; just think about the number of targeted ads you see each time you open social media. However, this pressure to spend has a downside: In past research , Moldes Andrés has found that people who are exposed to more materialistic messages have lower well-being.

Before purchasing something, she recommends pausing to think about the reason for our purchase, and what use we will get out of it. If we’re spending money on trying to impress people or project a certain image (in other words, extrinsic goals), the purchase may not actually be worth it.

So, next time you’re planning to buy something, take a moment to think about whether it’s something you’re buying because you feel it’s what’s expected of you—or whether it’s truly something that you want.

About the Author

Elizabeth Hopper

Elizabeth Hopper, Ph.D. , received her Ph.D. in psychology from UC Santa Barbara and currently works as a freelance science writer specializing in psychology and mental health.

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IELTS Practice Tests and Preparation Tips

Sample Essays

Sample essay: does money bring happiness?

by Manjusha Nambiar · Published April 7, 2014 · Updated April 23, 2024

IELTS essay prompt

Some people believe that money brings happiness; others are of the opinion that having too much money is a problem. Discuss both views and give your own opinion.

Sample response

Almost all of us are motivated by money. The only reason that most of us spend 8 to 10 hours at the workplace is to earn money. Money probably doesn’t bring happiness, but not having enough money to take care of our basic needs will seriously limit our happiness. No one wants to live in poverty and no one will lend to the poor.

Money helps us lead a comfortable life. It helps us provide the best possible education for our children. It ensures that our near and dear ones have access to medical attention whenever they need it. Having more money than you need is unlikely to increase your levels of happiness, but not having enough will definitely destroy your peace of mind.

There is a limit to the amount of money that we can spend on ourselves. Still, the richest among us have amassed wealth they or their progeny will never use in their lifetime. Still, they aren’t satisfied. They want more. That is the lure of money. It never makes people content. Those who don’t have it want to have it. Those who have it want to have even more of it. Unfortunately, in our pursuit of riches, we often forget to live. We forget to appreciate the little joys that make our lives worth living.

Having a lot of money is definitely a problem. It even threatens our safety and security and makes us the target of thieves. Look at the richest people. They can’t move around freely like you or I. They are always surrounded by their personal security guards and often live their entire lives in constant fear of getting attacked.

To conclude, money is unlikely to make us happy, but we must still earn enough. However, in our pursuit of riches, we must not lose our souls. True happiness comes from spiritual awakening. Money has hardly anything to do with it.

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Essay on Money And Happiness

Students are often asked to write an essay on Money And Happiness in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on Money And Happiness

Understanding money.

Money is like the coins and notes we use to buy things. It’s important because it helps us get what we need, like food and a place to live. People work to earn money, and they use it to pay for goods and services.

Can Money Buy Happiness?

Some people think having a lot of money makes you happy. It can buy toys, games, and vacations. But happiness isn’t just about things you can buy. It’s also about love, friendship, and good memories.

Happiness Without Money

True happiness often comes from non-money things like playing with friends, family hugs, and laughing. These moments create joy that lasts longer than the happiness from buying something.

Balance is Key

It’s good to have money for what we need. But it’s also important to enjoy simple pleasures. Finding a balance between money and happiness is like having enough ice cream: too little is sad, but too much can also make you sick.

250 Words Essay on Money And Happiness

Money’s role in happiness.

Many people believe that having a lot of money can make them happy. It’s true that money can buy things we need and want. With enough money, we can have a comfortable house, good food, and fun toys. It also lets us do things like travel and go to movies, which can make us feel joyful.

But Does Money Guarantee Happiness?

The answer is not so simple. After we have enough money for basic needs, extra money doesn’t always mean extra happiness. Think about it like a favorite dessert: the first bite is delicious, but after a while, you can’t eat anymore. Similarly, once we have enough money, more of it doesn’t make us much happier.

Other Important Things for Happiness

Happiness isn’t just about money. It’s also about having friends, family, and good health. Playing with friends, spending time with family, and running around outside can make us very happy. These things don’t need a lot of money but are very valuable for our happiness.

Money as a Tool

We should think of money as a tool. It can help us get things that make life easier and more fun. But it’s not the only thing that creates happiness. Being kind, having good relationships, and enjoying simple pleasures are also key to feeling happy.

In conclusion, money can help with happiness, but it’s not the whole story. Being with loved ones and taking care of our health are just as important. Remember, smiles are free, and often, they are the best sign of happiness.

500 Words Essay on Money And Happiness

Understanding money and happiness.

Many people talk about how important money is, and others say happiness is the key to life. But what is the real connection between money and being happy? This essay will explore the relationship between these two things in a simple way.

Money is like a tool, something you use to buy things you need or want. Just like a hammer helps you build a house, money helps you get food, a place to live, clothes, and toys. It’s easy to think that having more money means you can buy more things, and that will make you happier. To some extent, this is true because if you don’t have enough money for basic needs, life can be very hard and stressful.

Happiness Beyond Basics

Once you have enough money for the basics, like food and a safe home, having extra money doesn’t always make you a lot happier. This is because happiness often comes from things that you can’t buy with money. For example, spending time with family and friends, playing outside, and doing things you love can make you feel happy, and they don’t always need money.

The Limits of Money

Even though money can buy lots of things, it can’t buy everything. For example, money can’t buy love or friendship. You can’t use money to make someone care about you or to have a true friend. Also, if you focus too much on getting money, you might miss out on fun times with people you care about.

Being Wise with Money

Being smart about how you use money is important. If you only buy things you really need or that will truly make you happy, you can save your money for important things in the future, like education or adventures. Also, sharing your money by helping others can make you feel good inside, which is a special kind of happiness.

Money Can’t Solve Everything

Sometimes, no matter how much money you have, there are problems that money can’t fix. If you’re feeling sad or have a problem with a friend, buying something new might make you feel better for a little while, but it won’t fix the real problem. Talking to someone you trust, like a parent or teacher, can help more than spending money.

Finding Balance

The secret is finding a balance between having enough money to take care of your needs and finding happiness in things that don’t cost money. It’s like having a cake – money can buy the ingredients, but the fun of baking and eating it with friends is where the real happiness is.

In the end, money is important because it helps us live comfortably and gives us a chance to do things we enjoy. But it’s not the only thing that makes us happy. Real happiness often comes from love, friendship, and doing things that make us feel proud and excited. So, while money is a helpful tool, it’s not the only path to happiness. Remember, the best things in life aren’t things you can buy, but moments you share with others and experiences that make you smile.

That’s it! I hope the essay helped you.

If you’re looking for more, here are essays on other interesting topics:

Essay on Modesty
Essay on Modernism
Essay on Modern Transportation

Apart from these, you can look at all the essays by clicking here .

Happy studying!

Essay on Money and Happiness

Introduction

Money is an aspect that determines one’s happiness in different circumstances, depending on what it does to one. The wellbeing of an individual is typically associated with his/her happiness. Money is a means of exchange and can be used to make individuals happy upon expenditure (Yıldız, 2016). For instance, one can use money to raise his/her standards of living to a level that satisfies them. Various communities in the world have different lifestyles that are adored by most members of the society. It is essential to examine the relationship between money and happiness among members of the society. Money makes life easy by providing basics that are important for happiness and satisfaction (Yıldız, 2016). For instance, one can use money to buy medicine, educate people, and even create a serene environment for relaxation. Such aspects make money have an attachment to happiness. However, it is not necessarily true that money brings joy in an individual as it leads to crime and insecurity.

Problem Statement

Happiness is essential even amongst employees of any company as it can ensure the retention of top skilled staff. In most situations, when people are accorded high pay and other monetary related rewards, they tend to do better in their operations. Equally, individuals living in abject poverty might lack the necessary resources to obtain basics that are meant for survival. As for the rich, one can buy anything that makes them happy at whatever price (D’Ambrosio, Jäntti & Lepinteur, 2019). The fact that money evokes a spirit of happiness in many individuals is true even though it makes some to cry in the end. The study explores the role of money in making people happy or sad in life. It is also important to note that some people re happy even though they do not have much money or richness with them.

Happiness implies a situation where one’s life is good and that the individuals are comfortable with the state of life. Materialistic aspects within the society support happiness, and money is one significant material factor. It is through money that families go on holiday to have fun with their loved ones (D’Ambrosio, Jäntti & Lepinteur, 2019). People within the society have different perceptions of money and what it does to make one happy. A background check on the topic of discussion will be necessary to establish facts that other researchers have presented in regards to money and happiness.

The study seeks to explore the role of money in boosting happiness within the society.

Supporting Evidence

Money makes life comfortable when spending fits one’s personality according to research conducted by Matz, Gladstone, and Stillwell. In the year 2016, the research echoed the role of money in providing the necessary support in life to make one happy. Money buys food for everyone, and lack of enough of it can make one go hungry (Matz, Gladstone & Stillwell, 2016). For instance, some individuals suffer from conditions that require the taking of specified meals. Such meals are expensive, making it hard for many people to manage without enough money. Most people who live in poverty cannot finance healthy meals three times a day. Eating a meal of choice is essential to each individual within the society, which is a source of happiness. Money has a close relationship with happiness as it provides meals of choice (Muresan, Ciumas & Achim, 2019). When one wants to take a specific meal, they can purchase the food by using money. Money is an essential element for nurturing a well-fed and happy society.

The second aspect that makes money important in creating happiness is the fact that it can deliver a serene environment. With money, an individual creates and modifies the environment to suit preferences and tastes. Hotels and resorts make money from creating cool environments for vacation and relaxing (Mogilner & Norton, 2016). Such environments are expensive and meant for the rich in society, creating a notion that money is the sole source of happiness. Spending the right way during vacation is a source of happiness for many, making money a significant factor for anyone on holiday. A serene environment allows one to relax and reflect on personal issues that are affecting one’s life. Equally, money enables one to construct a self-contained homestead with the features of preference put in place. Money is an essential aspect as it enables one to purchase construction materials for the building of a home (Mogilner & Norton, 2016). Individuals with enough of the resources end up constructing beautiful homes that spark a feeling of happiness among the residents.

Some diseases require money to heal as the medicine involved is expensive. Chronic diseases are expensive to handle, and the vulnerable in society might not be in a position to handle outbreaks due to the expensive procedures involved (Mogilner & Norton, 2016). For instance, cancer is an issue that has plagued many poor societies as the drugs for treatment are expensive for the poor. As such, with a limited amount of money, one might fail to access the necessary care meant to cure a specific condition. In the event, family members are denied happiness as such cases end up fatal (Bartolini, Mikucka & Sarracino, 2017). Money is a critical aspect that can help fight deadly diseases, especially when the therapy involved and drugs are expensive. When n individual lacks enough resources to go for medical care, there is a likelihood that they will pass on, which deprives family members of their happiness (Bartolini, Mikucka & Sarracino, 2017). It is important to examine the role of money in helping fight chronic diseases and other deadly outbreaks within the society.

Money has promoted education and civilization in various societies on a global front. It is through money that one can access quality education to transform the society. People from poor backgrounds are disadvantaged for the lack of enough resources to provide the required education. The rich have the opportunity to educate their children in international institutions that nurture talent and professionalism (Bartolini, Mikucka & Sarracino, 2017). The poor do not get the opportunity to quality education, a factor widening the rift between the rich and the poor. Through quality education, an individual gains satisfaction, which is a prerequisite for happiness among many.

Refuting Argument

Money is not the source of happiness in the world s some could argue. This is because money has made many lose their lives in the event of looking for money. The existence of the rich and the poor within the society is an indication that money is not everything. Crime cases have gone up due to the love of money. Happiness can arise from within, and one does not have to be rich to enjoy life (Muresan, Ciumas & Achim, 2019). The love for money has made many people commit crimes in the name of searching for money. As such, one can presume that money is the source of the high crime rates experienced in many countries. Criminals cannot stop at anything until they obtain money illegally from an individual. Happiness can be obtained through inner satisfaction on various matters(Muresan, Ciumas & Achim, 2019)It does not have to be money that is used to make one comfortable.

The love for money has escalated to another level to the extent of a society losing its morality. People are concerned with looking for money as a source of happiness, even though they end up being frustrated. There are many individuals across the world with purchasing power, however, the money does not deliver the desired happiness. The society has lost moral standards due to the increased evils associated with money (Muresan, Ciumas & Achim, 2019). People go as far as killing for money, a factor that depicts the society as eroded with ethical values. Money has led to the erosion of humanity, which has bred hatred and unwanted conflicts within the society. Money should not be seen as the source of happiness but can be used to make one comfortable.

To sum it up, money and happiness are two aspects that are interrelated as one provides more comfort. It is important to examine various ways that many can create happiness within an individual. Money enables individuals to buy food, accommodation, drugs, and fund educational activities within the society. In the event, one meets his/her needs using money, which is a significant factor in sparkling happiness. However, the love of money has been the source of all evil, including crime, corruption, and embezzlement of funds. Money sparks happiness but does not guarantee happiness for anyone within the society.

Bartolini, S., Mikucka, M., & Sarracino, F. (2017). Money, trust and happiness in transition countries: evidence from time series. Social indicators research , 130 (1), 87-106.

D’Ambrosio, C., Jäntti, M., & Lepinteur, A. (2019). Money and Happiness: Income, Wealth and Subjective Well-being. Social Indicators Research , 1-20.

Matz, S. C., Gladstone, J. J., & Stillwell, D. (2016). Money buys happiness when spending fits our personality. Psychological science , 27 (5), 715-725.

Mogilner, C., & Norton, M. I. (2016). Time, money, and happiness. Current Opinion in Psychology , 10 , 12-16.

Muresan, G. M., Ciumas, C., & Achim, M. V. (2019). Can money buy happiness? Evidence for European Countries. Applied Research in Quality of Life , 1-18.

Yıldız, H. (2016). The Relation between Money and Happiness in MENA Countries. In Comparative Political and Economic Perspectives on the MENA Region (pp. 111-124). IGI Global.

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The Happiness Trinity

Why it’s so hard to answer the question What makes us happiest?

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After writing about how and why Americans are depressed, I thought I’d turn things around for a change. What matters most for happiness—marriage, money, or something else entirely?

The message of W. Bradford Wilcox’s new book is right there in the title: Get Married . “Marital quality is, far and away, the top predictor I have run across of life satisfaction in America,” Wilcox writes. “When it comes to predicting overall happiness, a good marriage is far more important than how much education you get, how much money you make, how often you have sex, and, yes, even how satisfied you are with your work.” According to survey data from Gallup, matrimony improves every flavor of well-being you can think of. Married couples experience more “enjoyment,” less “worry,” less “sadness,” less “stress,” less “anger,” and much, much less “loneliness.”

Wilcox is not unusual in hailing the salubrious effects of getting hitched. As my colleague Olga Khazan has reported , a recent analysis of General Social Survey data found that Americans’ happiness generally declined from the 1970s to 2020. The author of the paper, the University of Chicago economist Sam Peltzman, concluded that, after adjusting for demographics, one thing explained “most of the recent decline in overall happiness”: the decline of marriage.

That would seem dispositive—the definitive answer to my question. But marriage is a lot of things at once. Legally speaking, marriage is a license. Practically speaking, marriage is love, friendship, sex, joint checking accounts, coffee routines, co-parenting, and the sheer fact of another person just being there all the time .

I focused on this last aspect when I recently interviewed Robert Waldinger and Marc Schulz, the director and the associate director of the Harvard Study of Adult Development, which is the longest-running study of adult happiness ever conducted. In their book, The Good Life , Waldinger and Schulz proposed that the most important predictor of lifelong well-being was “social fitness,” their term for the quality of relationships in our lives, across family, friends, and community.

“Most people find that marriage provides that secure base of attachment, that sense of, ‘I’ve got somebody here when I’m in trouble,’” Waldinger told me. “But then what we discovered was that marriage provides all these benefits that are quite mundane, like somebody who gets you to remember to eat, somebody who gets you to remember to go to the doctor, to take your medication. It sounds trivial, except it turns out to really matter for whether you’re happy and whether you stay healthy.”

Social fitness isn’t marriage, exactly—it’s more like the genus under which marriage is the dominant species. Life is an obstacle course of one mess after another, Waldinger and Schulz told me; people need friends and companions to pull them through the Tough Mudder. But platonic relationships often ebb and flow over time, as people change, switch jobs, and move around. There’s no such thing as a legally binding social institution that forces platonic friends to maintain intimacy. But that’s exactly what marriage is (among other things): a legally binding social institution that encourages friends to maintain intimacy.

I’m fond of the analysis and worldview of Wilcox, Peltzman, Waldinger, and Schulz. There is something undeniably warm and comforting about the idea that other people are the core of contentment. But sometimes, I get a nagging suspicion that all this talk about companionship overlooks a crucial pillar of well-being: money.

After all, marriage and several key measures of social fitness rise and fall with income. High-income people are more likely to get married and less likely to get divorced . And, in part because marriage allows people to combine incomes and avoid redundant expenses, married people tend to be richer in their 50s and 60s, Wilcox reminded me. When it comes to social fitness, several surveys show that people with more money have more social time and are less lonely .

Maybe because high wealth is more exclusionary than marriage or friendship—it’s much easier to get married than to become a millionaire—we delude ourselves about the happiness premium of income. There is a popular idea known as the Easterlin paradox, which says that the correlation between rising incomes and rising well-being suddenly hits a ceiling around $75,000 for an individual, in 2010 dollars. But this theory is almost certainly false—and, indeed, it has been repeatedly falsified. In a 2012 paper, the economists Daniel Sacks, Betsey Stevenson, and Justin Wolfers concluded that “data show no evidence for a satiation point above which income and well-being are no longer related.” Rather, the correlation weakens a bit over time, in a way that’s totally intuitive. It feels better to get a $5,000 raise if you’re earning $40,000 as a restaurant server than it does if you’re already earning $10 million as a chief executive.

Last week, I called Gallup’s principal economist, Jonathan Rothwell, and repeated a version of my initial question: What matters most for happiness—marriage, social well-being, or income? Rothwell, to his credit, told me that the question would be incredibly difficult to answer to any level of full satisfaction, but he’d give it a try anyway. A frequent writer on happiness issues, Rothwell defines happiness using a statistical measure called “thriving in well-being,” which combines current life evaluations with future life evaluations. This is because happiness is a slippery thing to define temporally. If I am having a bad day but am generally happy with my life, that’s not misery; if I am having a good week but am miserably depressed about the next five years of my life, that’s not contentment.

After a day or two crunching data, Rothwell got back to me with the results. He told me that his analyses clearly confirmed Wilcox’s theory: Marriage definitely, definitely matters, a lot. It improves well-being in every dimension, for every level of income. Overall, the average marriage-happiness premium was about 18 percent. That is, among all adults aged 30 to 50, about 41 percent of unmarried adults said they were thriving versus nearly 60 percent of married adults.

But when he compared happiness across income levels, another story emerged. Income, he said, plays an enormous role in predicting happiness as well. Low-income adults in Gallup’s survey were mostly unhappy, whether or not they were married. The highest-income adults were mostly quite happy, whether or not they are married. For example, married couples who earn less than $48,000 as a household are as likely to say they’re happy as single adults who earn $48,000 to $60,000, and a married couple who makes $90,000 to $180,000 as a household is almost exactly as likely to say they’re happy as a single person making $180,000 to $240,000.

Finally, Rothwell ran a test to isolate the correlative strength of several factors, including education, religion, marriage, income, and career satisfaction. Marriage was strongly correlated with his measure of happiness, even after accounting for these other factors. But social well-being (Gallup’s proxy for what Waldinger and Schulz call “social fitness”, which includes rating on the quality of marriages and close relationships) was even stronger. Income was stronger still. And financial well-being—that is, having enough money to do what you want to do and feeling satisfied with your standard of living—was the best predictor of Gallup’s definition of thriving.

One could draw a snap judgment from this analysis and conclude that money, in fact, simply buys happiness. I think that would be the wrong conclusion. Clever sociologists will always find new ways of “calculating” that marriage matters most, or social fitness explains all, or income is paramount. But the subtler truth seems to be that finances, family, and social fitness are three prongs in a happiness trinity. They rise together and fall together. Low-income Americans have seen the largest declines in marriage and experience the most loneliness. High-income Americans marry more and have not only richer investment accounts but also richer social lives. In this light, the philosophical question of what contributes most to happiness is just the beginning. The deeper question is why the trinity of happiness is so stratified by income—and whether well-being in America is in danger of becoming a luxury good.

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What Sentencing Could Look Like if Trump Is Found Guilty

A black-and-white photo of Donald Trump, standing behind a metal barricade.

By Norman L. Eisen

Mr. Eisen is the author of “Trying Trump: A Guide to His First Election Interference Criminal Trial.”

For all the attention to and debate over the unfolding trial of Donald Trump in Manhattan, there has been surprisingly little of it paid to a key element: its possible outcome and, specifically, the prospect that a former and potentially future president could be sentenced to prison time.

The case — brought by Alvin Bragg, the Manhattan district attorney, against Mr. Trump — represents the first time in our nation’s history that a former president is a defendant in a criminal trial. As such, it has generated lots of debate about the case’s legal strength and integrity, as well as its potential impact on Mr. Trump’s efforts to win back the White House.

A review of thousands of cases in New York that charged the same felony suggests something striking: If Mr. Trump is found guilty, incarceration is an actual possibility. It’s not certain, of course, but it is plausible.

Jury selection has begun, and it’s not too soon to talk about what the possibility of a sentence, including a prison sentence, would look like for Mr. Trump, for the election and for the country — including what would happen if he is re-elected.

The case focuses on alleged interference in the 2016 election, which consisted of a hush-money payment Michael Cohen, the former president’s fixer at the time, made in 2016 to a porn star, Stormy Daniels, who said she had an affair with Mr. Trump. Mr. Bragg is arguing that the cover-up cheated voters of the chance to fully assess Mr. Trump’s candidacy.

This may be the first criminal trial of a former president in American history, but if convicted, Mr. Trump’s fate is likely to be determined by the same core factors that guide the sentencing of every criminal defendant in New York State Court.

Comparable cases. The first factor is the base line against which judges measure all sentences: how other defendants have been treated for similar offenses. My research encompassed almost 10,000 cases of felony falsifying business records that have been prosecuted across the state of New York since 2015. Over a similar period, the Manhattan D.A. has charged over 400 of these cases . In roughly the first year of Mr. Bragg’s tenure, his team alone filed 166 felony counts for falsifying business records against 34 people or companies.

Contrary to claims that there will be no sentence of incarceration for falsifying business records, when a felony conviction involves serious misconduct, defendants can be sentenced to some prison time. My analysis of the most recent data indicates that approximately one in 10 cases in which the most serious charge at arraignment is falsifying business records in the first degree and in which the court ultimately imposes a sentence, results in a term of imprisonment.

To be clear, these cases generally differ from Mr. Trump’s case in one important respect: They typically involve additional charges besides just falsifying records. That clearly complicates what we might expect if Mr. Trump is convicted.

Nevertheless, there are many previous cases involving falsifying business records along with other charges where the conduct was less serious than is alleged against Mr. Trump and prison time was imposed. For instance, Richard Luthmann was accused of attempting to deceive voters — in his case, impersonating New York political figures on social media in an attempt to influence campaigns. He pleaded guilty to three counts of falsifying business records in the first degree (as well as to other charges). He received a sentence of incarceration on the felony falsification counts (although the sentence was not solely attributable to the plea).

A defendant in another case was accused of stealing in excess of $50,000 from her employer and, like in this case, falsifying one or more invoices as part of the scheme. She was indicted on a single grand larceny charge and ultimately pleaded guilty to one felony count of business record falsification for a false invoice of just under $10,000. She received 364 days in prison.

To be sure, for a typical first-time offender charged only with run-of-the-mill business record falsification, a prison sentence would be unlikely. On the other hand, Mr. Trump is being prosecuted for 34 counts of conduct that might have changed the course of American history.

Seriousness of the crime. Mr. Bragg alleges that Mr. Trump concealed critical information from voters (paying hush money to suppress an extramarital relationship) that could have harmed his campaign, particularly if it came to light after the revelation of another scandal — the “Access Hollywood” tape . If proved, that could be seen not just as unfortunate personal judgment but also, as Justice Juan Merchan has described it, an attempt “to unlawfully influence the 2016 presidential election.”

History and character. To date, Mr. Trump has been unrepentant about the events alleged in this case. There is every reason to believe that will not change even if he is convicted, and lack of remorse is a negative at sentencing. Justice Merchan’s evaluation of Mr. Trump’s history and character may also be informed by the other judgments against him, including Justice Arthur Engoron’s ruling that Mr. Trump engaged in repeated and persistent business fraud, a jury finding that he sexually abused and defamed E. Jean Carroll and a related defamation verdict by a second jury.

Justice Merchan may also weigh the fact that Mr. Trump has been repeatedly held in contempt , warned , fined and gagged by state and federal judges. That includes for statements he made that exposed witnesses, individuals in the judicial system and their families to danger. More recently, Mr. Trump made personal attacks on Justice Merchan’s daughter, resulting in an extension of the gag order in the case. He now stands accused of violating it again by commenting on witnesses.

What this all suggests is that a term of imprisonment for Mr. Trump, while far from certain for a former president, is not off the table. If he receives a sentence of incarceration, perhaps the likeliest term is six months, although he could face up to four years, particularly if Mr. Trump chooses to testify, as he said he intends to do , and the judge believes he lied on the stand . Probation is also available, as are more flexible approaches like a sentence of spending every weekend in jail for a year.

We will probably know what the judge will do within 30 to 60 days of the end of the trial, which could run into mid-June. If there is a conviction, that would mean a late summer or early fall sentencing.

Justice Merchan would have to wrestle in the middle of an election year with the potential impact of sentencing a former president and current candidate.

If Mr. Trump is sentenced to a period of incarceration, the reaction of the American public will probably be as polarized as our divided electorate itself. Yet as some polls suggest — with the caveat that we should always be cautious of polls early in the race posing hypothetical questions — many key swing state voters said they would not vote for a felon.

If Mr. Trump is convicted and then loses the presidential election, he will probably be granted bail, pending an appeal, which will take about a year. That means if any appeals are unsuccessful, he will most likely have to serve any sentence starting sometime next year. He will be sequestered with his Secret Service protection; if it is less than a year, probably in Rikers Island. His protective detail will probably be his main company, since Mr. Trump will surely be isolated from other inmates for his safety.

If Mr. Trump wins the presidential election, he can’t pardon himself because it is a state case. He will be likely to order the Justice Department to challenge his sentence, and department opinions have concluded that a sitting president could not be imprisoned, since that would prevent the president from fulfilling the constitutional duties of the office. The courts have never had to address the question, but they could well agree with the Justice Department.

So if Mr. Trump is convicted and sentenced to a period of incarceration, its ultimate significance is probably this: When the American people go to the polls in November, they will be voting on whether Mr. Trump should be held accountable for his original election interference.

What questions do you have about Trump’s Manhattan criminal trial so far?

Please submit them below. Our trial experts will respond to a selection of readers in a future piece.

Norman L. Eisen investigated the 2016 voter deception allegations as counsel for the first impeachment and trial of Donald Trump and is the author of “Trying Trump: A Guide to His First Election Interference Criminal Trial.”

The Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor. We’d like to hear what you think about this or any of our articles. Here are some tips . And here’s our email: [email protected] .

Follow the New York Times Opinion section on Facebook , Instagram , TikTok , WhatsApp , X and Threads .

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Trump lawyers say Stormy Daniels refused subpoena outside a Brooklyn bar, papers left ‘at her feet’

Jury selection in Donald Trump’s hush money trial has encountered new setbacks as two seated jurors were excused. Attorneys now need to pick 13 more jurors to serve on the panel.(AP Video: David R. Martin)

FILE - Stormy Daniels appears at an event, May 23, 2018, in West Hollywood, Calif. The hush money trial of former President Donald Trump begins Monday, April 15, 2024, with jury selection. It’s the first criminal trial of a former U.S. commander-in-chief. The charges in the trial center on $130,000 in payments that Trump’s company made to his then-lawyer, Michael Cohen. He paid that sum on Trump’s behalf to keep Daniels from going public, a month before the election, with her claims of a sexual encounter with Trump a decade earlier. (AP Photo/Ringo H.W. Chiu, File)

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Former President Donald Trump approaches to speak to reporters as he leaves a Manhattan courtroom after the second day of his criminal trial, Tuesday, April 16, 2024 in New York. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer, Pool)

The latest: Get live updates from Donald Trump’s hush money trial

NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump’s legal team says it tried serving Stormy Daniels a subpoena as she arrived for an event at a bar in Brooklyn last month, but the porn actor, who is expected to be a witness at the former president’s criminal trial , refused to take it and walked away.

A process server working for Trump’s lawyers said he approached Daniels with papers demanding information related to a documentary recently released about her life and involvement with Trump, but was forced to “leave them at her feet,” according to a court filing made public Wednesday.

“I stated she was served as I identified her and explained to her what the documents were,” process server Dominic DellaPorte wrote. “She did not acknowledge me and kept walking inside the venue, and she had no expression on her face.”

The encounter, prior to a screening of the “Stormy” film at the 3 Dollar Bill nightclub, has touched off a monthlong battle between Trump’s lawyers and Daniels’ attorney that continued this week as the presumptive Republican nominee’s criminal trial began in Manhattan.

Trump’s lawyers are asking Judge Juan M. Merchan to force Daniels to comply with the subpoena. In their filing, they included a photo they said DellaPorte took of Daniels as she strode away.

Daniels’ lawyer Clark Brewster claims they never received the paperwork. He described the requests as an “unwarranted fishing expedition” with no relevance to Trump’s criminal trial.

Former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan visits the Bridge Boat Show in Stevensville, Md., Friday, April 12, 2024, as he campaigns for the U.S. Senate. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

“The process — instituted on the eve of trial — appears calculated to cause harassment and/or intimidation of a lay witness,” Brewster wrote in an April 9 letter to Merchan. Brewster didn’t immediately reply to a message from The Associated Press seeking comment.

The hush money case is the first of Trump’s four criminal cases to go to trial. Seven jurors have been seated so far. Jury selection is set to resume Thursday.

Daniels is expected to testify about a $130,000 payment she got in 2016 from one of Trump’s lawyers at the time, Michael Cohen, in order to stop her from speaking publicly about a sexual encounter she said she had with Trump years earlier.

Cohen was later reimbursed by Trump’s company for that payment. Trump is accused of falsifying his company’s records to hide the nature of that payment, and other work he did to bury negative stories during the 2016 campaign.

Trump pleaded not guilty last year to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. He denies having a sexual encounter with Daniels. His lawyers argue the payments to Cohen were legitimate legal expenses, and were recorded correctly.

In a separate filing made public Wednesday, the Manhattan district attorney’s office said that if Trump chooses to testify at the trial, prosecutors plan to challenge his credibility by questioning him about his recent legal setbacks. The filing was made last month under seal.

Trump was recently ordered to pay a $454 million civil penalty following a trial in which a judge ruled he had lied about his wealth on financial statements. In another trial, a jury said he was liable for $83.3 million for defaming writer E. Jean Carroll after she accused him of sexual assault.

Merchan said he plans to hold a hearing Friday to decide whether that will be allowed.

Under New York law, prosecutors can question witnesses about past legal matters in certain circumstances. Trump’s lawyers are opposed. Trump has said he wants to testify, but he is not required to and can always change his mind.

As for the subpoena dispute, it marks the latest attempt by Trump’s lawyers to knock loose potentially damaging information about Daniels, a key prosecution witness.

They are demanding an array of documents related to the promotion and editing of the documentary, “Stormy,” which explores Daniels’ career in the adult film industry and rise to celebrity since her alleged involvement with Trump became publicly known.

They are also requesting Daniels reveal how much, if anything, she was compensated for the film.

Trump’s lawyers contend the film’s premiere last month on NBC’s Peacock streaming service — a week before the trial was originally scheduled to start — stoked negative publicity about Trump, muddying his ability to get a fair trial.

In the filings made public Wednesday, Trump’s attorneys accuse Daniels of “plainly seeking to promote her brand and make money based on her status as a witness.”

The subpoena also demands communications between Daniels and other likely witnesses in the trial, including Cohen and Karen McDougal, a former Playboy model who alleges she had an affair with Trump. It also requests any communications between Daniels and Carroll.

Earlier this month, Merchan blocked an attempt by Trump to subpoena NBC Universal for information related to the documentary. He wrote that subpoena and the demands therein “are the very definition of a fishing expedition.”

International

Trump's hush money trial

University protests

Second day of testimony wraps in Trump hush money trial

From CNN's Jeremy Herb, Lauren del Valle and Kara Scannell in the courthouse

Key takeaways from Tuesday's hush money trial against Donald Trump

From CNN's Jeremy Herb, Lauren del Valle and Kara Scannell

Former President Donald Trump looks on in the courtroom at Manhattan state court in New York on April 23.

Donald Trump had a frustrating day in court on Tuesday. Even with an abbreviated day for the Passover holiday, there was a one-two punch of a morning hearing about possible gag order violations and the testimony about the “catch-and-kill” deals to bury negative stories about the former president during the 2016 election.

Former tabloid publisher David Pecker will return to the stand on Thursday after court is dark on Wednesday. He has spoken now about two of the three catch-and-kill deals — but not adult film star Stormy Daniels, which is likely coming on Thursday.

Here are key takeaways from Tuesday’s day in court:

Gag order hearing goes badly for Trump: Judge Juan Merchan issued the gag order before the trial began, limiting Trump from publicly discussing witnesses, the jury, the district attorney’s staff and Merchan's family. He has not yet ruled on the district attorney’s motion to sanction Trump for allegedly violating the order, but it wasn’t hard to tell the judge’s sentiments. Merchan rejected the explanations that Trump attorney Todd Blanche offered for the offending posts after Trump’s attorney tried to argue that posts about Stormy Daniels and Michael Cohen were political and not about the case.
Judge says Trump lawyers are "losing all credibility": Tensions continued to grow between Trump’s legal team and the trial judge during the gag order hearing. Merchan repeatedly asked Blanche to clarify examples of when Trump was specifically responding to attacks from Cohen and Daniels on social media and grew visibly frustrated when Blanche failed to comply. Last week, Merchan supported prosecutors when they refused to give Trump’s legal team notice of their witness list, saying he understood the sentiment given Trump’s social media attacks.
Pecker puts jury inside how AMI helped Trump in 2016 campaign: Pecker, who ran American Media Inc. during the 2016 election, testified for around two-and-a-half hours on Tuesday, walking jurors through how he worked with Cohen on Trump’s behalf to squash unflattering stories during the 2016 election. He testified about the “catch and kill” deals involving McDougal and Trump’s doorman. He said that he met with Trump and Cohen in 2015 where he agreed to be the “eyes and ears” of the campaign and look out for negative stories.
Pecker places Michael Cohen deep in the conspiracy: Pecker placed Cohen in the heart of the alleged “catch and kill conspiracy” by testifying that Cohen was the go-between for Trump fielding media stories from Pecker since 2007. At the August 2015 Trump Tower meeting, Pecker said he would notify Cohen about negative stories. During Trump’s campaign in 2015 and 2016, Pecker said Cohen would also pitch stories about Trump’s political opponents and offer feedback on behalf of “the boss,” as Cohen referred to Trump.

Secret Service and other officials discussing what to do if Trump is jailed for contempt of court, sources say

From CNN's John Miller

The US Secret Service, court officers and even the New York City Department of Corrections have been quietly discussing what to do if former President Donald Trump ends up being jailed for contempt of court, officials familiar with the plans tell CNN.

In Trump’s civil trial , Judge Arthur Engoran held the former president in contempt a number of times for violating his orders – but imposed only monetary penalties. In Trump’s civil trial in federal courts in January, Judge Lewis Kaplan considered holding Trump in contempt of court. He strongly hinted that he would order the former president to be held in custody if there was another violation of his instructions.

While that didn’t happen, it did cause a stir within the Secret Service and the US Marshals Service as they had to figure out how they would handle logistics if the judge did put Trump in custody, the sources said. Agents scrambled to find an office or conference room for this purpose if they needed to.

In the hush money case, an assistant district attorney asked Judge Juan Merchan to consider jail time for Trump’s alleged acts of contempt. Since last week, Secret Service agents, court officers and NYPD detectives assigned to Trump's security detail have been discussing how that would be handled if it came to pass, though nothing was decided.

The one thing that was decided was that this was not a plan that should be made just by the court, the prosecutors and Trump’s lawyers, the sources said.

Instead, the Secret Service would want to be included in any discussions about how and where Trump is being held in custody — if that came to pass — simply because it would have to figure out how to carry out officers' protective obligations.

Trump falsely claims “thousands” of his supporters were turned away outside of the courtroom

From CNN's Kate Sullivan

Former President Donald Trump falsely claimed on Tuesday that “thousands” of his supporters were “turned away” by police from the courthouse where his New York criminal hush money trial is taking place.

In the same Truth Social post , Trump attacked New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman, who wrote about Trump not being happy that only a handful of his supporters had shown up outside of the courthouse.

Trump has issued public calls on social media for his supporters to show up outside of the courthouse to peacefully protest.

“Thousands of people were turned away from the Courthouse in Lower Manhattan by steel stanchions and police, literally blocks from the tiny side door from where I enter and leave. It is an armed camp to keep people away. Maggot Hagerman of The Failing New York Times, falsely reported that I was disappointed with the crowds. No, I’m disappointed with Maggot, and her lack of writing skill, and that some of these many police aren’t being sent to Columbia and NYU to keep the schools open and the students safe,” Trump said.

CNN’s Kaitlan Collins has reported that protestors are allowed outside the courthouse, but his supporters have just been small in number.

Pecker testified about a 2015 meeting with Trump. Here's a timeline of key events in the hush money case

From CNN’s Lauren del Valle, Kara Scannell, Annette Choi and Gillian Roberts

In this sketch from court, David Pecker testifies in Manhattan Criminal Court in New York on Tuesday.

On Tuesday, former American Media Inc. CEO David Pecker testified about his August 2015 meeting with former President Donald Trump.

Pecker said he agreed to be the “eyes and ears” for Trump’s campaign and flag any negative stories to Trump’s then-fixer Michael Cohen.

CNN compiled a timeline of the key events leading up to the historic trial. Read up on the moments below:

September 2016: Donald Trump discusses a $150,000 hush money payment understood to be for former Playboy model Karen McDougal with Michael Cohen who secretly records the conversation . McDougal has alleged she had an extramarital affair with Trump beginning in 2006, which he has denied.
October 7, 2016: The Washington Post releases an "Access Hollywood" video from 2005 in which Trump uses vulgar language to describe his sexual approach to women with show host Billy Bush.
October 27, 2016: According to prosecutors, Cohen pays Stormy Daniels $130,000 through her attorney via a shell company in exchange for her silence about an affair she allegedly had with Trump in 2006. This $130,000 sum is separate from the $150,000 paid to McDougal. Trump has publicly denied having any affairs and has denied making the payments.
November 8, 2016: Trump secures the election to become the 45th president of the United States.
February 2017: Prosecutors say Cohen meets with Trump in the Oval Office to confirm how he would be reimbursed for the hush money payment Cohen fronted to Daniels. Under the plan, Cohen would send a series of false invoices requesting payment for legal services he performed pursuant to a retainer agreement and receive monthly checks for $35,000 for a total of $420,000 to cover the payment, his taxes and a bonus, prosecutors alleged. Prosecutors also allege there was never a retainer agreement.
January 2018: The Wall Street Journal breaks news about the hush money payment Cohen made to Daniels in 2016.

See the full timeline.

Fact check: Trump falsely describes gag order restrictions

From CNN's Daniel Dale

Former President Donald Trump speaks after leaving Manhattan criminal court on Tuesday in New York.

Upon leaving the courtroom on Tuesday, former President Donald Trump approached media cameras, began talking, and complained that he is “not allowed to talk.”

Trump was criticizing Judge Juan Merchan’s gag order on him. Merchan had held a hearing on Tuesday morning to consider prosecutors’ allegations that Trump violated the gag order with a series of online posts , including some in which the presumptive Republican presidential nominee shared others’ articles related to the case on social media.

Trump claimed, “Can’t even allow articles to be put in.” He claimed the articles he is referring to say “the case is a sham." He added, “I don’t even know if you’re allowed to put them in.” He also claimed that although others are permitted to lie and speak about him, “I’m not allowed to say anything.”

“I’d love to talk to you people, I’d love to say everything that’s on my mind, but I’m restricted because I have a gag order," Trump said.

Facts First : As he has before , Trump made Merchan’s gag order sound far broader than it is. The gag order does not prohibit Trump from declaring the case a sham or from sharing others’ claims that the case is a sham. It also does not prohibit Trump from speaking to the media about the case, from defending his conduct at issue in the case, from denouncing the judge and district attorney involved in the case, or from campaigning for the presidency with speeches, media interviews and online posts. Rather, the gag order forbids Trump from three specific categories of speech:

Speaking publicly or directing others to speak publicly about known or foreseeable witnesses, specifically about their participation in the case
Speaking publicly or directing others to speak publicly about prosecutors — other than Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg — including, staff members in Bragg's office and the court, and their family members if those statements are made with the intent to interfere with the case
Speaking publicly or directing others to speak publicly about jurors or prospective jurors

In his comments on Tuesday, Trump made the point that an article may have a certain headline that generally denounces the case but, “somewhere deep” in the body of the text, may mention somebody’s name he is not permitted to mention because of the gag order. It’s not clear how Merchan would view Trump having shared an article in which, say, a witness’s name was only mentioned deep in the text. To date, though, articles that prosecutors have alleged Trump violated the gag order by sharing featured headlines that made it entirely clear the articles discussed likely witness Michael Cohen, Trump’s former lawyer and fixer.

Catch up on David Pecker's second day of testimony — and the gag order hearing earlier this morning

From CNN staff

Former tabloid executive David Pecker was back on the stand Tuesday to resume his testimony in the hush money trial against former President Donald Trump.

Pecker testified about a myriad of topics — but mainly established the substance of the August 2015 meeting at the crux of the “catch and kill” practice that is central to the case.

As the then-chairman of American Media Inc., which publishes the National Enquirer, Pecker was involved in numerous schemes to kill negative stories about Trump, and he allegedly helped broker the deal with Stormy Daniels.

Before Pecker returned to the stand, Judge Juan Merchan held a hearing on whether the former president violated the gag order in the hush money case. Under the order, Trump is barred from publicly discussing witnesses or jurors in the case. Merchan said he is reserving a decision on the gag order violations.

Court is not in session on Wednesday. The trial will resume Thursday morning.

Here are key moments from Pecker's testimony:

Relationship with Trump: Pecker said he has known Trump since the 80s and has had a “great relationship” with him over the years. He said that as a celebrity, Trump advised him on parties and events to attend and introduced him to various people in New York. The former tabloid executive said he saw Trump more frequently after he announced his 2016 presidential run.
Meeting at Trump Tower: The former tabloid publisher said he attended a meeting with Trump and Michael Cohen in August 2015 where he told Trump he would be his “eyes and ears.” Pecker said he offered to tell Cohen “about women selling stories” so that Cohen could have those stories killed or for someone to purchase them. The agreements with Trump were not put in writing , Pecker said.
Negative stories: Pecker said he would contact Cohen directly if he heard any negative stories about Trump or his family. He also testified that Cohen would request the Enquirer run negative stories about Trump’s political opponents. The Enquirer would also send articles to Cohen before they were published, Pecker said.
Trump’s business practices: Pecker testified that he saw Trump review and sign invoices and checks and described him as “very knowledgable” and almost “a micromanager” in business. He also described Trump as “very frugal” in his approach to money.
Pecker claims mutual benefit: Pecker testified that publishing negative stories about Trump’s opponents and alerting him about damaging information had a mutual benefit for the Enquirer and the campaign. Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass, though, pushed back and had Pecker confirm that stopping stories from being printed about Trump only benefited the campaign .
Headlines and documents enter evidence: The jury was shown a series of National Enquirer articles both praising Trump and attacking political opponents . Prosecutors also introduced AMI business records into evidence, including text messages.
First "catch and kill" story: Pecker said the first time he paid to kill a negative article about Trump was when he bought a story for $30,000 from a doorman who said Trump had fathered a child. Pecker said he decided to buy the story even after knowing it was false "it would have been very embarrassing to the campaign ” and Trump. The doorman was eventually released from the exclusivity agreement in December 2016 — after the election, at Cohen’s request.
Karen McDougal: Pecker said former National Enquirer editor-in-chief Dylan Howard went to interview former Playboy model Karen McDougal about a story she was trying to sell alleging she had a relationship with Trump, which the former president denies. Pecker testified that Cohen called him frequently to ask about what happened at the interview and was agitated.

Analysis: Trump faces another major legal battle at the Supreme Court on Thursday

From CNN's Ronald Brownstein

The Supreme Court’s hearing on former President Donald Trump’s immunity claim — happening on Thursday — will underline a historic power shift.

In a closely divided era when neither party has proven able to maintain control of the White House and Congress for very long, the six GOP-appointed justices on the high court have become the most durable source of influence determining the nation’s direction.

“There’s an argument to be made that the Supreme Court is the central character in our national story right now because they are setting the terms by which the other branches and the states and the American people operate in a much more assertive way than perhaps they ever have,” said historian Jeff Shesol.

Although Chief Justice John Roberts at his confirmation hearing famously likened the court to an impartial “umpire, ” the conservative majority has steadily steered policy on a wide range of social, racial and economic issues toward the preferences of the Republican Party, whose presidents nominated them and whose senators provided the vast majority of votes to confirm them.

The rulings by the GOP-appointed justices over roughly the past two decades have produced cumulative policy changes “way more extensive than any administration, even within unified control of government, has been able to generate,” said Paul Pierson, a University of California at Berkeley political scientist.

The Supreme Court arguments will come as Trump sits in New York for his hush money trial proceedings.

Read the full analysis.

Prosecutors zeroed in on witness David Pecker today. These are the other key players in the trial

From CNN's Kaanita Iyer, Amy O'Kruk and Curt Merrill

This composite image shows former President Donald Trump (center), Stormy Daniels (top left), Michael Cohen (middle left), David Pecker (bottom left), Hope Hicks (top right), Alvin Bragg (middle right) and Judge Juan Merchan (bottom right).

Donald Trump has been accused of taking part in an illegal conspiracy to undermine the integrity of the 2016 election and an unlawful plan to suppress negative information, which included a hush money payment made to an adult-film star to hide an affair. Trump has denied the affair.

Prosecutors allege that Trump allegedly disguised the transaction as a legal payment and falsified business records numerous times to “promote his candidacy.” Trump faces 34 counts of falsifying business records. He has pleaded not guilty.

David Pecker, the ex-publisher of the National Enquirer, was the prosecution's first witness.

Read up on the other key people in the Trump hush money criminal trial:

See a courtroom sketch from David Pecker's testimony today

From Christina Cornell

No cameras are allowed inside the Manhattan courtroom where Donald Trump's hush money trial is underway, but sketch artists were capturing the scene as former tabloid executive David Pecker took the stand.

In this sketch from court, former President Donald Trump, left, listens as David Pecker testifies in Manhattan Criminal Court in New York on Tuesday.

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Akshaya Tritiya 2024: 4 Rituals That Are Believed To Bring Happiness And Prosperity

T he festival of Akshaya Tritiya is celebrated annually on the Tritiya Tithi of the Shukla Paksha of the month of Vaishakh. Akshaya Tritiya, also known as Abujha Muhurta and Akha Teej in some states and regions of the country, is observed with the worship of Lord Vishnu and Goddess Lakshmi. It is also considered auspicious to buy gold on Akshaya Tritiya as it is believed to bring happiness, peace and wealth to the family. There are some rituals you must follow to please the Goddess of wealth.

1. To please Goddess Lakshmi, 108 names of Goddess Lakshmi should be said with a lotus flower or 108 roses to the Goddess of wealth. In parallel, the Goddess Lakshmi should be worshipped as per the rituals. This way, Goddess Lakshmi will be pleased and help attain happiness and prosperity.

2. To get rid of financial problems, one should offer saffron and turmeric to Goddess Lakshmi on this day. People believe that this will remove your financial problems.

3. To attain good luck, one should tie a garland of mango or Ashoka leaves on the main gate of the house on the day of Akshaya Tritiya. As per belief, this brings good luck and positive energy into the house.

4. On this day, one should buy gold ornaments or gold coins and place them in the north direction. Pick them up the next day and keep them in your safe. This way, the blessings of Goddess Lakshmi will remain in the house and progress will be achieved.

According to religious beliefs, the day of Akshaya Tritiya itself is considered very auspicious. So, any ritual can be done on this day without observing any specific auspicious time. Those who are having difficulty finding an auspicious date to get married can do so on the day of Akshaya Tritiya. It is said that on Akshaya Tritiya, all the works done in Abuja Muhurta will bring auspicious results. It is believed that those who get married on the day of Akshaya Tritiya will always have the blessings of Goddess Lakshmi and there will be happiness in their married life.

Akshaya Tritiya is observed with the worship of Lord Vishnu and Goddess Lakshmi.

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