Money CAN buy happiness: Study finds people given one-time sum of $10,000 report feeling happier

You may have been told otherwise, but money really does make you happy.

People given a one-time five-figure sum were happier than their peers, even months after spending everything, a study found.

In a unique social experiment, researchers at the University of British Columbia recruited 300 people in seven countries — and gave them about half of $10,000.

They were followed for six months and compared with a group who were living their normal lives and receiving no money.

By the end of the study, people in the money group reported feeling happier regardless of how they spent it.

Happiness gains were highest for those who had the least money before the study.

Two anonymous wealthy donors in partnership with media organization TED have redistributed $2 million of their money in $10,000 PayPal transfers to 200 people around the world.

Three hundred participants were recruited from three low-income countries – Brazil, Indonesia and Kenya – and four rich countries: Australia, Canada, the US and the UK. They were randomly assigned to receive $10,000 in cash or not.

The researchers calculated the participants’ well-being by measuring their life satisfaction on a scale of one to seven and how often they experienced positive feelings, such as happiness, and negative feelings, such as sadness, on a scale of one to five.

The participants, aged between 21 and 78, were recruited via Twitter in December 2020 and had incomes ranging from $0 to $400,000, with an average of $54,394.

The individuals were generally well-educated, with 82 percent holding a bachelor’s degree.

Not knowing what they were signing up for, they were invited to participate in a mystery experiment by completing a preliminary survey that gathered some personal information and an initial measure of their well-being.

The Tweet said the experiment would be “exciting, surprising, somewhat time-consuming, potentially stressful, but also potentially life-changing.”

The lucky two-thirds of the participants received emails saying they would receive $10,000.

The 200 people who received the money were told to spend it within three months, while the 100 remaining people did not receive any money.

Most recipients bought things like cars or spent the money on home renovations.

In the three months after the money was paid, all 300 participants completed monthly surveys to calculate their subjective well-being.

They also completed a survey six months after the money was spent.

The group that received $10,000 each reported more happiness after the three months of spending than those who received no money.

And after six months, the people who got the money still felt happier than before the experiment.

Lucky gains were highest for those who had the least. Residents of low-income countries were three times more fortunate than people in higher-income countries.

Cash recipients who make $10,000 a year received twice as much happiness as those who bring in $100,000.

Those with household incomes over $123,000 reported no significant improvements in well-being.

Given that ninety-nine percent of people earn less, the findings imply that one-time cash payments could benefit most of the world’s population.

The researchers recorded how the recipients of the money spent the $10,000 and now look at whether certain types of purchases led to the most happiness.

The findings were published in the journal PNAS.

Study co-author Ryan Dwyer said: NBC News: ‘With ten thousand dollars you can buy a lot in certain places in the world. Some people spent a lot of money on paying off their mortgage or on major renovations to their house.’