The pursuit of happiness: Why you don't need to make more money to be happy

We all know the saying, "Money can't buy happiness." But is that really true? It's a pretty popular sentiment, but does it stand up to scrutiny? A new study says yes, money can buy happiness—but only up to a point. Once you've reached a certain level of income, making more money has no bearing on your levels of happiness. In fact, beyond that point, increased income actually has a negative effect on happiness levels. Here's what you need to know.

How much money do you need to be happy?

A recent study published in the journal Nature found that increased income does lead to increased levels of happiness—but only up to a certain point. Once people earned enough money to meet their basic needs, further increases in income had no effect on their overall happiness levels. In fact, for people earning more than $75,000 per year, there was actually a small decrease in happiness levels.

So what does this mean for the average person? If you're struggling to make ends meet, it's likely that increasing your income will have a positive effect on your overall happiness levels. But if you're already earning a comfortable salary, don't expect a raise to make you any happier. And if you're pulling in six figures or more, you might even want to consider scaling back your hours or taking a pay cut—it could make you happier in the long run!

Of course, there are other factors that affect happiness levels besides income. The study found that people who reported having strong social relationships were also more likely to report higher levels of happiness. So if you're looking to increase your happiness levels, work on cultivating strong relationships with family and friends—it'll do wonders for your well-being!