Money can buy you happiness but only if you earn £50,000 a year – after that you really have to work for it, a study claims.
Earning less than that amount can make you miserable – but earning more does not greatly increase enjoyment of life, it was found.
Researchers found that life contentment only rose steadily with annual income up to level – $75,000, or just below £50,000.
Once earnings soared above this the important things in life such as family and wellbeing made money much less significant
The quality of the randomly-selected participants' everyday experiences did not improve significantly beyond a salary of £48,960.98.
But as income dropped from that amount, respondents reported decreasing happiness and increasing sadness and stress, according to the findings published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The psychologists Prof Daniel Kahneman and Prof Angus Deaton explained people's life evaluations rise steadily with income but the quality of emotional daily experiences levels-off once earnings reach a certain amount.
Life evaluations were measured by asking 1,000 respondents to rate their lives on a scale of zero to 10 while emotional wellbeing was measured according to experiences of certain positive and negative emotions the previous day.
The data also suggested the emotional pain of unfortunate events or circumstances including disease, divorce and being alone are exacerbated by poverty.
The researchers said the study does not imply people's lives will not improve after a raise in annual income from $100,000 (£64,900) to $150,000 (£97,350).
But above a certain income people's emotional wellbeing is held back by other more important issues.
Prof Kahneman and Prof Deaton, of Princeton University, New Jersey, said: "The question of whether 'money buys happiness' comes up frequently in discussions of subjective wellbeing in both scholarly debates and casual conversation.
"More money does not necessarily buy more happiness, but less money is associated with emotional pain.”
最新研究表明，金钱的确能买来幸福，但前提是你恰好年入5万英镑。如果你挣得更多，幸福不幸福就要靠你自己争取了。
研究称，收入低于5万英镑会使人痛苦，但高于5万英镑也不会大大增加幸福感。
研究者发现，在年收入7.5万美元（刚不及5万英镑）以内时，生活的满意度才和收入成正比。
一旦收入超出这一范围，家庭、幸福感等生活中的重要因素就会大大弱化金钱的地位。
当随机抽样的受访者年收入高于48960.98英镑时，他们平时体会到的幸福感并未随收入明显提高。
但受访者也表示，当收入低于这一数额时，幸福感会随之下降，失落感和压抑感会上升。这项研究成果发表在《美国国家科学院院刊》上。
心理学家丹尼尔•卡尼曼和安格斯•迪顿教授解释到，虽然人们对生活的评价会随着收入的增加而稳步提高，但是一旦收入达到某个临界值，人们平时体会到的幸福感就会保持平稳。
研究人员共对1000名受访者进行了调查，他们被要求按满分为10分来评价生活质量，并依据之前一天经历的消极或积极情绪衡量幸福感。
调查数据还表明，贫困会加剧疾病、离异、孤独等不幸遭遇所带来的情感伤痛。
研究者称，这并不意味着年收入从10万美元（6.49万英镑）涨至15万美元（9.735万英镑）时，人们的生活不会改善。
但收入高于某个临界数额后，人们的幸福感会受到其它更为重要因素的影响。
新泽西州普林西顿大学的卡尼曼和迪顿教授说：“‘金钱是否能够买到幸福’这个问题常常出现在有关主观幸福感的讨论中，不仅学者会激辩，人们闲聊也会谈起。”
“钱多不一定会更幸福，但是钱少肯定与感情痛苦有关。”
Vocabulary:
levels-off: become level or even（停止升降而保持水平，保持平稳）