It’s the money, stupid

Right now, I have no idea who I bank with or how many accounts I may have.

Right now, I have no idea who I bank with or how many accounts I may have.

Published Sep 21, 2012

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London - It was an attempt to gauge the British nation’s “emotional” well-being, move away from measuring wealth and find out what truly makes us happy.

However, David Cameron’s much-ridiculed happiness survey has found that the key to feeling good is, in fact, money.

The £2-million state research project revealed on Thursday that, somewhat unsurprisingly, those who have more money are a lot happier with their lives. It found that the poorest are the least happy, while those in the higher tax bracket are the most satisfied.

However, there is also a “squeezed middle” of middle earners who appear slightly less happy than those lower down or higher up in the earnings league table.

The findings renewed criticism of the project launched by the prime minister, which attempted to measure well-being by means other than wealth and spending.

It appeared to show that happiness, life satisfaction, anxiety and other emotional states which the Office for National Statistics (ONS) is investigating are in fact closely linked to wealth and spending.

In recent months the happiness inquiry has also shown that most people are happy, that traditional married families are happiest of all, that having children gives people a sense of purpose, and that middle-aged people are more anxious than the young or old.

Economist Ruth Lea, of the Arbuthnot Banking Group, said: “Surprise, surprise.

“The ONS has serious work to do, producing things like unemployment and inflation figures. It is supposed to produce serious information that the Treasury and everybody else relies on. It does not have money to waste on things like this.” - Daily Mail

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