Scientists discover the formula to a rich life
Money won't (necessarily) make you happy, according to this new study.
Scientists believe they have finally cracked the code on how to become 'rich'... and money doesn’t play a part.
Anchor Cheddar asked them to create the formula for ‘true richness’ in order to understand what factors play the greatest role in a rich and fulfilled life.
Interviews with 2,000 people revealed their attitudes towards life and contentment, as well as their occupation, income, family status and home town. The results were then mapped on a ‘richness scale’ of happiness and fulfilment.
“We developed this formula to find out once and for all what the good stuff in life is,” says Lucie Illingworth, senior brand manager for Anchor Cheddar. “We don’t think it’s always material possessions which make people the happiest and the British public agrees.”
The formula itself
Ready to see the formula itself? Inevitably it's a little complex.
And here are what those various letters mean
P = attitude towards planning
C = attitude towards confrontation
S = attitude towards success
K = attitude towards perfection
M = attitude towards money
F = attitude towards family
L = attitude towards leisure time
Z = attitude towards materialism
Formula discoveries
The scientists found that those who work in fishing and forestry lead richer lives than those in business and financial operations. Perhaps surprisingly, people earning less than £35,000 a year did better in terms of richness and fulfilment than those earning up to £200,000 a year.
“Our research has revealed some fascinating insights into how rich people view their lives to be. We used quadratic mathematical modelling to find the ‘formula for true richness’, or in other words, what combination of attitudes towards life is found in the happiest people,” says psychologist, broadcaster and author Dr David Lewis.
Other discoveries from the study include:
- People who can enjoy the imperfections in life are the richest
- Those who completely embrace that their family is 'lovingly dysfunctional' lead a richer life
- People who cherish mistakes are richer than meticulous planners
- Those who avoid confrontation have richer lives
- Those who believe that success is 'in the journey rather than the result' have richer lives
- Richer individuals value memories over possessions.
And when it comes to cash, we need to either embrace it and make it the foundation of our happiness, or accept that we won’t find happiness in it. “Anything in between is detrimental to your emotional richness,” says the report.
“It’s interesting to see that it’s not just us, but science that shows that success and richness are no longer evaluated by the money in your pocket,” says Illingworth. “It’s the little things in our everyday life such as memories and experiences that mean the most to us.”
Who’s happy?
People who ranked high on the study’s Happiness Scale of Richness and Fulfillment include:
- People aged over 65
- Those living in Wales, the South East and Yorkshire
- Married couples with two children
- People earning between £20,000 and £34,999
- Fisherman and foresters
At the other end of the Happiness Scale are:
- 35 to 44-year-olds
- People living in London
- Anyone who is single
- Bankers
- Those earning between £150,000 and £199,999
“During the interviews, 59% of people said the best things in life are free, citing their families and happy memories as their most treasured possessions,” says Dr Lewis.
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