The more money people earn the happier they are – even beyond $75,000 a year

I don't think that this sort of "average-based" statistics is really useful or actionable.

All of the following situations are different, and more exist:

a) earning $100k a year via sustainable investment returns e.g. pension

b) earning $100k a year doing, say, charity work for 20-30 hours a week

c) earning $100k a year at a bank doing 50 hour weeks

d) earning $100k a year as a self employed "whatever" who works whenever they want

e) earning $100k a year hustling, doing three jobs and working all of the time

All else being equal, all of these people are going to feel very different about their lives, despite theoretically having the same income.

“ Unlike money importance, however, the more people equated money and success, the lower their experienced well-being was on average (P < 0.00001), and there did not appear to be any income level at which equating money and success was associated with greater experienced well-being. ”

If we take the study at face value, then even if the result is technically true (and robust, with a small p value), the effect size is small. The z-scored well-being differs barely at all between the median income and the lowest and highest ranges -- it's a difference of .1.

And in other news: water is wet.