London: Money makes you happy — but only if you have lots more than your friends and neighbours.
Owning the house of your dreams, the car you always longed for and having millions in the bank doesn't stop that desire to keep up with the Joneses, researchers have found.
And if the Joneses have more than you do, you'll be miserable. It seems envy at being lower in the social pecking order tarnishes the satisfaction of being well off.
Psychologists looked at the happiness levels of 10,000 people who took part in the British Household Panel Survey and compared these with their income.
The results showed that although salary is important to a certain extent, a person's social standing matters more.
And that's where the Joneses come in. "The standard of living has gone up for each individual over the past 40 years but it has gone up for everyone," said researcher Dr Chris Boyce from the University of Warwick.
Dr Boyce feared many of us are racing to earn more money at the expense of relationships.
