I just couldn't resist a link to this research that shows that money can buy you happiness (or at least some "Subjective Well-Being (SWB)").

Adrian White, an analytic social psychologist at the University's School of Psychology, has found that "a nation's level of happiness was most closely associated with health levels (correlation of .62), followed by wealth (.52), and then provision of education (.51).
The three predictor variables of health, wealth and education were also very closely associated with each other, illustrating the interdependence of these factors.
There is a belief that capitalism leads to unhappy people. However, when people are asked if they are happy with their lives, people in countries with good healthcare, a higher GDP per capita, and access to education were much more likely to report being happy."



This is consistent with previous research that shows that household happiness had a positive correlation with household income.



Australia doesn't rank in the top 20, but I'd guess it's close to the USA (ranked 23). One reason I think that people generally have the opinion that "money can't buy you happiness" is that people expect too much - they think that if they just got a 10% payrise, or won $20,000 on the lottery, all their problems would be solved.

Enough Wealth