ABSTRACT
This chapter explains the role that money plays in achieving and sustaining happiness. It describes the main personality traits and the impact on happiness from a financial perspective. The chapter discusses how money influences health and life expectancy. The main financial factors that appear to have the biggest impact on happiness are income, work, spending and the degree of materialism. Careers research in the UK found that florists and gardeners had the highest life satisfaction and bankers and IT workers had the lowest. In addition to the job fit, self-employment and reasonable working hours, it seems that the highest satisfaction is associated with those jobs where the individual has a high degree of control and autonomy and sees the end results from their efforts. An analysis of college students found that life satisfaction was positively correlated with positive financial behaviours - with spending being a major financial behaviour.
