Some people think that money is not important for happiness, or even that rich people are not happy. On the contrary, research has shown that people who are well-off financially are happier than poor people (Diener & Biwas-Diener, 2002; Diener & Seligman, 2004). It has usually been assumed that financial success brings happiness. But it is also true that happy people make more money. Indeed, happy people are successful in many areas of life that require motivation and persistence, including domains such as work and income (Lyubomirsky et al., 2005).
Excerpt from Life Goals and Well-Being: Are Extrinsic Aspirations Always Detrimental to Well-Being? by Ingrid Brdar, Majda Rijavec & Dubravka Miljkovic