Money Buys Happiness Only Up to a Point

Yahoo News, Jeanna Bryner, LiveScience Managing Editor, LiveScience.com, 6 Sep 2010

Money might give you a sense of overall satisfaction with life, but the extra dough won't ensure days full of laughter and joy, a new survey analysis of income and happiness suggests.

Results showed that as a person's income increases so does their overall satisfaction with life, but the moment-to-moment enjoyment of those days depended more on social and physical factors, such as whether a person smoked or spent the day alone.

These findings agree with a similar analysis of global happiness, in which the wealthiest nations, such as the United States, weren't necessarily the happiest. For instance, the United States came in at No. 26 out of 132 nations on daily happiness. Another study on overall satisfaction showed those living in the wealthiest and most tolerant states were happiest by the measure used in the study. [Happiest States Revealed]

Happiness surveys

In the new study, Daniel Kahneman and Angus Deaton of Princeton University took a stab at figuring out whether and how income affected each of the two well-being types: emotional well-being and overall life satisfaction. To do so, they analyzed more than 450,000 responses to the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index, a daily survey of 1,000 U.S. residents conducted by the Gallup Organization.

They looked at percentage changes in income rather than absolute numbers.

"In the context of income, a $100 raise does not have the same significance for a financial services executive as for an individual earning the minimum wage, but a doubling of their respective incomes might have a similar impact on both," the researchers wrote this week in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

For life evaluation, participants indicated on a scale from zero to 10, from worst to best possible, how they would rate their lives. For emotional well-being, participants answered yes/no questions about whether they had experienced various positive and negative emotions a lot during the prior day.

About 85 percent of respondents indicated they experienced a lot of positive emotions, including feelings of happiness, enjoyment and laughter/smiling on the previous day, while 24 percent felt a lot of sadness and worry. The average life-evaluation score was 6.76 (with 10 being the best possible life).

Physical illness, headaches, loneliness, and caring for an adult were linked to lower emotional well-being. Being a college graduate was associated with high life evaluation, but that diploma didn't do much for daily enjoyment.

The limits of money

Low income seemed to magnify the emotional pain of life's misfortunes, including divorce, illness and loneliness. For instance, for those with a monthly income of at least $3,000, 38 percent who reported headaches also reported a lot of sadness and worry, compared with 19 percent without headaches. But headaches seemed to take a greater toll on those making less than $1,000 a month, who reported "blue feelings" at rates of 70 percent when they had headaches and 38 percent when they didn't.

Beyond an average of $75,000, annual income no longer played a role in boosting how happy a person felt daily.

The researchers suggest that making anything more than $75,000 no longer improves a person's ability to spend time with friends, avoid pain and disease and enjoy leisure time - all factors involved in emotional well-being.

"It also is likely that when income rises beyond this value, the increased ability to purchase positive experiences is balanced, on average, by some negative effects," they write. For instance, a past study revealed a link between high income and a reduced ability to savor small pleasures, the researchers noted.

Spears hospitalized; loses right to see kids

CNN

LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- Britney Spears was derailed yet again in her struggle to get her life back on track, losing custody of her two sons to ex-husband Kevin Federline.

Spears appeared conscious as she was taken from her home.

A court commissioner Friday gave sole physical and legal custody of the former couple's two little boys to Federline and suspended the troubled pop star's visitation rights.

Spears was hauled away from her home to a hospital by paramedics a day before, after police had to intervene when she refused to return the children to Federline after a court-monitored visit.

Commissioner Scott Gordon ordered another hearing January 14.

Federline had previously been awarded temporary custody of 2-year-old Sean Preston and 1-year-old Jayden James because Spears has defied court orders, resulting in limitations on her visitation.

"I'm not happy about any of these events," Federline attorney Mark Vincent Kaplan said when he left a closed-door emergency hearing Friday afternoon. "There's no winners here."

Federline was not in court for the hearing, Kaplan said.

The attorney had said he did not expect the ruling to be released until Monday, but it was issued shortly after the hearing concluded.

Law professor Steve Cron, who is not involved in the Spears-Federline matter, predicted Spears will face sanctions from the court for her behavior.

"My guess is that she won't be seeing her kids for a while," said Cron, who teaches at Pepperdine University in Malibu.

Gordon has little option other than to further reduce the time Spears can legally spend with her children, Cron said, "at least for the time being until she gets some help. She's obviously a very troubled person."

The 26-year-old pop star remained hospitalized Friday.

Her latest troubles began around 8 p.m. Thursday when officers were called to her home to help resolve a dispute over her refusal to turn the children over to Federline, as dictated by their custody agreement.

It took two to three hours to resolve the conflict, said Los Angeles Police Officer Ana Aguirre.

"There was a time where she was within the residence and wasn't available to be speaking to the officers, apparently," she said. "There was no threat to the children."

"Police resolved the conflict," Aguirre said. "Both children were turned over to her ex-husband Kevin Federline for custody, and she was in fact taken to a local hospital for medical treatment."

Early police reports said officers thought Spears might have been under the influence of some substance, but Aguirre said there was no evidence of that.

"Our understanding is that was not the case," she said.

Officers at the scene determined that paramedics "needed to be called" but it was unclear why, she said.

"We're not aware of any type of injuries that she sustained" and she was not combative with authorities, Aguirre said.

Spears wasn't arrested in connection with the custody dispute, Aguirre said.

"There was no actual crime that was involved," the police spokeswoman said.

Kaplan said he went to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center after Spears was admitted there, but he declined to provide details about the pop star, her ex-husband, or their two sons.

Spears' mother, Lynne Spears, also would not disclose information about her daughter's condition. "Just say prayers," she told the celebrity news show "Access Hollywood" by phone Friday.

Hospital spokeswoman Simi Singer wouldn't confirm or deny reports in entertainment media that Spears would be held for 72 hours for psychological evaluation. The reports didn't identify their sources.

Spears "needs an enormous amount of help to find out why the erratic behavior," said Ruth Schreibman, a marriage and family therapist who does not treat the pop star.

"Is she bipolar? Is she depressed? Is it postpartum depression? Is it drugs and alcohol?" she said. "There's just so much attention and it's such an accelerated speed of life that how can there be any normalcy?"

Spears and Federline were married in October 2004. Her life has spiraled downward since their divorce in July. She has been photographed without underwear and appeared to be drunk and out of control in public. She shaved her head, beat a car with an umbrella and spent a month in rehab.

She had hoped to regain her pop crown with a much-hyped performance at MTV's Video Music Awards in September, but it was universally panned by fans and critics.

Still, Spears' latest album, "Blackout," earned positive reviews when it was released in October and brought Spears her first No. 1 hit in years, "Gimme More."

However, Spears remains a paparazzi target for her bizarre antics, which include frequent stops at gas-station bathrooms and holing up in a hotel room with a paparazzo.

Her 16-year-old sister, Jamie Lynn, made headlines last month when she announced that she is pregnant.

'Lifestyle managers' take charge for busy Americans

Inquirer.com, By Virginie Montet, Agence France-Presse, 10:08am (Mla time) 12/23/2007

WASHINGTON--Too busy to take shirts to the cleaners or shop for Christmas presents, high-flying Americans have spawned an industry to absolve themselves of everyday chores. Enter the "lifestyle manager."

"In (Washington) DC people are extremely busy and they have no time for anything, so there was an obvious need for a service like this," said Ezra Glass, who three years ago, at age 25, founded his own lifestyle manager company, Serenity Now.

His staff of seven undertake everyday chores from walking the dog to hiring a private jet or selling a customer's car.

"The strangest thing I had to do once -- a client wanted her dog taken to some place in Colorado but she wanted the dog to be driven in only a certain type of car," said Glass. "I had to rent a Ford Explorer because the dog was supposed to like it better."

Some 650 lifestyle management companies in 22 countries -- 500 in the United States -- are listed by the International Concierge and Errand Association (ICEA). Apparently born in California, the idea has spread, notably to London, since the late 1990s.

"It's booming now," says ICEA director Carla Mandell. "The key reason, around the world individuals are just time starved. They want more time to do the things they enjoy doing and they'd rather delegate the things they do not."

Fees can range from $45 to $110 per hour depending on the tasks, while clients of some companies, such as Serenity Now, pay a monthly subscription, with rates from $450 to $1,200.

"Generally they are very well to do. A lot of them are entrepreneurs, lawyers and lobbyists," said Glass.

The ICEA says more than a third of people who hire a lifestyle manager earn between $50,000 and $100,000 a year.

"Most of our clients are in a six figure range, but not necessary a million dollars," said Lori Welch, who employs two people part time at her Washington area company Just Call Lori.

"They work a tremendous amount of hours ... You have money but you don't have time," she said as a busy client called in to have his Christmas shopping done for him.

The Christmas holiday and spring are the busiest times for lifestyle managers.

"I don't know why people want to get a lot done in spring time," said Glass.

Their biggest jobs often have to do with redecorating a house, buying an automobile and organizing vacation schedules.

As the holiday season got into full swing, Lori Welch was booked up. She has about 100 customers, 25 of them regulars on a monthly basis.

"We do Christmas shopping, we ship the gifts, we stay in the line in the post office for them, we've gotten trees because people want to decorate the tree but not to go out, get it, put it in the stand. We decorate the house," she said.

Glass' company is doing so well he is planning to expand in the next two years to New York, Los Angeles and Miami.

Roofing Mogul Dies After Fall From Roof

Forbes.com, Andrew Farrell, 12.23.07, 12:00 PM ET

One of the wealthiest Americans, who made billions of dollars in roofing, died Friday after falling from his garage roof.

Ken Hendricks died after falling through his garage roof at his Rock, Wis. home. He suffered a massive, fatal head injury from the fall and was pronounced dead early Friday morning. He was 66 years old.

"This is an enormous tragedy and a great loss to the family, associates, and the community," said ABC Supply in a statement. "Right now, we are focused on working through the initial impact of this tragedy with primary focus on the Hendricks family, as we keep them in our hearts, thoughts and prayers."

Hendricks made a fortune in the vocation he learned from his father. After dropping out of high school at 17, Hendricks worked side-by-side with his father, a roofer.

In 1982, he acquired three supply centers that became the first locations for ABC Supply. Hendricks used a string of acquisitions in the highly fragmented roofing industry to build his fledgling company into a giant. The wholesale roofing distributor is now the 122nd largest private company in the U.S. with annual sales of nearly $3 billion.

"We didn't invent anything. But even Jesus Christ had a roof, and it probably had to be repaired," Hendricks told Forbes in 2004 on the success of his company. (See: "Up on the Roof")

The success of ABC made Hendricks one of the wealthiest Americans. His fortune of $3.5 billion made him the 91st richest person in the United States.

Earlier this year, Hendricks attributed his rise to riches to a mix of luck, instinct, and determination. "Probably half of my success would be luck, and the balance would be my instincts and my perseverance to achieve my goals," he told Forbes.com earlier this year. (See: "2007 Secrets Of The Self-Made Q&A")

The Associated Press contributed to this article.