Study determines exactly how much money one needs to win to be happy

It sounds like an impossible question to answer, "just how much money one needs to win in the lottery to have a long term impact on personal happiness?" It certainly doesn't seem like a question for science. Fortunately, researchers at the University of Warwick and Watson Wyatt have been examining this specific question.

In work to be published in the Journal of Health Economics, researchers Professor Andrew Oswald from the University of Warwick and Dr Jonathan Gardner from Watson Wyatt showed that medium-sized lottery wins ranging from around just £1000 to £120,000 had a long term sustained impact in the overall happiness of those winners. On average, two years after their win medium-sized lottery winners had a mental wellbeing GHQ score 1.4 points better than previously - meaning loosely that two years after their win they were just over 10% happier than the average person without a win or only a tiny lottery win.

Interestingly, researchers also found that this increased happiness is not obvious immediately after the medium-sized win and takes some time to show through. They theorized that the delay could be due because many windfall lottery funds are saved and spent later.

Of course, very few people will win the lottery, but presumably the results could also apply to an unexpected bonus, inheritance or anything else perceived as a "windfall."

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Would winning £1000 give you increased long-term happiness? Let us know in the comments