One benefit of living in a rich country is that we can pay psychologists and professors to explain why wealth doesn't make us very happy.
It's true. Researchers have found that, once people can meet basic needs, psychological dividends from additional money steadily decrease. Making $100,000 does not make you twice as happy as $50,000.
So why does losing money, and the prospect of losing money, make us so miserable?
The short answer is that it doesn't have to. If you think about money in the context of what economics says about true fulfillment, having less of it shouldn't be quite so painful.
With our retirement savings cut in half, vacation plans scrapped, car purchases postponed and debt up to our nostrils, let us hearken to the good news of happiness research.
It is possible to lead a full, meaningful, contented life without a Cadillac Escalade in the driveway or a second home in Aruba.
We knew this, of course. Jesus, Buddha and others told us. We always forget it in the fat years and begin remembering when the rouge rubs off and the vanities go up in flames.
But now science proves it, more or less. A growing body of research suggests that money, if not the root of evil, is not the fount of satisfaction, either. And many of our feelings about money and financial loss are flat-out irrational.
"There is more to life than just consumption," says Amitava K. Dutt, a professor of economics at the University of Notre Dame who's teaching a course called "Consumption and Happiness." "Sometimes when we are forced to consume less, good things can happen, although it's pretty bitter medicine to take."
Three decades ago researchers discovered that, on average, people in poor countries were pretty much as happy as people in wealthy countries so long as they had shelter, heat and food. Developed nations were richer in pocket than in spirit.
But within each country, richer people reported more satisfaction than poorer people no matter their absolute level of possessions. The key was status, having more stuff than one's neighbor, whether in goats or swimming pools. The unhappy had less than what their peers had or what advertisers suggested was adequate.
More recent investigation has found that the negative emotions that investors feel when losing money are more intense than their pleasure when gaining an equal amount.
