A study of 1,014 individuals by Betsey Stevenson and Justin Wolfers of the University of Michigan, found that “happiness and life satisfaction are almost perfectly correlated with income”. Thus, when people hit the $100-$150k threshold, everybody was either “very” or “fairly” happy, and nobody described themselves as “very dissatisfied”. By the time they hit $500k, it was “a complete knock-out”: everyone polled was “very happy” and “very satisfied” – there were “no miserable millionaires”. The evidence is “overwhelming”: wealth is good for one’s well-being; the more you have, the happier you are. (Adapted from remarks by Allister Heath, City AM).

Epicurus would agree that not having to worry about the most basic needs relieves one of much anxiety. But I think his reaction would nonetheless be more sophisticated and nuanced. He would, I think, be concerned about the subset of well-of people who are consumed with money, making more of it and avoiding paying tax on it (and then piously going to church on a Sunday morning). He wouldn’t much envy those who, however rich, spent their spare time worrying about the ups and downs of the stock market, and quarreling over invoices and workmen’s bills. And he would think ill of those who claim that “they made it all by their own hard work”. Epicurus would look for modesty, generosity to less well-off people, good humour and a lack of conspicuous consumption. Moderation, in other words.