When times are hard, can money buy you happiness?

In the current climate, it’s easy to take a pessimistic view of things. Your now eroded hard-earned savings; rising inflation; everyday bills on the up; the threat that your job could be snatched away.

So it’s perhaps not surprising that a survey from research firm Mintel seems to suggest that financial security does in fact equate to higher levels of life satisfaction. So much for that old aforementioned cliché.

A little extra can go a long way

According to Mintel, six in ten people who are fortunate enough to be earning more than £50,000 are satisfied with their lives. And who could blame them? With the blessing of a financial buffer in these uncertain times, they can also carry on fulfilling their life’s ambitions.

And despite the price of basics like food and fuel continuing to spiral, a little extra disposable income will actually go further these days if you’ve got the necessities of daily life covered.

Luxury items such as high-end electrical goods have fallen in price due to lack of demand, so it’ll cost you less to splash out on a new TV, MP3 player or other shiny new perk. But if there’s not a lot to spare at the end of the month, the pursuit for a feel good pick-me-up becomes ever trickier.

All doom and gloom?

The warm fuzzy feeling derived from giving to those less fortunate than you? It seems less of us are able to, if the decline in charity donations is anything to go by.

What about the pleasure of seeing your children succeed in life? Those rocketing tuition fees are going to make that more problematic, too.

Despite the doom and gloom – and a 20.8% unemployment rate – Mintel found 16-24 year olds to be more optimistic than other groups in society. Maybe we should try and get them to spread the love among the rest of us!

Does financial security bring with it happiness? Whatever your pay bracket – and however squeezed your household budget is – tell us what you think.