Money isn’t everything after all

In fact, just one person in ten believes money can buy happiness while nine out of ten reckon that there comes a point when a higher salary isn’t worth the sacrifice, responsibility and stress that comes with it.

And cut of point, to be exact, is £37,396 a year – after that most people would give careful consideration to whether it’s better to stick with their current salary or face a more hectic, stressful life after a pay rise, even though most people set out to earn as much as possible from their jobs.

It’s about achieving a life-work balance, and almost two thirds of people surveyed admitted they have considered taking a pay cut or demotion in order to have a richer life and improve that balance.

The average person considers a £24,270 salary enough to make their life comfortable, and 88 per cent of people would, or already have, turned down a more senior job, or a pay rise, if it was likely to have an effect on their work life balance.

Despite potentially losing out financially, almost one in ten have gone self-employed so they can control what they do for a living, others have changed jobs completely, accepted pay cuts and demotions, taken early retirement or accepted a redundancy offer to improve their quality of life.

Researchers also found more than half of the 2000 people surveyed would rather have a job which had a low or average salary that allowed them to have a rich and fulfilled life, than a stressful job which pays well. And 66 per cent would prefer a job they loved, but that wasn’t particularly well paid, than one they hated but had a good salary.

When it comes to priorities, being financially rich is only the eighth most important area of life.

At number one in the top ten of life priorties is having a happy family life.

Also in the top ten are:

- being healthy

- having a good work-life balance

- having a partner or being married

- have an active social life

- being pretty or handsome.