The Economics of Happiness
02 Mar 05

“Our national income per person has nearly doubled since the late 70s, but our levels of life satisfaction are almost exactly the same, and in fact we're losing ground in the happiness stakes to a number of European countries.”

Mori Report, November 2004

Recent surveys and manifestos published by amongst others The New Economics Foundation and researchers from leading US Universities, show that happiness and well-being (the combination of material and social factors) are directly related to success and as such should be top of the agenda for governments and businesses.

This is an interesting and important development in how societies are measured; however, until now, there has been a noticeable lack of information on how individuals can achieve the illusive balance between financial and personal fulfilment.

As Britain returns to work after the festive season, many people will be reassessing their lives, wondering if they are achieving what they imagined they would; worrying about their finances after the Christmas excesses; wishing they could achieve the illusive work life balance that so many articles and pundits speculate about.

Few people when asked: are you happy? Or, do you earn enough? Will answer yes to both questions. Carmel McConnell, author of a new book Make Money, Be Happy, thinks this is not only a shame, it is also unnecessary. She knows that it is possible to have both.

Since writing her previous books, Change Activist and Soultrader, Carmel has been contacted by many people wanting to change their career path, take risks, and be more fulfilled. There is always more than enough motivation, skill and intelligence; but often that person cannot take the desired action because of fears over material issues. It is for these people that she wrote Make Money Be Happy.

Shattering the myth that you have to choose between healthy finances and happiness, Carmel demonstrates that, whatever your starting point, it is possible to have both. Step by step, she helps people assess what their financial and fulfilment needs really are, and then takes them through a process of creating a life which really works for them.

It’s a personal approach, designed to be gentle on those of us who shiver at the thought of financial planning. And it will softly steer anybody who doesn’t really know what it is they want to do.

The Make Money Be Happy strategy helps people work out:

• Why they earn what they earn.
• What they might really want to do with their lives.
• What their career choices will mean, financially.
• The concept of day rate versus salary.
• What they need to understand about investments.
• Self-destructive spending habits.
• Ways to make a low-income work harder.
• Ways to make a high-income feel like one.

This book opens up and explains the steps to financial freedom, not from a get rich quick perspective, but from a get know-how and skills quick perspective.

Make Money Be Happy Author Carmel McConnell Publisher Prentice Hall Business Pub Date 7 January 2005 Price £9.99 ISBN 0273675605 Buy online from www.pearson-books.com before 27th March 2005 to save 10% on the RRP of £9.99. Click here for further information or to purchase Make Money Be Happy.

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