The American Psychological Association (APA) reports that the freedom to express our individuality and to control our choices creates more happiness than money.

As entrepreneurs, this information applies directly to us, as our choices are deeply based in individual choice and self-expression.

This autonomy in our lives can include control over our workplaces, choices of career or entrepreneuring, and pursuit of our dreams, whatever they might be.  Although wealth can lead to autonomy, wealth alone does not generate the same level of happiness that this freedom can create.  Wealth as an indicator of well-being levels off after personal needs are addressed.

Researchers at the Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand asked: What is more important for well-being, providing people with money or providing them with choices and autonomy?  Their meta-analysis of data from 420,599 people from 63 countries spanning nearly 40 years was written up in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology published by the APA.

For more details and links from APA:

http://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2011/06/buy-happiness.aspx

For the article itself:

“What Is More Important for National Well-Being: Money or Autonomy? A Meta-Analysis of Well-Being, Burnout and Anxiety Across 63 Societies,” Ronald Fischer, PhD, and Diana Boer, PhD, Victoria University of Wellington; Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol. 101, Issue 1. http://psycnet.apa.org/journals/psp/101/1/164/