Where Wealth Makes People Happiest

Perhaps all of us are like to think the reasons for seeking wealth are universal. Humans, characteristically, like to be at ease, like to have power and like to have the preferences and freedoms offered by lots of material and money. Yet it turns out there are some regional distinctions in the meaning of wealth around the world.

Freshly releases this morning from Barclay’s Wealth and Ledbury Research, found out that the emerging-market rich view wealth very differently from the older-money Europeans and the slightly less nouveaux Americans.

The study evaluated 2,000 people from 20 countries with invertible assets of $1.5 million or more. Both of them shared some common themes: a gigantic majority of rich people from all regions concord that wealth enables them to buy the best products and that wealth gives them freedom of choice in their life. The majority also agreed that wealth is a prize for hard work. But the differences are more appealing:

Respect – more likely 40% and 47% of Asians and Latin Americans say wealth allows them to get respect from friends and family. While only 28% of Europeans and 38% of Americans said respect was a byproduct of wealth.

Charity - about three-quarters of respondents in the U.S. and Latin America said wealth enabled them to give to charity. That compares with 57% in Europe and 66% in Asia.

Happiness – two thirds of the Europeans and Americans said wealth made them happy. But it had a better happiness affect in emerging markets, with 76% of Asians and Latin Americans saying wealth made them blissful.

Role Model – half or less than half of Americans and Europeans said that wealthy "set an important example to others to be successful." That compares with 71% of Latin Americans and 61% of Asians.

Spending - Wealthy Europeans are far more likely to spend their cash on travel and interior decorating. Latin Americans seem to put the maximum spending priority on education, while the U.S. surges above the rest in philanthropy.

There are several things into the differences. Clearly, the US has a more formalized and tax-favorable system of philanthropy than the rest of the world. In other words Americans are the most generous.

Moreover, the global financial crisis may have blemished the picture of the wealthy - yet amongst the wealthy. And to end with, the longer a country has wealth, the less it craves the attention and respect wealth brings.