It is an age-old debate: Can money buy happiness? According to research from Daniel Kahneman and Angus Deaton, two Nobel Prize-winning economists from Princeton University, their study concluded $500,000 can indeed boost happiness.

“And the reason they say that is because now you have the ability to pay all your bills with the cost of living going up everywhere,” Newsradio’s Ursula Reutin said. “The new findings say that happiness does improve with these higher earnings.”

Gee Scott, co-host of The Gee & Ursula Show, said it doesn’t surprise him.

“You can have a lot of money and still not be happy, of course, but at the same time, when it comes to money, it is the second best thing to oxygen,” Gee said. “I think that we were really born into this world just to work. We need to work to survive.”

Ursula said the question makes her think about what creates happiness. “I’m going to say, family. So to me, the support of family and friends. That goes a long way when it comes to my well-being, my happiness level, my mental and physical health.”

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Ursula said “financial stability” is an important component of happiness.

“Do I need to be rich to have happiness? No. And so I’m glad that the study was saying at some point in time, it really doesn’t matter because guess what? You can have $3 million or $5 million or $10 million in the bank,” Ursula said. “And if your mental health and your physical health is not good, or if your family life is miserable, or suddenly people turn on you, that’s not going to make you happy.”

Gee stuck by his feelings that money is second only to oxygen.

“I feel that you can live without family. You can’t live with your family without money. You can’t live. So you and your family would be out on the streets,” Gee said. “So when I say money is the second best thing to oxygen, I don’t make the rules. Unfortunately, in this country, it is very expensive to live.”

Gee & Ursula tackled the question: ‘Does money buy happiness?’ What do you think?

— MyNorthwest 🌲 (@Mynorthwest) March 9, 2023

Listen to Gee Scott and Ursula Reutin weekday mornings from 9 a.m. – 12 p.m. on KIRO Newsradio, 97.3 FM. Subscribe to the podcast here.