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I've studied this phenomena a bit ... and there's a p.h.-sort of balance to it.
People in poverty are generally not happy. Really rich people are generally not happy. Without adjusting for thousands of other imponderables, the happiest people tend be those that are pretty much just getting by.
I've seen nothing pointing to a cause and effect on the rich side. That is, are rich people unhappy because of the complications that come with lots of money, or are only miserable, miserly, greedy, coldhearted people the kind who tend to get filthy rich? Some evidence points to the former, in that lottery winners tend to become very unhappy after the first couple of years.
With poor people, the correlation is a little easier to fathom. It seems to make lots of sense that if you're constantly hungry or in a perpetual struggle to survive, happiness is not your lot in life.
Since i'm the camp of just getting by, and at a pretty satisfactory level of personal luxury and free time, I count myself almost fortunate to not be stinking rich - - I value my happiness very much. More than money.
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