by Emmett Pierce

Pay is often a key factor when deciding whether to accept a new job or pursue a promotion, but it can be a mistake to value earnings over job satisfaction.

While money is important, remember that you’ll spend a big percentage of your waking hours working. If you don’t enjoy what you do for a living, it will be difficult to be happy — at work or at home.

You may believe that you’d be happier earning more money, but studies have shown that’s true only up to a point.  For example, an expansive study published in the journal Nature Human Behaviour in January concluded that happiness peaks when income reaches $65,000 per year. Researchers noted that households that earned more money saw “no appreciable increases” in their happiness.