Would being richer make you happy?
There’s an old saying that money doesn’t buy happiness, which is often swiftly countered with the suggestion that while this may be the case, having enough not to worry about it definitely helps.
There are no shortage of cautionary tales that tell us it is better to be happy than rich, but does it matter if some people have an awful lot more money than others?
And does it matter to both them and society how they got it - and whether it was earned by hard work?
An in-depth five-year study was launched this week that aims to look into inequality in Britain; and not just at earnings and wealth, but also inequality in education, opportunity, gender, race, geography, class and generation.
It arrived with a snapshot of Britain today and on this week’s podcast, Simon Lambert, Tanya Jefferies and Georgie Frost dive into the picture that paints and discuss whether we need to worry about inequality or not.
They also look at how to work out how wealthy you are – and why that matters even if you subscribe to the money doesn’t buy happiness mantra.
This week’s podcast also reveals the perks that you can get if you are over-60, after Jeff Prestridge wrote about those he discovered that he can now pick up now he’s had a big birthday. More seriously, the team flag the vital help that over-65s can get if they are struggling.
And finally, if you’ve ever thought you’d like to live in a certain part of town, on an exact street, or even ‘in that house there’, we look at the new service Knock for Sale that will send owners a card for you for £5 to tell them you are interested and maybe tempt them to sell.