An individual's financial situation positively impacts her subjective well-being (SWB) according to the literature. However, most existing studies focus solely on income, neglecting other aspects of an individual's financial situation such as wealth. In this paper, we empirically examine the relationship between SWB, income, household wealth, and its components. Additionally, we explore the significance of one's wealth relative to others' for SWB. Our contribution expands the limited literature on absolute and relative wealth and SWB by utilizing unique microdata from a German wealth survey, the German Panel on Household Finances (PHF). Our findings indicate that both assets and debts, alongside income, are associated with an individual's SWB. In particular, a similar relative increase in financial assets is associated with a greater increase in SWB than the same percentage increase in real assets, and SWB decreases as the level of unsecured debt increases. Furthermore, individuals tend to experience decreased SWB when comparing themselves to others with more assets or less debt. Interestingly, we observe divergent effects of relative wealth on SWB among younger and older individuals. These results underscore the significance of considering wealth, in addition to income, when analyzing determinants of SWB.

根据文献，个人的财务状况会对她的主观幸福感（SWB）产生积极影响。然而，大多数现有研究仅关注收入，忽略了个人财务状况的其他方面，例如财富。在本文中，我们实证检验了主观幸福感、收入、家庭财富及其组成部分之间的关​​系。此外，我们还探讨了一个人的财富相对于他人的财富对于主观幸福感的重要性。我们的贡献通过利用德国财富调查（德国家庭财务委员会 (PHF)）的独特微观数据，扩展了关于绝对和相对财富以及主观幸福感的有限文献。我们的研究结果表明，资产和债务以及收入都与个人的主观幸福感相关。特别是，金融资产的类似相对增长与主观幸福感的增长幅度大于实物资产相同百分比的增长相关，而主观幸福感随着无担保债务水平的增加而下降。此外，当与拥有更多资产或更少债务的其他人进行比较时，个人的主观幸福感往往会下降。有趣的是，我们观察到相对财富对年轻人和老年人的主观幸福感的影响不同。这些结果强调了在分析主观幸福感的决定因素时除了收入之外还考虑财富的重要性。