Here is a list of TOP 10 happiest countries in the world. The basis of this list is research done by professor Ruut Veenhoven who runs the World Database of Happiness at Erasmus University Rotterdam.

How is happiness measured?

Happiness can be very subjective. Some people are happy when it rains, others are happy when the sun is shining. So how is it measured? Apparently the people at World Database of Happiness take into account a number of different things such as average life expectancy and most importantly the answer to the following multiple choice question “How happy are you?” (Although the actual question has varied a bit throughout the years). Having all the variables they run it through a computer and get a number from 1 to 10. The bigger the number, the happier the country

Happiest countries in the world

10. Luxembourg – 7.6 points

Living in the worlds richest country inevitably puts a smile on your face! This small landlocked European country has an army of 800 people (yes, 800). They don’t have a navy nor an air force but together with Belgium they can afford to own 1 military cargo plane. Beat that US!

According to the Guinness Book of World Records Luxembourg holds the world record as the country that consumes most alcohol in the world per citizen.

9. Guatemala – 7,6 points

This Central American country borders with Mexico in the north and is located between the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea. This location makes it a very difficult country to stay happy in – Guatemala is frequently ravished by hurricanes and earthquakes that often kill thousands of people. Main exports of Guatemala include coffee, sugar and bananas. The latter is probably why they are so happy – have you ever seen someone that can stay sad while eating a banana? 56% of all Guatemalans live in poverty. If you ask me, they can use the cheap bananas!

8. Canada – 7,6 points

Many people have no idea that Canada’s head of state is actually Queen Elizabeth II – the head of the British Monarchy. This meant that when Britain declared war on Germany in World War I, Canada was automatically at war with the soon to be Nazi country. Unlike the neighboring US, Canada has never cancelled its relations with Cuba and has declined to take part from the Iraq War – instead, it has played a leading role in the United Nations peacekeeping missions and helped to launch a $1.5 billion initiative to help develop vaccines that could save millions of people in poor countries. It seems that happy people make a happy country!

7. Sweden – 7,7 points

This “welfare state” model is an excellent example of effective national taxes.  Among other things the state provides universal tax-funded childcare, parental leave, health care, education (including university), retirement pensions and sick leave. Including value added tax (VAT – kind of like sales tax), it is possible to pay up to 80% of your income as taxes. Contrary to popular belief, Swedes are quite OK with their high taxes – after all it gives them tons of high quality services and they almost never need to take drastic action like taking quick payday
loans just to make ends meet. In fact, most of the services for the public are free, so what’s not to be happy about?

Sweden is also the home of IKEA – the worlds largest furniture store. IKEA’s founder Ingvar Kampard is famous for being the 7th richest person in the world (Net worth $31 billion) and driving a 15 year old Volvo station wagon. It has been claimed that more people read the Ikea catalogue than the Bible – and that one in ten Europeans have been conceived on an Ikea bed.

6. Australia – 7,7 points

The name “Australia” comes from the Latin word “Australis”, meaning “Southern”. Australia is the only country in the world, that consists of an entire continent. Between 1788 and 1868 the British used Australia as a colony to deport their convicted criminals – these people are the predecessors to many of today’s citizens. Australians are famous for playing rugby and calling each-other “mates”.

5. Finland – 7,7 points

This is the country that brought us Nokia – the worlds largest manufacturer of mobile phones. In 2003 Nokia accounted for about a quarter of Finland’s exports and in 2006 it generated more revenue than the entire budget of Finland.  Before starting to make mobile phones Nokia made (yes, it’s true) rubber boots!  Finland was also home to Simo Häyhä – considered to be the most deadly sniper through history with 542 kills. According to World Economic Forum Finland has the most competitive economy in the world. Plenty to be happy about!

4. Iceland – 7,8 points

This geologically active country is rich in volcanoes and geysers (A geyser is a hot spring that erupts water in certain intervals). Thanks to geothermal power Iceland gets its electricity and hot water dirt cheap. There have been occasions where steel has been shipped for processing from Australia or Africa and when finished shipped back to the originating country. Cheap local energy actually makes this cost effective. According to the Human Development Index, Iceland (together with Norway) is the world’s most developed country.

3. Austria – 8,0 points

Austria is the home to the popular energy drink Red Bull. This country is also one of the few in the world, that allows legal voting beginning from age 16. Upon turning 18, all Austrian males have to take part of a 6 month military service. The country has declared itself formally a neutral country or a  “perpetual neutrality” as they say it, but in reality it has taken part of various peacekeeping missions and also took part of the UN sanctions against Iraq. Thanks to the wide use of wind-, solar- and hydropower Austria produces around 80% of its energy from renewable resources. Education is mostly free, with the exception of an average semester fee of 583 dollars (370 eur) in universities. As you probably guessed – student loan debts are not an issue in Austria.

2. Switzerland – 8,1 points

This cheese and chocolate producing land is the world’s 10th richest country. Switzerland’s neutrality helped their banks to raise some serious cash – for decades it was possible to open a bank account without having to identify yourself. Upon opening an account, you were given a special number that anyone could use to deposit or withdraw money. This law was later changed since it attracted illegal money. Switzerland is also one of the top garbage recyclers in the world (66% to 96% recyclable materials recycled). They achieve this by keeping recycling free, but asking money for regular garbage – thus giving people a financial incentive to recycle.

1. Denmark – 8,2 points

Just like Sweden, Denmark is a Nordic welfare state with most of its services free to the citizens. Expect to pay 72% of your money to the government on the highest income tax bracket. According to Wikipedia Denmark has the worlds highest taxes! When buying a car in Denmark one has to pay 25% VAT to the import price of the vehicle and then a 180% registration tax on top. That means when a car sells for $20 000, you have to pay an additional $45 000 as taxes for the government (total of $65 000). That’s why people in Denmark ride bikes or use one of the best public transport systems in the world. Denmark also has 2 autonomous provinces – the Faroe Islands and Greenland. The latter is over 50 times larger than Denmark but has about 100 times less people.

Other notable countries

• USA – 7.4 points – 17th place
• Great Britain – 7.1 points – 22nd place
• France – 6.5 points – 39th place
• China – 6.3 points – 44th place
• India – 6.3 points – 45th place
• Japan – 6.3 points – 46th place

I’ve been to 4 out of 10 happiest countries in the world – Luxembourg, Sweden, Finland and Denmark! What’s your score?

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What makes us successful?

Illustrated Guide to Reading People’s Faces

1. Steal

It’s just like taking candy from a small child!  Stealing is taking the easy way out to get rich. As we know from the news it can at times be quite rewarding – if you do it right you can make a million dollars in a few hours. The thing that keeps most of us stealing is that it takes balls – if you get caught you will most probably spend a lot of time in jail.

If you are planning to start stealing as you number 1 career choice then listen to these words of wisdom:

Don’t bother with the small stuff. Stealing small amounts multiple times is the worst thing you can do – it means minimum rewards with maximum chance of getting caught. Just look at my post about pickpockets and you’ll get the idea about what not to do.

The way to go is to make 1 difficult but well thought out job once in your life time. Good examples are my post about the thieves who stole 6 million dollars while everyone were watching football or about the guys who pulled off the heist of a century when they robbed over 1 billion dollars in Sweden.

2. Become a Professional

If you are looking for something more traditional you should take the obvious way of getting rich – hard work.

You’re not going to get rich working an average job however.  It takes time, charisma, skill, and education to land a high paying job.  If you can commit to higher education, then earning big money as a professional may be in your future.  On this path to riches, you definitely get back what you put in. The only thing you need to keep in mind is that it can take a whole lifetime before you get where you want to be.

3. Turn Hobby into Business

It may surprise you to find out how many million dollar businesses started as a hobby.  With a good idea, some skills, and a little ambition, the thing you love the most can be bringing in the dough.  This can be something as simple as a craft, running a specialty food cart, or even making a website about your favorite topics.

4. Start A Website

Speaking of websites, if you haven’t noticed, blogging is HUGE.  With the explosion of blogs comes the ability to capitalize off of a well written one.  To make money with a website you either have to sell a product or receive revenue from advertisements placed on your site.  Many webmasters choose to do both.  If you identify a paying niche and do the necessary research you could have a site up with little to no out of pocket costs.  Getting rich will require a lot of trial and error, like any other business.  For wannabe webmasters there are tons of tools that even the most computer illiterate can use to publish their very own page.

During the years I have made a few thousand dollars with my website Financial Jesus. Each month I make a few hundred bucks and I am pretty sure that if I wanted I could make a full time income off of blogging. To see how much I made in 2010 and where the money came from – take a look at my post about My total blog income in 2009.

5. Play the Stock Market

Even in tough economic times, there is money to be made in the stock market.  Trading stocks is a simple way to get rich, not fast but simple.  The idea is to purchase a stock when it is at a low value and then sell when that value goes up.  Simple concept, but takes time and discipline to make it into millions.  A significant amount of research is needed in order to make solid decisions instead of buying and hoping for luck to bring in the dividends.  With the decline of stable social security and retirement plans in the American economy, many younger people are taking investment into their own hands.  With that comes more user-friendly trading sites and plenty of internet articles about the market.  Beware of the get rich quick scams though, in this area there are plenty of them.

6. Marry Money

Got a ton of charisma but don’t want to work for your money, then marry rich!  Sure gold diggers have a bad reputation, but marrying someone of high social status is nothing new.  The modern approach involves matchmakers that specialize in introducing millionaires to their perfect match, that could be you!

This also works the other way around – take a look at my article about how the right woman can make you rich.

7. Write a book

Sure almost everyone thinks they have a great idea for a book, tv show, or movie.  Not many have the imagination, skill, determination, and luck to make it a reality.  Even fewer of those ever make any real money.  However, the silver lining is that with the ease of publishing books and movies online the real talent doesn’t get lost in a sea of rejection letters.  Don’t want to write a book?  No problem, you can also get rich by writing a screenplay or even a movie.

8. Gamble

You’ve seen it on the news and in movies, the bright lights of a casino, or the screams of a lottery winner.  Winning money can be the most thrilling way to become rich.  Ways to gamble vary greatly, there are traditional casino games, sports betting, and also other lottery style games.  For those who want to practice their skills in the comfort of their own home, online casinos exist.  Games can even be played for free to build up skill before hitting the high roller table in Vegas.

Check out my interview with a guy who won over 5 million dollars with the lottery to see what the good life is like after winning or read about the British taxi driver who keeps it real and is still working even after winning 26 million pounds (40 million dollars).

9. Buy Real Estate

Another traditional way to become rich is investing in real estate.  Though news of falling property values make would be investors nervous, many recognize this as an opportunity to make millions.  There will always be good deals in real estate.  With some knowledge, capital, and sweat equity, there is still millions to be made.

10. Become a Street Entertainer

Might sound funny at first, but consider this; if you want to make it in the entertainment business you need to be able to perform in from of ANYBODY.  Recording demos and networking is fine for some, but there comes a time when you just have to get out and do it.  With the popularity of sites like youtube, street performers are being discovered around the world.  Point is, you never know who is watching.

Changing your name to more local sounding can significantly help you earn more money.

If you are a foreigner living in a country where you are also looking for a job it could be a good idea to change your name in order to find a job and get a significant boost in your income.

The Survey

In 2009 two Swedish scientists – Mahmood Arai and Peter Skogman Thoursie from the University of Stockholm – conducted a study where they found that immigrants who changed their names to more Swedish-sounding ended up with an average increase of their income of 141%.

The scientists analyzed data from 641 immigrants between the years 1991 and 2000 that had came to Sweden from Asia, Africa and Slavic countries and had also changed their name.

The income of an immigrant was analyzed 3 years before the name change and 3 years after.

The analyze took into account a number of statistical information, including inflation, age and place of residence.

Results of Changing Your Name

Mahmood Arai and Peter Skogman were stunned to see that the results of changing your name had a huge impact already 1 year after the name change took place.

The earnings increase was largest in the group that reported very little or no earnings at all before the name change. It was found that they had a increase in income between 0.5 and 2 years of changing their name. In some cases the increase in income was as high as 1000%.

Why Changing Your Name Can Make You Money

Scientists conducting the study found that changing one’s exotic and foreign sounding name had huge benefits on landing a job interview and thus increasing chances of finding work.

It was found common for employers to sort out job applicants with foreign names just because of the bias they evoked.

The bias toward foreigners was so strong that even smart law abiding people were not called for a job interview just because of their name.

In other words – if you have a foreign sounding name you will have a smaller chance of getting a good job simply because you are not called to the job interview at the first place. It is impossible to leave good impression of yourself when you are not even called to a job interview.

I know that this post is being published on April 1st, but this is not a joke!

Following last years story of how 2 homeless men in Hungary inherited 8 billion dollars comes an incredible story from Sweden.

A homeless man known to the locals as Tin-Can Curt died and left a fortune of almost 2 million dollars.

The homeless man Curt Degerman was quite well known among the people of his home town Skellefteå, Sweden but since he used to smell bad and had a general lack of hygiene – they usually avoided him as much as possible.

For 40 years Curt rode the same old bicycle,  collected tin cans, bottles and scrap metal.

Curt never spent any money – even the food he ate was collected from dumpsters.

Every day after finishing his daily “business route” collecting tin cans and scrap metal Curt used to go to the library where he read everything he could about stock markets and finance.

His favorite hobby was reading the Swedish financial newspaper called Dagens Industry (translation: Daily Economy).

Tin-Can Curt left his entire fortune to a cousin who was the only person to regularly visit him during his last years alive. After Curt’s death another relative emerged who wanted the money. Instead of going to court the 2 men eventually decided to split the fortune.