Kerre Woodham: Happiness depends on your state of mind, not state of your wallet

Kerre Woodham would probably be drinking more expensive wine, but don't expect much else to change if she was the holder of the golden ticket. Photo / Herald on Sunday

If I won the Lotto jackpot this weekend, I'd do pretty much what I'm doing now - sit in the sun in Paris, drinking Beaujolais at a funky neighbourhood bar, making memories with friends.

Maybe, if I was the Lotto millionaire, I'd be drinking more expensive wine or staying at the George V rather than a very nice American chain hotel, but really - it wouldn't make much difference.

And that's because, at this stage in my life, I can pay my bills on time, save for my retirement and have a bit left over as discretionary income. Any more is superfluous.

You couldn't have told me that when I was on the bones of my bum, on minimum wage, working as a waitress.

But the research says it's so. According to Harvard University psychologist Daniel Gilbert, who spent years studying the links between money and happiness, wealth increases human happiness if it lifts people out of abject poverty into the middle classes - but after that, you're on your own.

It's up to you to find your own contentment and pleasure in life, and that will depend on your state of mind, not the state of your wallet.

That means if you're the winner of the golden ticket, you can only expect to find true happiness if you give most of the money away, spend what's left on experiences not things, and buy caviar and champagne once a year and not every day.

The Christchurch earthquake taught me that stuff doesn't really matter. I came home on the night of February 22 and took stock of my life.

If the worst happened, and I knew my family and friends were safe, would there be anything I'd be devastated to lose if we experienced the same disaster in Auckland? And out of all the stuff I have - all the clothes I've lusted after and bought; the paintings I've saved for and enjoy seeing on the walls; the glasses, the crockery, the books - there are only really a few things that I would be sad to see lost. A couple of photo albums, a special china tea set and that's pretty much it.

So I hope for all your sakes that I'm the holder of the winning ticket this morning - because you'll all be sharing in it if I am.