While reading the 1440 daily newsletter last May (again, can’t recommend it enough), I came across a story highlighting the findings of something called The Global Flourishing Study. My interest piqued, I clicked the link and was met with this headline:
“Mapping the Mystery of Humanity: A Global Journey to Understand What It Means to Flourish.”
It would be fair to say my productivity declined significantly over the next few hours as I got lost in the details. Yes, this is the kind of stuff I geek out over.
For my kindred spirits who now want to read it for yourselves, I’m confident some deep conversations lie ahead. For those who don’t get excited about academic studies using phrases like “comprehensive longitudinal initiative,” here’s a brief synopsis, courtesy of my AI assistant:
The Global Flourishing Study is an unprecedented five‑year longitudinal research collaboration between Harvard’s Human Flourishing Program, Baylor University’s Institute for Studies of Religion, Gallup, and the Center for Open Science. Its first wave of findings, released in 2025, offers one of the most comprehensive portraits of human well‑being ever assembled. Surveying more than 200,000 people across 20+ culturally diverse countries, the study measures six dimensions of flourishing: happiness, physical and mental health, relationships, meaning and purpose, character and virtue, and financial stability. The goal is not simply to identify correlations, but to better understand the deeper conditions that help individuals and societies truly thrive.
After reading the results, I walked away with three main takeaways.
First, money is not the primary driver of flourishing. Of the six domains measured, financial stability is intentionally treated as a separate category. Happiness and life satisfaction, health, meaning, character, and close relationships are pursued for their own sake. Financial stability, on the other hand, is foundational. It can support the other areas of flourishing, but it cannot create them on its own. In fact, several countries with far lower average incomes scored higher on overall flourishing than wealthy nations like the United States.
Second, age plays a role in flourishing, but not consistently across cultures. In the United States, and many other countries, life satisfaction tends to improve as we age. Unfortunately, that pattern does not hold everywhere.
Finally, the factor that moved the needle the most across nearly every demographic and region affirmed my own experience. Regular attendance at religious services, and, to a lesser degree, participation in cultural experiences, was associated with greater improvements in human flourishing than any other single factor. This resonates deeply with what I’ve seen in my own life and through the lives of the people in Guatemala with whom I’ve worked for more than 15 years.
Now let me tie this together.
Brad, Yanely, and I find deep meaning in our profession. We are privileged to walk alongside wonderful people we’ve grown to care about genuinely. Our greatest joy comes from seeing people flourish. We believe the best way to support that process in our clients’ lives is by incorporating the three factors outlined above. Through our planning process, we aim to help people view money as a tool, one that enables long, healthy, connected, and meaningful lives well lived.
If you made it all the way through this tome, congratulations. If you did, send us an email at theryanjonesgroup@rwbaird.com to share your thoughts. We will send you a small gift as a thank you.