A new study from Princeton University suggests that feeling financially stable is as important a factor for happiness among women as having a high income.

Tayla Miron-Shatz, a researcher at Princeton’s Center for Health and Well-Being, surveyed nearly 1,000 women of various ages and incomes about relationships, work, finances, and overall well-being. Participants were also asked to talk about “the future” in an open-ended way.

It may not be surprising that women in the highest income bracket — those with household incomes above $80,000 — reported having more life satisfaction than those in the bottom bracket. But feeling financially secure, regardless of income or debt, had the same effect.

Also interesting among the findings: Participants who said they worried about retirement, college tuition, and making ends meet in the future — about 40 percent of those surveyed — also reported less life satisfaction overall.

Miron-Shatz commented that anxiety was more pronounced in people who have lost money through investments, even if those losses didn’t result in destitution.

“This suggests that, whereas the term ‘financial security’ may only signify existential danger to a few people, the concern over financial security appears to be important to the person who experiences it, and that, perhaps contrary to conventional wisdom, it is not only the poor or those in debt who fret over financial matters,” writes Miron-Shatz.

Luckily, while you may have limited control over income growth, you can take steps to feel more financially secure — like starting or augmenting an emergency fund, contributing to a retirement plan, sticking to a budget, or reducing household spending.