Forget dreams of becoming a millionaire, cash-strapped consumers say £354,000 would be enough to change their lives forever, a survey has found.

More than half (51%) of people said £50,000 or less would be a life-changing sum of money, according to the study, carried out to mark the launch of new Channel 4 game show The Bank Job.

In an indication of the importance placed on cash by people in tough economic times, more than half of those studied (55%) did not agree with the statement "the money wouldn't change me" and four out of 10 agreed that "money can buy you happiness".

One in five people even said that money was more important to them than friends and family, the study found.

While people said an average of £354,000 would be the sum to change their lives, women tend to want slightly less than men -
and would typically settle for £306,000 compared with £403,000 which men said they would need.

Around one in five of the 2,000 people who took part in the survey admitted lying to their partner for personal gain.
Women were also more likely to have lied than men in order to make money, with 21% of women saying they had done so compared with 11% of men.

Londoners were found to be the most underhand when it came to lying about money, with 19% admitting to lying to make money and more than a quarter (26%) of Londoners confessing to hiding money from their partner.

People in the English capital also value money over friends and family to a higher degree than any other region surveyed, with 28% of Londoners saying this compared with just 11% of people in the North East.

:: The Bank Job starts on January 2.