A survey of American millionaires indicated that 42 percent of them don't feel rich, like Andrew Carnegie was, unless they have at least $7.5 million in the bank. Image from Wikimedia Commons.

A new survey of American millionaires revealed that the wealthy think that real “wealth” is not realized until a person holds nearly $8 million in the bank. America’s millionaires, less than 6 percent of the population, do not feel “wealthy” unless they have at least $7.5 million in net worth. Most people on the planet subsist on a few dollars a day.

Recession makes wealthy not feel as wealthy anymore

Over the past few years, fewer of the wealthy are feeling as wealthy anymore, according to Bloomberg. The 2011 “Millionaire’s Outlook” survey by Fidelity Investments, which tracks the attitudes of millionaires around the United States, revealed that about four out of 10 millionaires did not truly feel “wealthy.” The 42 percent of the surveyed millionaires who did not feel wealthy responded that they would have to hold about $7.5 million in net worth to feel wealthy. The other 58 percent, however, did consider themselves to be wealthy. Interestingly enough, the 58 percent who did consider themselves themselves to be wealthy were on average younger than the 42 percent who did not and thus had longer careers ahead of them.

Lifestyles of the fantastically rich

The people in the survey had to have at least $1 million in net worth aside from retirement accounts and real estate. The 2009 “Millionaire’s Outlook” survey revealed even more people that year, 46 percent, did not consider themselves wealthy, according to Reuters. The fact that the number of millionaires who consider themselves wealthy has improved by 4 percent in two years is a sign of economic recovery. The reason given for those who not feel rich is that older wealthy people are concerned with being able to sustain the lifestyle to which they had grown accustomed upon retirement.

Where the rest of us sit

Those with incomes above $380,000 per year constitute 1 percent of Americans, according to CNN, and the people who belong to that exclusive bracket have seen their incomes and net worth rise by 33 percent since 1988. The average American taxpayer took home $33,400 in 1988, and in 2008, took home $33,000. Median income, according to the CNN estimates, has not changed in dollar amounts, and there is substantial wealth inequality in the United States. It is estimated that 90 percent of the population controls 50 percent of the wealth. Because inflation has taken place in that time, that means the same amount of money doesn’t buy nearly as much. Reagan’s “trickle down” economic policy favoring the wealthy in the hopes that wealth would “trickle down” was continued under George W. Bush and President Obama. It appears the trickle turned out to be a tidal wave that went the wrong direction.

Sources

Bloomberg

Reuters

CNN

If I had a Million Dollars

Becoming a millionaire is something that many of us have dreamt about. It is a vision that has led many people to do crazy things in the pursuit. The incessant quest has sparked many popular game shows and contests. The mere mention of the possibility that someone will become a millionaire has countless people clamouring for a chance to try. Having a million dollars has long been seen as a ticket to freedom – an opportunity to live the good life. These days though, a million dollars is not what it used to be and is far from being enough to be considered among the elite. Sure, it is still a considerable amount for many of us, but it leaves us to wonder exactly what is considered rich in this day and age.

How much does it Really Take?

According to a Barron’s Online article from March of 2008, $25 million dollars is now thought of as the base amount to be considered rich in today’s society. This may seem absolutely ridiculous in the middle of such a tough economy, but it is seen as the amount necessary to live a carefree lifestyle. Even though a large majority of the population is financially suffering, growth among the elite is on the rise. It makes some sense when we look at it more closely. Money does not disappear; it only changes hands. The money that so many of us are currently missing has got to be somewhere.

Who has all the Money?

The Barron’s article goes on to explain that there are more than double the amount of U.S. households which have between $1 million and $25 million dollars in net worth than there were ten years ago. Even more shockingly, there are approximately three times as many households in the $500 million category than there were in the previous decade.

It is Hard to Imagine

Even though most of us would be thrilled to have $10 million dollars in our pocket, many people who currently have this amount feel that they are living a rather middle of the road lifestyle. $25 million to $50 million is now thought to be the low level of wealth. $50 million to $500 million is middle of the road and $500 million and up is considered elite.

If only we had such Problems

In a time when most people are struggling to bring in enough to pay the bills and hopefully tuck a little away, it can be difficult to wrap our minds around the concept that having $5 million or $10 million dollars is not considered rich. The truth is that even with a fairly large sum in the bank, a crisis can come along and wipe out a large portion of a person’s funds. These new ideas about wealth take into consideration the amount of money that would be necessary to cover all of a person’s possible expenses without financing anything and still have enough left over in case the unexpected happens, such as healthcare issues. So, just in case you were wondering how much it would take to live worry free (at least financially speaking) in today’s society, $25 million ought to do it.

George Clooney had the right idea when he dated a waitress. That could just be the way to end poverty.

A few days ago, as I was reading about one very wealthy person getting engaged to another very wealthy person, I came up with a solution to poverty. Unfortunately, it is a solution that only works mathematically, not realistically.

My idea is this: if rich people married poor people, the distribution of wealth would all even out. Of course, I am not saying that this should be mandated in any way, but it seems logical, doesn’t it. Unfortunately, it is not logical at all. But a girl can dream.

Running in different circles

Now, I must clarify that I am not advocating people should marry only for money, or for lack thereof. People should always marry for love. I am just saying that if the different “classes” of people intermingled a little more, there wouldn’t be so much poverty. If only people could turn to their significant others instead of personal loan companies, debt could be a thing of the past.

For instance, if Oprah were to magically fall in love with a homeless man, that would be one fewer person in the “poverty” category. Also, instead of growing her fortune by combing it with another rich person’s, Oprah would remain super wealthy and not become super-uber-mega wealthy.

Of course, real estate prices ensure that people of a certain income level are surrounded by their own kind. That’s the reason my grand scheme will never work. But there are other reasons, too.

Social stigma

In general, rich people and poor people tend to have different ideals. Rich people are often rich because they are willing to work at it. Some of them see poor people as lazy. Of course, these are pretty old-fashioned stereotypes.

Some people want to keep their incomes moderate to avoid becoming materialistic and the corruption they believe comes along with power. Some rich people simply don’t want to spend their money on supporting people who don’t make their own money. But, I think I have a solution to this.

Idea for online dating sites

Listen up, all of you entrepreneurs out there. I can see a cross-section out there of groups of people who might be interested in meeting each other. How about trust fund babies and lazy poor people? Match up the people who didn’t work for their money with people who just don’t want to work.

Then, of course, the inverse of that idea would be to match up people who worked hard for their money with hard workers who just couldn’t catch a break.

The tough thing about making this idea work is figuring out how to market it and orchestrate it so that you’d end up with the best results. But that’s for you to figure out. If you use my idea, though, you’d better give me a cut of your profits.