2011-03-15 12:17:20
By Helen Kearney Helen Kearney Mon Mar 14, 11:07 am ET
NEW YORK (Reuters) A million dollars ain't what it used to be.
More than four out of ten American millionaires say they do not feel rich.
Indeed many would need to have at least $7.5 million in order to feel they were
truly rich, according to a Fidelity Investments survey.
Some 42 percent of the more than 1,000 millionaires surveyed by Fidelity said
they did not feel wealthy. Respondents had at least $1 million in investable
assets, excluding any real estate or retirement accounts.
"Every person in the survey is wealthy," said Sanjiv Mirchandani, president of
National Financial, a unit of Fidelity. "But they are still worried about
outliving their assets."
The average age of respondents was 56 years old with a mean of $3.5 million of
investable assets. The threshold for "rich" rose with age.
"They compare themselves to their peer group ... and they are also thinking
about the long period they will have in retirement and want more assets" to
fund their lifestyle, said Michael Durbin, president of Fidelity Institutional
Wealth Services.
Still, millionaires are slightly more optimistic now than they were in 2009,
when 46 percent did not feel wealthy.
Respondents were also more optimistic about the U.S. economy. While they
thought the current U.S. economy remained very weak, they think it will improve
by the end of this year.
Fidelity noted the wealthiest 5 percent of Americans hold more than 55 percent
of the nation's wealth.
(Reporting by Helen Kearney)