Posted on 02/12/2020 9:15:01 AM PST by SeekAndFind
The term "millionaire" once inferred that a person was part of society's upper crust, able to enjoy luxuries most only dreamed of, including vacation properties and early retirement. The Gilded Age of the 1980s was all about flaunting excess, as echoed in movies like The Wolf of Wall Street and television series like Dallas and Dynasty. Back then one was perceived to be "rich" if he or she had an income of around $100,000, according to a USA Today article released on May 22, 1987.
By 1989, American millionaires had become quite common: there were about 1.5 million of them. So how many millionaires are there today? According to Credit Suisse's 2019 Global Wealth Report, the U.S. has 18.6 million millionaires, out of the world's total of 46.8 million. In fact, from 2018 to 2019, the U.S. alone added 675,000 new millionaires to its total.
The number of millionaires in the U.S. in 2019, approximately 40% of the world's total.
However, being a millionaire today doesn't guarantee automatic happiness or well-being. Fidelity Investments recently released the findings of its Fidelity® Millionaire Outlook survey, which looks at investing attitudes and behaviors of more than 1,100 millionaire households. Overall, times are good for millionaires—81% of millionaires report being very satisfied with their lives. In fact, one in four millionaires reported that they are more satisfied with their lives than they were a year ago.
However, when asked about their future outlook regarding the state of the economy, millionaires in 2019 ranked the lowest confidence levels since 2006. So what's keeping millionaires up at night?
Fidelity's study revealed that "concerns about their health are the leading causes of stress for millionaires and non-millionaires alike." With the rising cost of healthcare, they reported being worried about their weight, their family's health, and personal health. As the average age of millionaires is in the 60s, it's common that millionaires are likely managing disabilities or serious health issues for themselves or their families.
The survey revealed that "more than one-third of non-millionaire and millionaire investors have health-related concerns, which account for the largest proportion of their overall stress across the four areas of total wellbeing included in the study (health, financial, work, and life)." Furthermore, of the subsection of millionaires who reported higher stress levels, "fewer than half feel confident about their health."
In addition to the surrounding competition, the cost of living in millionaire-dense areas is enough to chip away at anyone's net worth. In wealthy West Coast cities like San Francisco and Palo Alto, home to the mega-rich like PayPal co-founder and venture capitalist Peter Thiel and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, being a millionaire isn't enough to launch you into a life of luxury—or even make you stand out from the pack. Match.com founder Gary Kremen, explained to the New York Times that "you're nobody here at $10 million," referring to the concentration of money in Silicon Valley.
The ACCRA Cost of Living Index, published by the Council for Community and Economic Research, lists Manhattan, Honolulu, San Francisco, Brooklyn, and Washington DC as the top five cities with the highest costs of living. Manhattan, New York City, tops the list with a cost of living index of 254.7.
Another reason millionaires might not feel so rich is that from a day to day standpoint, they're not actually living much differently than the rest of us. Being coined a millionaire once led to the conclusion that one did a lot more play than work, a stigma that no longer applies to millionaires in the modern age. According to Spectrem Group, the average United States millionaire is 62 years old. Just 1% of millionaires are under the age of 35, and 38% of millionaires are 65 and older. West Coast millionaires skew slightly older.
Further, a large number of individuals in the Mountain states and Texas never plan to retire, and millionaires in the Northeast and West Coast make up the largest percentage who don't have plans to retire for at least 10 more years.
According to "The Millionaire Next Door: The Surprising Secrets of American's Wealthy" by Thomas J. Stanley and William D. Danko, frugal living may also contribute to the insecure self-perception millionaires have regarding their wealth. Their research found that the average millionaire lives on less than 7% of his or her wealth, wears inexpensive suits and drives American-made cars that are not the current year's model. Throw the lagging housing market and a volatile stock market into the mix, and it looks like millionaires may not be any better off than the rest of us when it comes to the ability to rest on our financial laurels.
Given all these factors, what will take millionaires to feel rich again? Those surveyed by Fidelity pinpointed $7.5 million as the investable asset level that would make them feel back on top. (Becoming a millionaire is not as hard as you might think—it just takes time.)
And why pay attention to the millionaire "woe is me" findings? They could truly be the key to your own financial future. In a Fidelity-released media statement, Michael R. Durbin, president of Fidelity Institutional Wealth Services, explained that "millionaires' outlook could be seen as a leading indicator of the direction of the economy."
Whether you envy millionaires or shake your head in awe at their lack of financially secure feelings, you can stand to benefit from following their lead, whether you choose to get back into the market, scale back your spending, or continue to live just as you do. One day, you just might be a millionaire, too.
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I have over a million dollars in assets (real estate), own a business and I always feel broke.
Same here.
I’ve got a decamillionaire in my family who is scared to death of the spouse becoming a near vegetable, requiring expensive long-term care that would drain the coffers.
I think those most worried about money are those who work hardest to make sure they have the money they hope will put them beyond worry.
MILLIONAIRE IS SO 1980S, IT’S ALL ABOUT THE B-WORD NOW.
At the risk of being pedantic (which I am), a term cannot infer anything. A term can imply, however.
In the Bible, to the point of the article: gain is not godliness; but godliness with contentment is great gain. I like that idea. It seems that great wealth is only enjoyable if one is benevolent and thrifty. It's nice not to have to think about money; and that, it seems to me, is the upside of wealth.
RE: I have over a million dollars in assets (real estate), own a business and I always feel broke.
1) Do you FULLY OWN the real estate assets, or do you still owe money to the banks or lending company?
2) How much do you have to pay on maintenance and property taxes on your real estate? Are they stable or going up above inflation?
3) Are your tenants reliable and trustworthy?
4) How are property prices trending in your area?
Your answers to the above question will tell us why you feel broke or confident about your finances.
I had a lot of money once, but for the benefit of any IRS agents who may be watching, I lost it all in a tragic boating accident.
Let me tell you a secret: Having money is like having syphlis-you don’t go telling everybody about it.
Tell me what’s the point of being a millionaire and all this high profiling living, when you may have a massive heart attack or stroke in the next hour and you’re in Hades for eternity?
Most people forget that while you may plan the next 20 or 30 years of your life, there are others with more power than you - whom you never see or suspect, that can pull your silver cord (Ecclesiastes 12:6) and end it in the blink of an eye.
Life is a vapor and money is only temporary.
James 4:14
Psalm 144:4
“At the risk of being pedantic”
I prefer cringing in silence, generally, but it’s not good to bottle things up for too long.
[I have over a million dollars in assets (real estate), own a business and I always feel broke.]
You’ll keep more friends that way (cringing in silence, I mean).
If you have a Bentley and a Ferrari and live in Malibu tough to hide your money.
Doesn’t matter if you are rich or poor...if you are not enjoying life then you are missing out.
I’d want a Firebird and a trailer if I lived in Malibu.
However I would update and get voice mail over the answering machine.
I should feel financially comfortable today. However, I am very worried about the future. A fluke, such as Bernie seizing power, could wipe out my assets and plunge the country into chaos like we haven’t seen in 150-plus years, if ever.
Could Bernie win? The CIA has overthrown numerous foreign governments in the past, occasionally through direct action, and we now know for a fact that CIA leadership was part of the ongoing effort to remove the duly-elected President of the United States. No, I don’t feel at all rich or comfortable given that uncertainty.
those items prohibited by city code. Nothing less than a mercedes and no 200s or 300s
Cuz it’s not a feeling?? It’s a spend as you go plan.
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