Fidelity Investments surveyed 1000 U.S. millionaires and discovered that 42 percent feel that–despite owning at least $1 million of assets–they are not wealthy. Furthermore, many believed that they would not be wealthy until they were worth $7.5 million.
Some of you may say this is a symptom of inflation. You would be wrong.
This is an issue of low self-esteem. Our nation’s millionaires are ugly ducklings who never learned they were beautiful when they made their first million–or even millions less than eight. If our upper class feels middling-to-lower because they only have six bedrooms or four cars, then we have failed as a society to make them feel better than the rest of us.