Millionaire Survey: the More You Have, the More You Want

Millionaire Survey: the More You Have, the More You Want

Many millionaires feel under constant pressure to make more money to maintain a certain lifestyle for themselves and their families; yet they also regret not spending more time with their families. These findings on the concerns of modern American High Net Worth Individuals (HNWIs) are revealed in a survey from UBS Investor Watch entitled, When is Enough…Enough?

The survey asked 2,215 millionaires a series of questions about their wealth, their family life and their aspirations. Just under a quarter of those polled own $5m or more.

The overriding impression is that whilst these people undoubtedly enjoy a comfortable lifestyle, it brings with it anxieties such as whether this will last; how they can provide for their families in the long run; and whether they are spoiling their children by their wealth, because their children fail to appreciate the value of money or the hard graft which has gone into building the family fortune.

Three-quarters of the group surveyed described themselves as “middle class” or “working class”, and nearly all of them maintain that they have worked harder than the average American. But far from being satisfied with the advantages this has brought them, more than sixty per cent of these millionaires lose sleep over the idea that one stock market crash or the loss of a job could see them lose their fortune; or at the very least it could lead to a downturn in their family’s way of life. Fifty-two per cent of interviewees described themselves as being “stuck on a treadmill” where they have to keep working hard to improve that lifestyle or even simply to maintain it.

One impression which came across throughout the survey is that very few millionaires are content with what they have, hence the question in the survey’s title of When is Enough… Enough? Those in the $1m-$5m bracket generally felt that they would need at least $10m to feel secure; those who have $5m-$10m believe that only $10-$15m will make them comfortable; and those who have already reached the $10m mark are aiming at $25m.

A bitter irony is that whilst the majority of those polled believe that they need the extra money in order to maintain the comfortable lifestyle they have achieved for their families, many also acknowledge that their family relationships have suffered as a result of their striving for wealth. Forty per cent express regrets over a mistake they have made in their family relationships, or simply not spending more time with their family. As one 65-year old man in the $1m-$5m bracket put it, “During my middle years, I was spending too much time at work, less with family. I pushed myself too much.”

There is anxiety, too, over what the family wealth might be doing to the children. One father aged 52 years felt that his son was adopting “a superior attitude” to children from families who were not so well off. The inexperience of youth is reflected also in the attitude of younger millionaires. Those from the so-called “Millennial Generation” (those who came to adulthood after the year 2000) are the ones who are most anxious both about losing their wealth and about “keeping up with the Joneses” – in other words, maintaining a lifestyle which matches or betters that of their friends, neighbours or competitors.

What the survey suggests is that HNWIs rarely feel that there is such a thing as “enough wealth”. And also, when it comes to family relations, money does not buy you happiness; you need to invest time, energy and love to ensure that you have stability in that area of life.

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