Financial inferiority, now for millionaires too!

If you ever felt poor when you had to subsist on rice and beans for a week to pay rent, rest easier knowing that even the wealthy feel a bit Oliver Twist lately. According to a study in the Wall Street Journal, the rich man’s paper of record, 42 percent of people with an average worth of $3.5 million say they don’t feel “wealthy.” How much does it take to actually feel well-heeled? $7.5 million! But what about the 58 percent who do feel wealthy? They’re happy with only $1.75 million. Why would any run-of-the-millionaire feel satisfied with less than $7.5 million, you ask? Mike Durbin, author of the study, says, “those who felt wealthy at that lower amount tended to be younger, so time is their greatest ally in their pursuit and retention of wealth.” Moral of the story: you can put a price on youth.