Most millionaires 'not born wealthy'

The study undertaken by Fidelity Investments found that 86 percent of today’s millionaires did not consider themselves wealthy while growing up.

Overall, the research revealed that the current millionaires are, on average, 61 years old with 3.05 million dollars in assets.

While nearly three quarters of millionaires feel rich, those who do not said that they would need an average of 5 million dollars of investable assets to get wealthy feeling.

“Today’s millionaires are multi-dimensional, and to really understand them, you need to look not only at their outlook, but also at their path to wealth and their financial goals for the future,” Discovery News quoted Sanjiv Mirchandani, president of National Financial, Fidelity Investments Company, as saying.

Out of those who are self-made millionaires, the study revealed their top sources of assets included investments/capital appreciation, compensation and employee stock options/profit sharing.

On the other hand, those who were born wealthy were more likely to include inheritance, entrepreneurship and real estate investment appreciation as an asset source.

In terms of investment strategies, those who are self-made were more likely to add equity investments, while those who were born wealthy typically had more real estate investments.

The research illustrated that while considering their financial future, 30 percent of today’s millionaires were concerned with preserving their wealth, and 20 percent were focused on growing their fortune.

This year’s study found that millionaires’ outlook of the future financial environment continues to improve,

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