Survey: Being a millionaire doesn't mean you feel wealthy

More than four in 10 millionaires say they won’t feel wealthy until they have assets north of $7 million, a recently released survey found. 

Fidelity Investments, in its survey of millionaires, also reported that households with seven-figure assets feel better about the economy than at any time since 2006, when Fidelity started monitoring that question. 

Still, the millionaires’ take was that the economy remains “very weak,” even as they also expected conditions to get better by 2011’s fourth quarter.

“Although millionaires are inherently optimistic, given their current views of the economy, we were surprised to see millionaires so optimistic about the future,” Michael Durbin, the president of Fidelity Investments Wealth Services, said in a statement.

According to Reuters, the average survey respondent had $3.5 million in investable assets and was 56 years old. 

The survey found that 42 percent of millionaires do not feel wealthy, adding that those respondents said they would not feel wealthy until their investable assets hit the $7.5 million mark. In 2009, Fidelity found that 46 percent of millionaires did not feel rich. 

Well over half of respondents – 64 percent – also said they were very concerned about potential changes in tax policy, while roughly 40 percent also said that being able to maintain their current lifestyle during retirement was their biggest financial concern.