To be wealthy is to have peace of mind, according to 65% of millionaires in a survey.
Sixty-five percent of well-to-do Americans in a recent survey defined "wealth" as peace of mind, while 54% defined it as happiness.
Baby boomers and Gen Xers as well as non-business owners were likelier to associate wealth with peace of mind, while millennials and business owners were more inclined to see it as a gateway to happiness, Boston Private, a provider of integrated wealth management, trust and private banking services, reported Monday.
CoreData Research conducted the online survey in February and March among 300 Americans with net investable assets between $1 million and $20 million.
"We wanted to discover what wealth really means, the emotional aspects that the investment management industry has largely overlooked," David Murphy, head of wealth advisory at Boston Private, said in a statement. "Putting aside specific asset classes or investment decisions, we wanted to better understand the root motivations that drive people to build and achieve wealth.
Those drivers turned out to be fluid and highly nuanced, Murphy said.
Younger male business owners in the $15 million-to-$20 million bracket attached considerable importance to the concepts of affluence, potential and power/influence.
Men and women in the sample differed in several ways. The data suggest that "men are more preoccupied with the perception of wealth and how it can elevate their social standing and strengthen their sphere of influence," according to Boston Private. Men may care less about wealth's internal emotional benefits and more about how it can shape the way they are perceived.
Similar broad differences showed up in the results between business owners and non-business owners.
Seventy percent of respondents identified financial independence and freedom as the most important consequence of wealth. Half said wealth enabled them to have a happy family life.
