BY DONALD LIEBENSON
Millionaires credit hard work as the primary factor in their financial success, according to Spectrem’s Millionaire Corner research. But does all this hard work to create and maintain their wealthy lifestyle come at a cost? What is the biggest sacrifice Affluent investors have had to make to maintain their financial status?
More than a third of Affluent investors surveyed by Millionaire Corner said they have sacrificed their free time. They put a higher premium on time spent with their family. Only one-in-five said that quality time at home was the biggest sacrifice they’ve made to maintain their wealthy lifestyle.
Less than 10 percent said they have sacrificed exercise and health (9 percent), sleep (9 percent) and friends (3 percent).
Across wealth levels, it is the least wealthy households who report making the biggest sacrifices to maintain their financial situation. Nearly four-in-ten (38 percent) of households with a net worth of less than $100,000 report sacrificing their free time. But they are less likely to give up their family time (17 percent).
Not surprisingly, women are less likely than men to sacrifice family time to maintain their wealthy lifestule (17 percent vs. 21 percent).
Affluent respondents who are married are twice as likely as their single counterparts to have sacrificed their family time to maintain their wealthy lifestyle (22 percent vs. 11 percent), but those who are single are much more likely to sacrifice their free time (41 percent vs. 24 percent0.
As age decreases so does the willingness to sacrifice family time lessen. Nearly three-in-ten respondents under the age of 40 said that family time has been the biggest sacrifice in maintaining their wealth vs. 21 percent of those between 41-50, and nearly 20 percent of those between 51.
But Millennials and Gen Xers up to the age of 50 are more likely than Baby Boomers and seniors to report sacrificing their free time (four-in-ten vs. three-in-ten, respectively to keep up their wealthy lifestyle.