Oracle Capital Group, the multi- family office, has conducted a survey that shows that more than 55 per cent of people today believe that to be deemed wealthy, a person needs to be worth more than £10 million.

Being a millionaire isn’t what it used to be. Oracle Capital Group, the multi- family office, has conducted a survey that shows that more than 55 per cent of people today believe that to be deemed wealthy, a person needs to be worth more than £10 million ($16.3 million).

“Clearly the idea of wealth is relative, but what is clear is that the word ‘millionaire’ does not necessarily now conjure up the sense of significant wealth that it did until relatively recently; today, it’s more about being a ‘tenmillionaire’,” said Yury Gantman, chief executive, Oracle Capital Group.  

Over 20 per cent of the survey’s respondents said someone can only be considered wealthy with a personal fortune of £100 million or more.

Perceptions of what it means to be wealthy have changed over the past decades. A million sterling in assets no longer has the purchasing power that it once had as factors like inflation and rising house prices have driven living costs higher.  

The survey results highlight the impact of the personal wealth gained by celebrities and other public figures. Two thirds of respondents believe that the high visibility of wealthy celebrities has skewed our perceptions of wealth, with almost half of all respondents attributing this to the earnings of sports stars.  

Some 20 per cent felt that remuneration in the media and arts most skewed perceptions of wealth, while 18 per cent chose the salaries and bonuses enjoyed by business executives and financial professionals.

The technology sector has most affected perceptions of wealth, according to 13 per cent of respondents, a reflection of the high profile successes of tech start-ups such as Facebook, WhatsApp and Twitter, which have generated fortunes for their founders.