Unstructured Millionaires

When I was growing up, the concept of a millionaire was synonymous with the concept of wealth. If you were a millionaire it was presumed that you led a life of leisure.

The New York Times, however, reports that, in the Silicon Valley, there is a growing class of "working millionaires" who work not for the sheer joy of it (as some millionaires always have) but because of a number of factors including the high cost of living in the area and the desire to keep up with the Joneses.

While it's hard for me to feel too much sympathy for someone with seven figures in the bank, I think that this does illustrate the changing nature of wealth in America. Simply being a millionaire makes one well to do but to be genuinely rich requires a portfolio in the tens, if not hundreds, of millions of dollars.