How Much Is Enough? Probably Less Than Before

So how much is enough? While your inner Gordon Gekko may be screaming, "It's never enough!", a survey done by Fidelity Investments of millionaires suggests that 26% of them don't feel wealthy unless they have at least $5 million in investable assets to begin feeling wealthy. Not surprisingly:

That's actually a significant difference from a year and a half ago, when 42 percent of the same group said they didn't feel wealthy, and that they would require $7.5 million to begin to feel rich. Seems like their thinking has evolved to the realities of the current financial climate.

While their expectations are lowered, their outlook suggests otherwise:

Fidelity found that today’s millionaire is, on average, 61 years old with $3.05 million in assets. And their outlook is sunny: respondents were more optimistic about the future financial environment than at any other time in the survey's five-year history.

This kind of makes sense, given that a nominal pretax 4-5% return on 5M invested in a income fund may return you roughly $200K a year, probably enough to live quite freely and comfortably. The problem is, saving enough until then. I've often read on M&I that even a high salary would stifle your savings, given the higher expenses incurred living in the big city. True?

Do you have a number or a goal? Has your expectations lowered too? How realistic is it for the average finance professional to reach $5 million when you retire?