Even the wealthy feel poor

Just what does it take to feel comfortably off in the Britain of 2008? An annual pay packet of at least £150,000, a second (or third) home and children at an expensive public school were among the lifestyle features deemed essential by the "working wealthy" in new research.

Nearly one in 10 British households are now classed as being well off, with the average working wealthy family earning £88,000 a year – nearly triple the average income across all households of £33,000, according to the insurance firm Hiscox.

The working wealthy take two foreign holidays a year, have more than £20,000 of annual disposable income and homes worth at least £390,000.

But despite this, 90 per cent of them do not feel wealthy. Instead, they say they would need to earn upwards of £150,000 a year, own more than one property and send their children to a private school before they felt rich.

The typical wealthy individual lives in the South-east and is a professional with an income of between £50,000 and £250,000. They say they are "no longer ordinary, but not yet extraordinary".