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Number of U.S. millionaires jumps to record high
By DaveM | March 28, 2006
I’m not sure what explains this, but the number of American millionaires reached a record high last year. The U.S. now boasts almost 9 million millionaire households, which is 9% more than 2004. I’d like to think it has something to do with all the personal finance blogs popping up all over the place, but somehow I doubt it. 
Personally, I think people are much more careful with their investments after the dot com bomb exploded, and there has also been a considerable amount of time for many investments to recover a bit after that catastrophe.
I ran some rough numbers through the millionaire calculator, and it spit back that I would be a millionaire in 16 years and 2 months. Some things are gonna have to change drastically since I plan to retire in 12 years with a MINIMUM net worth of 2 million. Granted, the calculator doesn’t factor in your home or other non-investment assets, but it’s still a pretty good gauge of how long it will take to reach $1 million.
The full millionaire article is over at CNNMoney.com. I’d love to hear some opinions as to why/how the number of millionaires has jumped so dramatically.
March 28th, 2006 at 2:41 pm
More millionaires is not a good thing. It basically is saying that the wealth gap is getting larger. Times are changing and people are getting poorer while a few get richer. It used to be that you could take care of yourself if you lost a job or got sick for a little while and get another job. This is not the case anymore and once your down you’ll most likely stay down due to employment markets or an illness cleaning you out. Nowadays if you have a major illness insurance companies can drop you.
You have to be really dilligent and wise now a days regarding you cash flow and savings. In the end the unfortunate ones will remain that way as the government takes away more and more services and takes on a less government and a help yourself attitude that let’s the unfortunate ones remain that way. Teach your kids well! Teach your kids to save and invest with great diversity from day one. Tell them they need to work, save, and invest for the goal of financial independance!
Ken Murray
July 22nd, 2006 at 9:22 am
I have to disagree with Kenneth in part. The rise in the number of millionaires is a good thing. It shows that achieving millionaire status is easier now than it has ever been - remember that the majority of millionaires are self made or largely so.
The growth in the number of millionaires can be attributed to a number of factors - growth in the money supply is one (and is the primary cause of inflation which is why a million dollars today is worth a lot less than it used to be). The other main reason for the growth in the number of millionires is that the last 20 years has been one of the most prolongued periods of steady economic growth in history.
The other points that kenneth makes are good ones. The rather brief era in history where workers could rely on government welfare and company pensions to maintain an adequate standard of living when retired or unemployed is rapidly drawing to a close - demographics and economic reality made it unsustainable. In part we are returning to an earlier era where people had to look after themselves (or rely on family members).