The number of households with $5m or more in investable assets – excluding the family home – rose by 26 per cent to a record 930,000, according to a study by Spectrem Group. That is the biggest jump since Spectrem began its survey in 1996. The number of millionaires rose by 11 per cent, to a record 8.3m – the second biggest jump in the decade since they were surveyed.
The overall affluent market – households with $500,000 or more – rose by 7 per cent to a record 14m. This group fared the worst in the wake of the stockmarket collapse, with their numbers falling sharply from 2000. Last year was the first time their total passed that of their peak in 1999.
Think about those numbers for a minute. The number of households with $5 million or more rose by 26% to a record of nearly 1 million. The number of millionaires in the US rose to record 11 million plus, and the number of households with a more modest $500,000 rose by 7 % to a new record of over 14 million.
Are “the rich” getting richer? Damn right they are! But even more importantly, there are more “rich” people than ever before. All up and down the scale, more people are becoming wealthier is this country. Hardly a sign of a bad economy!