There has been some discussion on NetWorthIQ about what fraction of the US and world population are millionaires. It is surprisingly hard to get that information and there are various definitions including both total net worth, net worth excluding primary residence, and financial net worth. An expert on the topic is Edward Wolff, his paper on the topic of changes in the net worth of US households in the 1980s and 1990s includes official data from 2001. It doesn't quite give the answer but has lots of interesting data. Based on this, I estimate that in current dollars using a broad definition of net worth there are around 10 million millionaire households in the US. This is far above the Merrill Lynch estimate but close to the TNS estimate. Also my net worth is about average for someone of my age and income, though its composition is rather unusually biased to financial securities.
Update (20 April): Another survey on wealthy households in the US
1 comment:
Hey, underestimated got me a bit under the collar. Apologize in advance for responding to zipperheads.....
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