Millionaire Population Grows By 200,000

According to a recent Wall Street Journal entry:

America’s millionaire population is still growing – though not by much.

The number of millionaires in America grew by 200,000 in 2011, according to a new report from Chicago-based Spectrem Group.

That sounds like a lot — especially with so many Americans still losing jobs and homes. But it represents a growth rate of only 2% – much slower than the growth in 2009 and 2010.

According to Spectrem, there are now 8.6 million households in the U.S. with a total net worth (minus principal residence) of $1 million or more. The number of households worth $5 million or more and $25 million or more also remained fairly flat, with growth of less than 2%. There are now  1,078,000 households  worth $5 million or more and about 107,000 people worth $25 million or more.

The number of millionaire-households is still well below the pre-crisis high, when there were 9.2 million worth $1 million or more. (Spectrem uses surveys of more than 2,500 families for its report).

George Walper, president of Spectrem Group, said the results show that weak financial markets and the slow recovery in real-estate (especially investment real-estate for the wealthy) held back growth.

“We’re still not back to pre-crisis levels,” he said.  He added that while the optimism of millionaires is increasing, “these folks are still worried.”

The report also broke down today’s millionaires by occupation and former occupation if retired. Managers make up the largest group, with 17%, followed by educators (12%), corporate executives (7%), entrepreneur/business owners (6%)  and attorneys and accounts.

The $5 million-plus crowd, is dominated by senior corporate executives (17%) and entrepreneurs/owners (12%).

Unfortunately, the categories don’t include former private-equity chiefs.

Do you think America’s millionaire count will return to all-time highs this year?

To see the graphs and read other articles, please go to http://blogs.wsj.com/wealth/2012/03/21/millionaire-population-grows-by-200000/?mod=wsj_share_linkedin