"33 Incredible Millionaire Statistics [2022]" - article discussion

[REV5028]

I stumbled upon this short article and wanted to see if anyone would be interested in discussing it.

My initial thoughts:
1. "Having $1 million puts you in the top 10% of wealth in the U.S." $1 million isn't really a whole lot, yet it puts you in the top 10% in the US ... This is kind of terrifying and sad.
2. Maybe my college degrees will be worthwhile after all!
3. It would have been interesting to see a breakdown of the roads to millionaire status. How many are diligent Slowlaners and how many are Fastlaners?
4. I'm curious what you think about the expected global rise in millionaires. Is this the expectation because more people are becoming Fastlaners? Or is it more likely going to be due to increasing costs/salaries - will 2025 be about the time $10 million becomes the new $1 million, so to say?

 

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[jdm667]

I stumbled upon this short article and wanted to see if anyone would be interested in discussing it.

My initial thoughts:
1. "Having $1 million puts you in the top 10% of wealth in the U.S." $1 million isn't really a whole lot, yet it puts you in the top 10% in the US ... This is kind of terrifying and sad.
2. Maybe my college degrees will be worthwhile after all!
3. It would have been interesting to see a breakdown of the roads to millionaire status. How many are diligent Slowlaners and how many are Fastlaners?
4. I'm curious what you think about the expected global rise in millionaires. Is this the expectation because more people are becoming Fastlaners? Or is it more likely going to be due to increasing costs/salaries - will 2025 be about the time $10 million becomes the new $1 million, so to say?

$1 million is not what it used to be. I think $10 million is the new $1 million (after accounting for inflation over the decades), and thus a better metric.

For example, back in the 80's, if you had $1 million, you could get 12% on a CD and live on $120k per year.

The same lifestyle now would probably cost $250k to $300k per year. Until this year's rate hikes, you could probably only get 2.5% to 3% on a CD. So you would need $10 million.

I would be interested to see the breakdown for $10 million+ by profession. I am guessing it is mostly business owners and not as many doctors, lawyers, etc.

You can get to $1 million before retirement age with a modest salary and prudent saving/investing - but probably not $10 million.

 

[socaldude]

It still boggles my mind how they still haven't been able to come up with some credible statistics or data regarding wealth creation.

They don't explain how this survey was done nor is it done correctly.

Of course if you make six figures a year for 30 years, you'll probably be worth $1 million in real estate and 401ks.

I'm no expert, but you can't be a great statistician if you don't have your hypothesis or thinking straight. You need coherence or linguistic consciousness first before you can extrapolate or infer from data or to try to create any kind of number.

This study sucks big time. LOL

 

[Fox]

My initial thoughts:
1. "Having $1 million puts you in the top 10% of wealth in the U.S." $1 million isn't really a whole lot, yet it puts you in the top 10% in the US ... This is kind of terrifying and sad.

I think this usually refers to total wealth - not liquid cash.

So it would include things like equity in your house.

Maybe I am wrong though, but I doubt 1/10 is walking around with 1m sitting in their bank account.

 

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[Two Dog]

I stumbled upon this short article and wanted to see if anyone would be interested in discussing it.

My initial thoughts:
1. "Having $1 million puts you in the top 10% of wealth in the U.S." $1 million isn't really a whole lot, yet it puts you in the top 10% in the US ... This is kind of terrifying and sad.

Wow, both terrifying and sad?!? Say it ain't so. LOL.

• There are about 62.5 million millionaires globally, a 11.4% increase from 2020

It's worth questioning why "$1M isn't really a whole lot" when it puts all those people into the top 0.7% of the world based on stats from the same article. Reaching the top 1% of any group isn't easy. The vast majority are Slowlane Millionaires who got there by following traditional financial advice i.e. working for 30 - 40 years, saving, investing, owning and getting an inheritance. That's why their average age is late 50's. Since home equity is usually the largest chunk of net worth, those millionaires live more conservatively and spend much less than you'd think.

3. It would have been interesting to see a breakdown of the roads to millionaire status. How many are diligent Slowlaners and how many are Fastlaners?

It tracks pretty closely to employees vs. entrepreneurs which is something like 10 :: 1 in the United States. A good chunk of those entrepreneurs are small business owners. It's a career job, not building a business to sell off and retire and falls heavily into the older age groups.

It sounds like what you're really asking is "How many millionaires are under 35 YO?"

Not many. Despite the article, I haven't seen anything remotely believable showing that 20% of millionaires are under 30YO. Coldwell Bank says it's about 600,000 total. That's mostly believable. There isn't any magic database of net worth for the entire population. It's either self-reported data or IRS data which relies entirely on income, not net worth. Keep in mind, that money is always relative. If you're in the Top 1%, you're doing exceptionally well.

Despite the hype, interest seems to be rising globally because of lack of opportunity in developing countries, crappy wages in general and endless get rich quick schemes promoted online. Instead of getting starting in their mid to late 20's, there's sizable communities of younger people in their teens learning and applying the same lessons.

 

[Johnny boy]

“33% of millionaires are women”

Lmao married women or divorced women that divorced a millionaire.

Marriage is still the main way for women to get rich: study

A new survey found that most women enter the elusive 1 percent through marrying a rich spouse. Researchers at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte took a look at the 1995-to-2017 Survey of…

nypost.com

The average age is 57, I have 0 interest in being 57 and just hitting a mil.

It is incredibly weak to look at statistics to get confidence for your situation.

You will not get a percentage of what others do. It will be 100% you. 99% of people named Johnathan could be homeless and it means nothing for my situation. I am a product of my choices not statistics.

 

[REV5028]

“33% of millionaires are women”

Lmao married women or divorced women that divorced a millionaire.

Marriage is still the main way for women to get rich: study

A new survey found that most women enter the elusive 1 percent through marrying a rich spouse. Researchers at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte took a look at the 1995-to-2017 Survey of…

nypost.com

Thanks for sharing that enlightening article! Though it offers only a summary of the full sociological study, it starts to shed some light on why there's a disproportionately small number of "self made" women millionaires. You'll have to point me to the statistics on the divorce rate of these married-into-wealth women millionaires, as I'm not seeing mention of divorce anywhere in this article.

“We know that women face a lot of barriers reaching top executive and CEO positions,” Jill Yavorsky, a sociology professor at the University of North Carolina and co-author of the study, wrote in a press release. “This study shows that the glass ceiling is more extensive than we previously thought. It extends to nearly all elite positions, even self-employment.”

Yavorsky and her colleagues noted that even though American women pursue post-graduate degrees more than men, that’s still not enough to reach 1 percent status.

“Women also experience a number of entry barriers into self-employment,” Yavorsky said. “And once they become self-employed or start their own business, they experience additional gender-based obstacles to growing their businesses.” She reports that women have a harder time than men when it comes to securing bank loans and venture capital funding for their businesses.

It is incredibly weak to look at statistics to get confidence for your situation.

You will not get a percentage of what others do. It will be 100% you. 99% of people named Johnathan could be homeless and it means nothing for my situation. I am a product of my choices not statistics.

It's often difficult for me to interpret tone and attitude over text comments, especially when interacting with people I don't personally know. So, perhaps my reason for posting this thread is ambiguous to others as well.

I did not read those statistics and gawk "Oh, wow! I have a 20-something percent chance of being a millionaire just because I fit X, Y, and Z demographics!" Being extremely new to the Fastlane landscape, I was simply curious what longer-term Fastlaners think when they see these kinds of things.

Perhaps many of you will think this post is immature and perhaps even stupid - fair, because I'm new, a baby compared to most of you. Babies are immature and stupid. But for me, this has been informative. I've gotten a small glimpse into how some of you think, especially in regards to articles/statistics like these. @Fox reminded me that there's a difference between liquid cash and non-liquid assets. I also appreciated the examples and comments of @jdm667. Some of you have provided a healthy dose of criticism and skepticism. I've also been reminded how some people are quicker to make assumptions than they are to ask questions.

So, to all of you who have taken the time to respond, I genuinely thank you.

 

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[MJ DeMarco]

will 2025 be about the time $10 million becomes the new $1 million, so to say?

We're already there. $1M is nothing and most "millionaires" have that net worth locked up in their home. Even $1M liquid is scant.

Most of American's new found wealth is inflationary and due to overpriced stocks.

 

[Guest-5ty5s4]

It's inflation.

It depends how far back you go: 1 year, 10 years, 50 years, 100 years, etc.

Is $1 million the new $2 million? The new $10 million? Maybe $1 million is the new $100 million? Or $1 billion?

The answer to all of these questions is yes.

Edit: this is hyperbole. I did a calculation and going back to the farthest years of the dollar, it was more like $20-30 million, assuming the calculator was right...

Edit 2: I said it backwards... should have said $2 million is the new 1 million, not vice versa. Same with 20 million is the new 1 million. Etc. LOL

 

[heavy_industry]

I'm curious what you think about the expected global rise in millionaires. Is this the expectation because more people are becoming Fastlaners?

As others have said, it has to do with inflation. Bigger number doesn't always mean more wealth, if it has low purchasing power.

With that being said, regardless of the currency and its value, the world as a whole has become increasingly wealthier in the last 20 years in terms of living standards. We are the richest humans in history.

 

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[Two Dog]

Here's a fun list from several generations ago.

The richest person in the world every decade from 1820 to 2020​

The richest person in the world every decade from 1820 to 2020

When you start measuring net worth compared to the country's GDP, you're really up there. It's interesting how many of these guys (and it's all men) become philanthropists. Bill and Warren have already pledged to distribute almost of their wealth. I hadn't heard of either Jeff or Elon making charitable contributions and was going to comment, but that's entirely wrong. Both have donated significant amounts of their fortunes with little fanfare. That includes a massive donation of $5.7B (BILLION!!!!!) of Tesla stock in 2021 from Elon Musk.