Minting Millionaires
 

Interesting article . . .


Millionaires in the United States and Canada increased by 14 percent last year as the stock market rallied. Today, about one of every 130 Americans has more than $1 million of shares, bonds and other financial assets, according to a report by Capgemini and Merrill Lynch & Co.

Their riches also rose 14 percent, to $8.5 trillion. That growth was stronger than in Europe, home to the greatest proportion of wealthy people, and in Asia.

"The Americans were the first to move back into equities, while in Europe and Asia there was more a focus on protecting capital," said Catherine Tillotson, head of research at Scorpio Partnership in London, which advises private banks on strategy.

Stock markets rose for the first year in four in 2003, boosting the wealth of investors including Warren Buffett and Bill Gates, founder and chairman of Microsoft Corp. According to Forbes magazine, eight of the world's 10 richest billionaires come from the United States, where the Standard & Poor's 500 rose 26 percent.

In 2003, stocks accounted for 35 percent of a millionaire's holdings compared with 20 percent a year before, said Capgemini, whose report doesn't include the value of a person's home.

Gates, 48, was the world's richest person for the seventh consecutive year in 2003 with a net worth rising 14 percent to $46.6 billion. Buffett, who runs Berkshire Hathaway Inc., was second on the list. The 73-year-old's net worth climbed $12.4 billion, or 41 percent, to $42.9 billion, Forbes has said.

In the United States, the number of millionaires last year increased to 2.27 million people out of a population of about 291 million. The figure for North America rises to 2.5 million people when including Canada, according to Tuesday's World Wealth report.

Millionaires' wealth is likely to expand further. The report predicted global assets to swell to $40.7 trillion by 2008 from $28.8 trillion at the end of last year. The 2003 figure showed an increase of 7.7 percent from the previous year.

Asian millionaires last year added 8.4 percent to their number, increasing to 2 million, with assets growing 10 percent to $6.5 trillion. Asia is benefiting as Japan's economy grows at its fastest pace in 13 years, while China, the world's most populous nation, is expanding at a rate of about 10 percent.

Europe lagged, with 2.6 million people, up 2.4 percent, and assets gaining 3.7 percent to $8.7 trillion. North American assets grew almost four times faster.

Wealth among investors grew more rapidly in some parts of Europe, such as the United Kingdom, Spain, the Czech Republic and Russia.

That statistic is pretty sweet and very inspirational.

I see more and more shows pop up giving people basic tips on how to reach this status.

:glugglug

Just saw a blurb on the news about that. Pretty amazing when you break it down to every 1 in a 130.

Great to hear things are getting good again. Hope we can get to to 1999-2000 levels :thumbsup

yep, it's that 1% that own 99% of the wealth :)

can we blame this on Bush too?:1orglaugh

Lol... you guys are crazy it's still hard as hell that stat is only just over 1/2 of 1% or .7 % chance... not a very good one.

on a completely different note, in my area i have never seen more homes for sale and being bought in record time.

maybe the economy is finally bouncing back. now if i didnt have to pay so much for gas.

What the article doesn't tell you is that fully 1/2 of the 7.7 million millionaires are JEWS (like KRL, for example)

Real estate market seems to be very vibrant right now.

Millionaires in Brazil increased by 6 percent last year

and that has to do with what exactly?

the people i work for are worth....well none of my business to divulge. neither of them are jewish. one is irish as a matter of fact.

what a stupid comment.

you are not kidding. my best friend just bought a 1/2 mil house. it was appraised at 10k more (usually appraisals come back at purchase price). in a year, this house is estimated to increase 100K. in 7 years, it's estimated to be at 1 mil. granted this is an estate home and they are still building in the area.

what a great part time income!

it's called parity......Fortune's top 100 richest in the US is scattered w/ 50+ known jews!!! (this excludes the high number of name changers like KRL who try to mask their Jewishness)

Think about it, Jews only comprise 2% of the US population yet account for over 50% of the super rich in the country.

well then what does that say about the rest of us and who honestly cares?

I see russian billionaires joins fobes monthly :Oh crap

Ahh the Wall Street Journal....one of the finer institutions of America.

I can't hear you, that white hood is muffling your speech.

:1orglaugh :1orglaugh :1orglaugh

:1orglaugh

truth hurts eh

Why don't you like Jews Pat? The majority of the people controlling the entertainment industry both mainstream and adult are Jewish. I think you picked the wrong industry to work in if you don't like Jewish people.

Yes it is true, listening to you is very painful.

The real estate market is likely to see some leaner days ahead. The developers especially have been buying land in speculator quantities. It is going to soon come back to haunt them if the rate increase cools the new home starts. ARMs represent a much larger portion of the mortgage market and Greenspan is preparing to bring the pain for those folks. US household debt is at one of the highest points in history and when the rates move up, you will see alot of problems managing that debt.

I think what you will see is that the areas that experienced the fastest appreciation (like Boston and San Francisco) could be problem areas. One only has to look at what happened to property values in Honolulu in the 90s, when they experienced multiple years of depreciation, to see that there can indeed be a housing bubble that can burst.

Whoever told your friend that in 7 years his home will double has questionable analysis. I sure hope I am wrong, as I am sitting on an acre in Miami, and if there is going to be any bubble bursting, Pinecrest in Miami Florida will likely be popping with the rest of them.

even in a down market there will still be some places that see rising values. just depends on the location.

i'm lucky. i live in an area that despite public opinion, it is booming like crazy. my lender said three days ago (and he said the same thing back in january) that in NJ alone, they conduct 15 thousand mortgages a month.

now keep in mind, nj is more over populated and to build now, you have to start buying farm land but 15 thousand a month! that is insane.

after 911, they built homes in south amboy (now that is a fairly lower income town) where townhouses were starting at 380 and are now worth 1/2 a mil. the homes started at around 600k and are now worth 1mil.

this is south amboy! not a town i would want to raise my kids because literally right over the tracks are faily low income homes. but because of 911, the fact that these homes are built near the rather brown water there and the convience of commuting, these houses have increased drastically over 3 years.

go into perth amboy (which is a basic shithole) and the condos they are building can be bought pre construction at around 190. they will be worth 250 at the time of completion.

will the market plateau....yes but i think in maybe 2 or 3 years. at that time, people in this area (ny, nj, ct) will have already made a decent profit.

i love learning about real estate....mininimal risk with a decent return.

Very true, especially in areas where there is no new land to build upon. Demand will always be consistently strong in those areas to keep prices stable.

One factor to also consider is that in many areas housing costs dramatically escalated whereas wage increases for the same area only increased a fraction. Historically when this happens, at some point housing begins to get to far ahead and it cools for a time period. This gap between wage and housing is very pronounced in many areas of the USA, and it could lead to a stagnant market with little or no appreciation for quite a few years.

wages are starting to increase, but enough to offset the liquidity bubble, i doubt it. could be an interesting 12 month period coming up.

Nothing like putting up 10 or 20% and getting a double digit return on the whole 100%. Leverage is such a cool thing.

1% is ok

I am half Jewish and not on the list. Damned Gentiles! hehehehe! I guess I am number 131. :thumbsup

good for them? they must be good businessmen?

World Wide:

7,7 million dollar millionaires

Estimated worth together: 30,000 BILLION dollars.

just read it in a swedish business magazine.

:helpme