Wednesday, June 25, 2008

YOU ARE NOT ALONE!

Number of millionaires swells
by Candice Choi

NEW YORK - The world's million­aires club is getting bigger and its members decidedly richer. The number of people around the globe with at least $1 million in assets swelled by 6 percent last year to 10.1 million, according to the 12th annual World Wealth Report released Tuesday by Merrill Lynch & Co. and Capgemini Group, a con­sulting firm. That means an additional 600,000 people became millionaires or richer even as problems tied to the U.S. credit crisis spread in the second half of the year. The combined wealth of the
mil­lionaires' club meanwhile grew 9.4 percent to $40.7 trillion. Their average wealth, which didn't include primary homes, surpassed $4 mil­lion for the first time.
The number of the super rich — those with at least $30 million — grew by 8.8 percent in population while their accumulated wealth grew by 14.5 per­cent. This rarefied group controls about a third of the $40.7 trillion. Warren Buffett is atop of this group with a personal fortune of $62billion dollars USD according to Forbes magazine.
For such an elite club, 10.1 million may seem like a lot of members. But the figure represents just 0.15 per­cent of the world's population of 6.7 billion.
When taking into account infla­tion and the expansion of the world economy, the growth in the number of people with at least $1 million is not surprising, said Brian Bethune, an economist with Global Insight. An increase of around 15 percent to 20 percent would mark an unex­pected jump, he said.
The U.S. is home to about a third of those around the world with at least $1 million. — AP
Note: Assets exclude collectibles, consumables, consumer durables and primary residences.

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