World Wealth Report or 8.7 Million High-Net-Worth Individuals Worldwide

[Spacebär]

I may have missed it but I didn't see this mentioned.

"The wealth of high-net-worth individuals (HNWIs), people with net financial assets of at least U.S. $1 million, excluding their primary residence and consumables, climbed to U.S. $33.3 trillion in 2005, an 8.5 percent increase over 2004, according to the 10th Anniversary Edition of the World Wealth Report ("The Report"), which was released today by Merrill Lynch (NYSE: MER) and Capgemini. The Report found that the number of HNWIs grew by 6.5 percent over 2004, to 8.7 million, and that the number of Ultra-HNWIs — those who have financial assets of more than U.S. $30 million — grew by 10.2 percent, to 85,400 in 2005."
http://www.ml.com/index.asp?id=7695_...64_67074_67212

[TromboneAl]

excluding their primary residence and consumables

What, now we can't include our stash of Twinkies in our net worth?

[SteveR]

Hi Al!

Long time no see (your posts).

Good to see you posting again.

[nearly50]

Dr. Evil is spinning in his chair!

ONE MILLION DOLLARS!

[Spacebär]

The report has some interesting information (I don't know how accurate any of it is of course).

from page 5 High Net Worth Individual Population by Region identifies where the 8.7 million are:
0.7 million, 8%, are in Africa/Middle East/Latin America;
2.4 million, 28%, are in Asia-Pacific
2.9 million, 33%, are in North America
2.8 million, 32%, are in Europe
(the %s are rounded)

from page 19, Where does the Wealth Come From? attempts to identify the sources from which millionaires become wealthy:
2% other
9% restricted stock/stock options
10% investment performance
18% inheritance
24% income
37% business ownership/sale of business

[Spanky]

The most interesting part of the article is that investing in non-U.S. and emerging markets may improve return.