U.S., Calif. millionaires may double this decade

Millionaire households, comprising 10% of total, hold 68% of household wealth

By Dean Calbreath, UNION-TRIBUNE
Originally published May 10, 2011 at 1:15 p.m., updated May 10, 2011 at 2:02 p.m.

Even without the help of Regis Philbin, former host of "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?," the number of millionaire households in the U.S. is slated to double this decade, according to a study last week.

The number of millionaire households in the United States and California will likely double over the next decade, partly driven by the rising value of assets, according to a study released last week by the Deloitte Center for Financial Services.

According to the Deloitte study, there are 10.5 million households in the United States with more than $1 million dollars worth of assets, and that number is projected to nearly double to 20.6 million by 2020.

Similarly, the number of millionaire households in California is projected to jump from 1.3 million this year to 2.7 million by 2020.

If those numbers sounds high, it's because Deloitte has a relatively broad definition of millionaires, including home equity, retirement savings and durable goods. Some definitions exclude such items.

Even with that broad definition, millionaire households constitute only around 10 percent of the total, both nationwide and in California. But their household wealth, estimated at $39 trillion nationwide, represents about 68 percent of the national total.

The Deloitte study said that despite rapid growth of upper-income households in such developing countries as China, South Korea, Brazil and Russia, the United States continue to dominate global wealth, representing 42 percent of millionaire households and 43 percent of wealth held by millionaire households.

"In spite of exceptional growth in emerging markets, it is developed markets that are expected to remain the global centers of wealth over the next decade, in terms of both the amount of wealth held and the number of millionaire households," the study said.

But on a per capita basis, Switzerland currently ranks on top, although it will likely be replaced by Singapore as early as 2015, according to Deloitte.

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