Millionaire count hits record high

By Kathleen M. Howley
Bloomberg News Service

The ranks of U.S. millionaires swelled 14 percent to a record this year, driven by the stock market rally, according a study by NFO Financial Services.

The number of households with at least $1 million in assets, excluding homes and retirement funds, grew to 3.8 million, the highest in the 22 years that the Greenwich, Conn.-based research firm has conducted the poll. Last year the total was 3.3 million, a drop from 3.7 million in 2001.

The rise in the number of millionaires comes as share prices have rebounded after a three-year slump. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index has surged 25 percent since March, following a decline of about 45 percent since the beginning of 2000. Half of the millionaires surveyed expect further gains in stocks through the end of the year, compared with 36 percent a year ago.

As affluence waned last year, the number of poor reached a four-year high, according to the U.S. Census Bureau's most recent data. The poverty rate grew by 1.7 million people to 12.1 percent of the population, from 11.7 percent in 2001.

The assets measured by the wealth study exclude primary and vacation residences, investment real estate, stock options, annuities, retirement funds and other assets that people aren't likely to sell to reinvest, said Jeanette Luhr, program manager for the study.