According to a new report by Merrill Lynch and the Capgemini Group, another 600,000 people became millionaires last year. That brings the total number of millionaires to more than ten million. (Note that the definition of millionaire does not include value of primary residence). The number of those with assets above $30million (the “super-rich”) has also grown, to 103,000.
Because of the economic slowdown, the wealthy tended to shift their money to safer investments such as bonds and money-market savings accounts, and away from less stable investments such as real estate, the report found.Cash deposits and fixed-income securities accounted for 44 percent of the assets of the world’s millionaires, up from 35 percent in 2006.
I have several thousand pennies in a jar someplace, along with some nickels and dimes. That’s a start, I guess.