Wealthy Investors On The Rise

Household wealth in America has hit new highs.

With an additional 500,000 households reporting a net worth of $1 million of more, the total marks a record 10.1 million nationwide, according to a new report from research and consulting firm Spectrem Group. That's up from 9.63 million homes in 2013, an estimated 5% increase. 

ULTRAWEALTHY

The number of high-net-worth and ultrahigh-net-worth households saw similar increases, according to the study, which uses 2014 Census Bureau statistics and projections from Spectrem Group’s "proprietary models" and other firms.

Those with $1 million to $5 million grew nearly 5% since 2013 to 8.79 million. Households with between $5 million and $25 million grew by 60,000 to 1.17 million. The wealthiest households, those with over $25 million, saw a 7% increase in the last year to 142,000 households countrywide.

RECORD LEVELS

"Given the record-level stock market in 2014, along with a full recovery of investment real estate and investors’ perceptions of value in their own privately held businesses, it is not surprising that we’re seeing these record numbers,” said George Walper, Jr., Spectrem Group president and CEO.

"All the different ways that we look at wealth in America are all at record levels and all clearly at pre-recession levels," reflected Walper. "In my mind, that whole group is over the hump."

That includes the mass affluent, households with a net worth between $100,000</money> and $1 million. This group saw an increase to an estimated 29.5 million households, up from 28.97 million in the 2014 report.