For a long time, becoming a millionaire was synonymous with being truly rich — no financial worries, no limitations. It meant a life of luxury and excess and if that idea was ever truly accurate, it isn’t anymore, according to financial analysts.
There are more millionaires now in the U.S. than ever before — 23,931,000 according to USB Global Wealth Report — many of whom are everyday Americans, not just celebrities, superstar athletes, and CEOs. But that doesn’t mean they’re living lives free of financial worry or threat of ruin.
“Millionaire used to sound like Rich Uncle Pennybags in a top hat,” Michael Ashley Schulman, the chief investment officer at Running Point Capital Advisors told the Associated Press. “It’s no longer a backstage pass to palatial estates and caviar bumps. It’s the new mass-affluent middleweight class, financially secure but two zeros short of private-jet territory.”
Around a tenth of the U.S. population are millionaires — in part due to forces such as inflation, rising home values, and more average investors participating in the stock market — but some of those same forces have made hitting the million dollar mark less meaningful.
The average American needs double the money they would have needed 30 years ago to have the same buying power.
That said, it’s still better to be a millionaire than not, and the fact remains that most Americans certainly aren’t.
The richest 10 percent of Americans control two-thirds of the nation’s household wealth, according to the Federal Reserve. The bottom 50 percent of the country controls only 3 percent of wealth, with an average of around $60,000 in their pockets.
“It’s a nice round number but it’s a point in a longer journey,” Dan Usen, an information technology worker who recently became a millionaire, told the AP. “It definitely gives you some room to breathe.”
The millionaires who do exist tend to share some commonalities — they live below their means, own stocks and homes, and typically value education and financial responsibility. Plenty — but not all — are also the beneficiaries of generational wealth.
For those who aren’t, the fact that financial markets have remained largely stable and growing and the ease of investing has helped make the dream achievable.
But that dream should be tempered by reality; a million dollars is not going to land you a private jet or a vault full of gold coins. Instead, Americans who want to hit the mark may need to live on less — fewer trips, fewer subscriptions, less take out.
“It’s not a golden ticket like it was in the past,” Jason Breck, a 48-year-old who focused on early retirement and hit the million dollar mark nine years ago, told the AP. ““For us, a million dollars buys us freedom and peace of mind. We’re not yacht rich, but for us, we’re time rich.”
