- The mean age of the U.S. millionaire households is 66 with an average net worth (NIPR)of $4.6MM
- The single most important financial goal of surveyed millionaires (56 percent) continues to be "assure a comfortable standard of living during retirement"
- Retirement and education are top of mind for this population, with most often cited financial event in the past year of "rolled over a retirement account (13 percent)"; followed by "paid for a child's education (9 percent)" and "paid for a grandchild's education (8.5 percent)".
Long term investing continues to be one of the key success factors for these households, with the vast majority of millionaires making few reactionary changes in their portfolios. When asked about their investment approach from June 2006 to June 2007, 59.2 percent of millionaires indicated their "approach has changed very little"; 35.6 percent "took a wait and see approach towards investing"; and 24 percent "took advantage of buying opportunities." In comparison, in 2003, 63 percent owned individually held stocks and bonds, rising to 72 percent in 2005, and settling at 75 percent in 2007. Eighty percent of millionaires during the period of the survey owned mutual funds outside of retirement accounts, reinforcing the premise that these investors develop a long-term financial plan, and stick to it.
Joe Hagan, SVP, Financial Services, TNS North America, commented that the continual rise in number of millionaires was largely due to prevailing market conditions. "The strong stock market absolutely contributed to the increase. Between June 2006 and June 2007, the NASDAQ increased by 9.9 percent; the S&P500 by 18.4 percent and the Dow Jones Industrial Index rose an impressive 20.3 percent. It will be interesting to see how the current economic conditions in the U.S. affects the number of millionaires we see in 2008."
