According to the recent book The Middle-Class Millionaire over 80% of middle class millionaires - defined as households with a net worth between $1 - $10 million dollars - either own their own business or are part of professional partnerships. Also, almost two out three middle-class millionaires consider "obtaining an ownership stake in your work" very important to financial success.
The authors also define this segment as "the working rich" and "the new rich". They say they make up roughly 8.4 million U.S. households, which is about 7.6% of all households. While this group has achieved substantial financial success, the surveys and research by the authors show that the vast majority of this group do not feel financially secure enough to stop working.
The book says that the number of of millionaire families in America "will increase by about half again over the next decade."
I found the attitude descriptions of the new rich quite interesting, especially their attitudes about working where they could tap into "the Flow of Money" and the new rich "Playing to Win."
Overall the book is quite interesting and well worth reading. The authors have a blog with a post listing the book's reviews.
Thanks for the nice mention, Steve. As one of the authors of this book, The Middle-Class Millionaire, I can say that you're right on target. The entrepreneur represents the essence of the Middle-Class Millionaire's most valuable qualities.
Thank you for your interest.
Posted by: Lewis Schiff | May 15, 2008 at 02:29 PM