So just where do the 1% of the richest people in the United States live?
According to Wealth-X, California is number one, followed by New York, Texas, Florida and Illinois.
10,390 UHNW (ultra high net worth) individuals officially live in California. 8,215 in New York, 5,550 in Texas, 3,615 in Florida and 2,680 in Illinois. These top five home states of the 1% represent at least 50% of the wealth in the United States!
Three millionths of a percent, that’s how many people throughout the world actually control the majority of the wealth.
According to a survey by Wealth-X (a Singapore based company that serves the interests of the ultra-rich, it says so on their web site) most of the world’s wealth is held by only 0.000003% of the people!
Ultra high net worth (UHNW) individuals are people with $30 million or more in assets. That means real wealth, not wealth that’s ‘on paper’. Wealth-X says there are only 185,795 UHNW people globally! Of that, only 1,235 people are true billionaires!
Wealth-X breaks it down for the United States: 57,860 UHNWs, 455 of which are true billionaires. This means that of the 1% in the U.S., 1/54th controls 13.5% of the country’s wealth!
For Europe there are 54,325 UHNWs, in Asia there are 42,525 UHNWs, and 15,100 UHNWs in Latin America. Interestingly there’s nothing about ultra wealthy in Africa or the Middle East.
The Wealth-X survey is titled A Wealthy Head Count.
A recent survey of Chinese millionaires found that 60% want to leave China. 14% have already left, or are in the bureaucratic process of leaving.
And where do Chinese millionaires want to go? 40% said they plan on moving to the United States. Canada and Singapore are also top choices.
According to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), the number of Chinese applicants for ‘investment immigration’ has exceeded applications from any other country!
Investment immigration basically means you’re being allowed to immigrate into the U.S. because you’re investing your wealth into the U.S. (minimum $500,000 required).
What’s the main reason Chinese millionaires want to move to the United States? They want better education for their children. Hah, I hope they’re not disappointed, like so many U.S. parents.
The survey was conducted by Hurun Report and the Bank of China.
A Chinese newspaper gathered data from studies done around the world, about wealth, and the people who have it, and found that many common myths about having lots of money are false.
I always heard that “money doesn’t buy happiness”, turns out that’s a lie. One study, by Justin Wolfers and Betsey Stevenson, concluded:
1) Rich people are happier than poor people.
2) Richer countries are happier than poorer countries.
3) As countries get richer, they tend to get happier.
However, Psychologist David Myers says the degree of happiness depends on the relative disparity between the rich and the poor. Apparently the more impoverished a country is, the more happier the rich bastards become (is that why Wall Street is trying to take down main street U.S.A.?).
Also, University of Michigan researcher Ronald Inglehart discovered that once a person becomes wealthy, it takes even more and more money to keep them happy, like a drug addict (again, is that why Wall Street is trying to take down main street U.S.A.?).
What about the myth of suicides and rich people losing their money? Many people think of the Crash of ’29, when supposedly dozens of people jumped to their deaths, from their high rise offices, after losing all their money in the stock markets.
While some rich people do kill themselves, people living in poverty are still more likely to end it all. Several studies have been done, including by the UN World Health Organization, and they conclude that the majority of suicides involve people living in rural (poor) areas!
The Global Social Crisis: Report on the World Social Situation 2011
Every Thirty Minutes: Farmer Suicides, Human Rights, and the Agrarian Crisis in India
Poverty, Mental Illness and Suicide Linked
A Fidelity Investments survey shows that 4 out of 10 rich people, with an average wealth of $3.5 million, say it’s not enough. Maybe they’re right. Most of those surveyed are thinking about being able to retire. They say $7.5 million in assets is required to retire comfortably.
Is this proof of how bad our economy is?
If the rich are saying you need at least $7.5 million to retire, then the rest of us are truly in trouble. In fact why bother continuing to play the rat race game? Why bother with the keeping up with the Joneses game? Why bother throwing a good portion of your income at a 401k retirement plan? It’s clear that the overwhelming majority of U.S. citizens, even those pumping money into retirement schemes, are never going to hit the magic $7.5 million mark that 42% of rich people say is needed just to retire.
I’m not even Middle Class. My income has steadily been going down since January 2000. Now, my before tax deductions income is less than $20,000 per year. I know people worse off than that.
Is this proof of how bad our economy is? If it is, the rest of us are f**ked!
Fidelity Investments surveys a thousand of some of its richest clients, to find out how they feel about their wealth. The survey involves clients with an average of $3.5 million in investment assets.
For 2010, 42% said they do not feel rich. In 2009 it was 46% that did not feel rich. That’s about 4 out of 10 rich people who think they are still poor.
How much would they need to feel rich? According to the survey, $7.5 million.
Fidelity Investments also said 55% of the wealth in the United States is held by only 5% of the people. This backs up what the IRS (Internal Revenue Service) said in one of their recently released surveys.
Sounds like some of the rich are suffering from some kind of personality, or obsessive compulsive, disorder. Perhaps some kind of factitious disorder. But what about the rest of us? After all we’re letting them run our economy, and in effect our lives.