According to the Federal Reserve and The Richest Man in Town by W. Randall Jones, there are approximately 9,000,000 millionaires in the United States and 517,000 deca-millionaires (worth $10 million or more). Who are these people? I wrote about some of them in the special How to Get Rich and 10 Secrets of the Capitalist Class (How America's 0.9% Richest Citizens Got That Way).
- Roughly 90% of them are self-made, having received little or no inheritance and having made all of their money on their own.
- 3 out of 4 millionaires did not attend an Ivy League University, or one of such caliber that the working classes would consider it "necessary for success".
- 50% of millionaires are either a business owner in a non-glamorous industry such as plumbing, tires, or insurance, or a corporate executive who has worked his way up from the bottom over the course of his career.
- Nearly 1 out of 2 came from households where their parents did not have a college education.
- Approximately 1 out of 4 came from a household where the father was a blue collar laborer.
- 91% are college educated, with a huge percentage of those either paying for college by themselves or using government programs such as the United States military GI bill.
- Most are men in their 50's who have been married to the same spouse for 30 or 40 years or more.
- A staggering 89% came from households where their parents never divorced.
The last two statistics have been subject to much research showing that there is a direct correlation between the emotional maturity of millionaires and their parents, as indicated by the fact that the households in which they grew up, and later their own households, were unique in that neither experienced divorce. In other words, if someone has been divorced multiple times, the odds are good that their mental and household structural makeup is not conducive to achieving wealth. It's still possible, but the odds become stacked against you.