86% of Millionaires Expect Their Spending to Remain the Same or Increase Despite Recession

A 2008 study by Phoenix Affluent Marketing found that:

• Eighty-six percent of millionaires expected their spending to remain the same or increase for the March-May 2008 time period.

This brings up an important point: why do you see so many conflicting stats on how a recession will affect the wealthy? One study says their spending will dramatically increase, another that it won't.

This depends on how "wealthy" is defined. Many studies define wealthy as "HHI of $100K+." But this group is obviously far more affected by a recession than millionaire households. So word to the wise: examine the definition of wealthy when interpreting statistics about the wealth market.

Millionaire Households Express Stock Market Optimism

76% of millionaire households expect a market increase of between 1% and 10% in 2008.

Gen X millionaires are the most optimistic generation - a full 28% said they expected a stock market increase more than 10% in 2008.

Source: Northern Trust "Wealth in America" 2008 Study

Number of Millionaire Households Grows 5.7%

The economy may be reeling, but millionaires aren't feeling it quite as much as the rest of us. The total population of millionaire households grew 5.9% in 2007, a slight increase from the 2006 growth rate of 5%.

Source: Wall Street Journal Wealth Report, May 6, 2008

Top 10 Counties for Millionaire Households

From Los Angeles to the Hamptons, research company TNS ranks the top counties for millionaire households in the United States. Millionaire households are defined as those having at least $1 million in net worth, not including primary residence:

	County Name	Number of Millionaire Households
1	Los Angeles Co., CA	261,081
2	Cook Co., IL	168,422
3	Maricopa Co., AZ	126,394
4	Orange Co., CA	115,396
5	Harris Co., TX	107,513
6	San Diego Co., CA	100,727
7	King Co., WA	75,616
8	Santa Clara Co., CA	72,932
9	Nassau Co., NY	71,869
10	Suffolk Co., NY (Hamptons)	71,343

Source: Wall Street Journal Wealth Report, May 6, 2008