>> Clear your schedule for January 29th, 2025, at 2 p.m. ET.
The Oxford Club’s Chief Investment Strategist Alexander Green is going LIVE with the…
#1 Retirement Warning for 2025.
Alex says…
- “We are racing headfirst into what could be the final – most explosive – ‘Tech Boom’ of our lifetime.
- The recent phase of this stock market has already created 600,000 NEW millionaires…
- But soon, the final phase of this market could be 2x, 3x, even 4x BIGGER.”
Get the details (and RSVP) here.
– Nicole Labra, Senior Managing Editor
The Federal Reserve recently reported that the average net worth of American families topped $1 million for the first time, surging 34% from $749,000 in 2019.
Inflation rose sharply over this period, too.
Yet, even after inflation, real average wealth was up 23%, according to the Fed’s Survey of Consumer Finances.
This is something to celebrate. (Perhaps especially if you’re one of these new millionaires.)
Money gives you choices – not least of all the freedom to choose how to live your life.
Yet the Grinch isn’t just a fictional character created by Dr. Suess. Many are angry about our nation’s rising wealth.
Why? Because prosperity creates inequality. And that’s unfair.
Or is it? Let’s take a closer look at what is happening and why.
That nation’s average household net worth of more than $1 million is skewed by the relatively small number of multimillionaires and billionaires.
About 16 million Americans – just over 12% – have a net worth that exceeds $1 million. Approximately 8 million families are multimillionaires.
These households tend to have higher incomes. They generally earn between $150,000 and $250,000 a year.
Yet millions of families with middle-class incomes have also joined The Seven-Figure Club.
What are they doing that other middle-class families aren’t?
They are being smart about money. That means they are paying down high-interest debt, contributing to an IRA or 401(k), building equity in a home, and earning better-than-average returns in the stock market.
Over the past few years, in particular, Americans accumulated trillions of dollars more than they were on track to save before the pandemic.
COVID-19 relief and stimulus spending – along with a government shutdown that prevented them from blowing it – is one reason.
Savings increased. Interest rates rose. As a result, the total assets in money market funds recently hit a record of nearly $6 trillion.
That’s good news. But only if you were a saver.
Residential real estate continued to rise in value. Also good – but only if you own a home.
Stock prices are considerably higher than they were in 2019.
Still more good news if you’re one of the 61% of Americans who own equities, either directly or through mutual funds and ETFs.
In short, the recent jump in the number of millionaire families had something to do with government largesse.
But it had more to do with personal financial decisions.
Let’s set aside for a moment the families who earn too little to save.
(We should have compassion for these folks.)
Tens of millions of Americans with average or above-average incomes – consumers who splurge on designer brands, drive late-model cars, eat out regularly and treat themselves more than occasionally – made a conscious decision not to save or invest.
Some would say they are reaping what they sowed.
More to the point, they didn’t sow. After all, making fresh investments is like planting seeds.
Just as the tiny acorn turns into a mighty oak, small investments – left alone to compound over years or even decades – will turn an average investor into a millionaire or multimillionaire.
The folks who save and invest get richer. They also leave those who don’t further behind.
But unequal doesn’t necessarily mean unfair.
All that’s needed to become a millionaire – or turn a million-dollar portfolio into a multimillion-dollar fortune – is to work, save, invest and compound.
Yes, it takes discipline and patience.
Yet tens of millions of Americans whose wealth would define them as poor today will one day be rich.
As a young man in my 20s, for example, I had no job security, no savings, no health insurance, no investment portfolio and a net worth of approximately zero.
Looking around at the time, my friends and neighbors were pretty much all in the same boat. Yet that changed over time.
Polls show that my experience was not unusual.
For example, only 1% of families under 35 are millionaires. But that rises dramatically with age.
By ages 55 to 64, more than 1 in 5 families are millionaires. In fact, 11% of those in this age group have a net worth of over $5 million.
Don’t get me wrong. There is still plenty of economic struggle in the U.S.
Yet many of these folks are lacking only direction – and a plan of action. We’re happy to provide them here.
A record number of Americans have reached millionaire status. Many millions more would like to.
If you’re one of them, stick with us.
In the weeks ahead, we’ll share The Oxford Club’s path to financial independence.
Just as we did in 2025.
Speaking of, here are the details of my latest project…
A major shift in the markets could potentially mint more millionaires than any other stock market event in history.
This is why Wells Fargo’s strategy chief had this to say…
“Stocks Will Embark on a Run of Gains Unseen in 30 Years.”
So, if you’ve watched from the sidelines as your friends and family have generated massive wealth from the stock market…
This is your moment to catch up. I’m going live on January 29th, 2025, at 2 p.m. ET.
Get your name on the invite list here.
Credit: Source link
