More People With More Money

"According to Capgemini consulting there were 2.9 million millionaires in America and 8.7 million millionaires worldwide in 2005"

This data refers to financial assets, not counting real estate. If real estate were included, that would add another 5 million to the ranks of American millionaires.

That's a lot of people with a lot of money!

My family and I live very comfortable lives, and consider ourselves very fortunate. We are relatively wealthy compared to the majority of people in the world.

But I am constantly amazed as I travel and shop at how many people have a lot of money to spend.

For example, hotels. We took a vacation in California this June, and stayed at a few hotels. We chose 3 star hotels and paid up to US$190 per night for very modest rooms. To me, that's a lot of money! But we found many hotels fully booked and scores of hotels MUCH nicer than any of the places we stayed in.

Who's staying in these places? I guess those millionaires.

Same goes for restaurants. It costs a lot of money to eat out in nice places, and there are a lot of them. Then there are cars and boats. And wristwatches and all kinds of luxury things for sale.

Apparently, money is really making the world go 'round. Amazing how rich our world is.

These stats mean that 1 of every 100 Americans are millionaires. 1 in 40 if you count real estate.

One-third of the world's millionaires live in the US. Worldwide, the ration is 1 millionaire for every 700 people.