Facts about Millionaires: Most Make a Bundle, Went to College, and Are Married

Here are some more facts on millionaires from Money magazine's January issue:

• $209,000 average household income for millionaires
• 81.5% have at least a college degree
• 86% are married

My thoughts on these:

1. You're probably thinking "yeah, I'd be a millionaire too if I made $209,000 a year." I have a few thoughts on this:

• Not necessarily. If you spend more than you earn, it doesn't matter if you're a billionaire, you're still going backwards. My experience is that people that have trouble controlling their spending at $50,000 a year also have trouble controlling their spending at $150,000 a year (and so on.) They simply spend more than they earn. Granted, you get more stuff at $150k, but it all still gets spent.

• I wonder what the median salary is. I bet it's much lower.

• You can get rich and become a millionaire on a lot less than $209,000 a year -- it's fairly easy.

2. Yep, college is one of the steps towards building a great career -- which is your most valuable financial asset.

3. Most are married, huh? Again we find that married people tend to be wealthier.

Comments

[The Financial Ladder]

With a family income of about half of that median, and by extroplating our net worth improvement from last year to this year, we're expected to have a net worth of about a million in approximately 17 years. It's going to take time and patients, but we'll get there...

[largebill]

The real key for average folks to get relatively wealthy is stability. Changing spouses, cars, jobs, homes, etc. frequently is a capital killer.

[Quang]

another great post, i Love stats like these... the only reason I decided to go back to school was because I found out that the average person with a high school diploma only makes $20,000 a year, while the average person with a Bachelors makes $40,000 a year, Double the income for 4 years of college. Sometimes knowing stats can help you put yourself in the best chance to be successful.

We broke the million dollar barrier in 1999 and then slipped below it during the 2000-2002 market collapse. This year we should break $2mm (without r/e). We both have college degrees, we've been married for 20 years and most people who know us have no idea how much money we have. We plan to have $5-10mm in investable assets before we retire in ten years or so. It's not hard, you just save something every month.

[Elizabeth]

I once read that the reason higher-income people have less divorce is that one or both parties in the marriage dont' want to do without the financial benefits they get. Additionally, many have jobs where it pays to have a "good spouse" to hold parties, attend functions, etc.

As a divorced mom, I can attest to the fact that divorce is a huge income ruin-er. That said, even though I am thousands of dollars in debt thanks to my divorce, I would do it again. Some things -- physical safety for my children, in my case -- are more important than financial stability.

[Clever Dude]

With our combined income, we're in the 6 figure range (not going to say top, mid or low), but we have screwed ourselves with our dumb car purchases and lack of savings discipline. We don't buy many material things, so right now we're just working on getting out of debt.

Also, we both have bachelors degrees and my wife has a masters. I'll probably be going back to get my masters in the fall, and probably half of it will be paid by my employer, depending on where I go and how I work the system.