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  1. Personal Finance
  2. Wealth Management

1 Million Americans Now Have $5 Million in Investable Assets

By:
Alicia Adamczyk
2 min read
- Martin Barraud—Getty Images/Caiaimage
Martin Barraud—Getty Images/Caiaimage

If you needed another reminder that the rich are only getting richer, here it is: According to Barron's, the number of households in the U.S. with more than $5 million in investable assets—deemed penta-millionaires—just hit the one million mark. That's a 5% increase from 2014, a "historic threshold" for wealth in the country.

Other ultra-high income levels are also faring well. The number of households in the $20-million-to-$100-million range increased 63.5% in just five years, while the number of people in the highest bracket, $100-million-to-$1-billion, grew by 61%.

Meanwhile, median household income in the U.S. hit $56,516 in 2015, up 5.2% from 2014 and the first time the average American family saw a year-over-year increase since before the Great Recession.

Read Next: U.S. Household Incomes Jumped 5% Last Year

There are more female billionaires, and they are increasing at a higher rate than male billionaires. Technology and social media mean the ultra-wealthy are younger and more diverse than in decades past.

"In short, the days when the 400 massively rich families of the Gilded Age could fit inside Caroline Astor’s Manhattan ballroom have given way to a broader, younger, more geographically diverse group of self-made moguls," Barrons writes.

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