Article/News bit of the Week: the Millionaire's club

A recent Business Week article on Millionaires caught my eye this week

The Global Millionaire Boom

It's amazing how a decade or so ago a 'Millionaire' seemed to represent something very unique and almost unattainable but today, it appears:

"The total number of world millionaire households—those with assets of $1 million or more—grew by 14% in 2006, to 9.6 million, representing the richest 0.7% of all households and owning $33.2 trillion, or about a third of the world's wealth, according to a recent study by the Boston Consulting Group, a global management consulting firm."

That's right there are nearly 10 million ...Millionaires in the world now so the once exclusive club is no longer that terribly exclusive. OK I guess it does still remain fairly exclusive club as Millionaires account for only less than a percent of the world's population but when there are more than a million, Millionaires - it makes being a Billionaire, seem like the new hip salary bracket to be in.

Nevertheless, here are the top 5 countries as fas a Millionaires go:

The Top Five Countries With the Most Millionaire Households

No. 1: U.S.

Total millionaire households: 4,585,000
Change in 2005-06: +10%
Growth rank: 13 (of 15)

Total population: 301,139,947

Total $100 million+ households: 2,300 (rank: 1)
Change in 2005-06: +7%
Growth rank: 14

No. 2: Japan

Total millionaire households: 830,000
Change in 2005-06: +7%
Growth rank: 15

Total population: 127,433,494

Total $100 million+ households: 1,300 (rank: 2)
Change in 2005-06: +6%
Growth rank: 15

No. 3: Britain

Total millionaire households: 610,000
Change in 2005-06: +30.5%
Growth rank: 3

Total population: 60,776,238

Total $100 million+ households: 810 (rank: 3)
Change in 2005-06: +25%
Growth rank: 4

No. 4: Germany

Total millionaire households: 350,000
Change in 2005-06: +21%
Growth rank: 10

Total population: 82,400,996

Total $100 million+ households: 620 (rank: 4)
Change in 2005-06: +18%
Growth rank: 10

No. 5: China

Total millionaire households: 310,000
Change in 2005-06: +39%
Growth rank: 1

Total population: 1,321,851,888

Total $100 million+ households: 180 (rank: 13)
Change in 2005-06: +74%
Growth rank: 1

Web Video of the Week: Sir Branson Visionary

Today's blog of the week again comes from my favorite news source, honestly, I should have stock in Time Warner or they should at least reimburse me for the publicity. That being said.

Today's Webvideo of the week - you'll have to follow this link:

http://money.cnn.com/video/#/video/fsb/2007/10/15/fsb.hwgs.branson.bites.fsb

..to see. The more I learn about Richard Branson the more I like this Billionaire. I think my favorite Billionaires would go in the following order of likability:

1. Warren Buffett
2. Oprah
3. Richard Branson

Before I get too far off track, a little bit about the above link. Richard Branson is going into the loan agreement business with Virgin Money - a company that focuses on formalizing loan agreements between family and friends. Now some of you may think it's silly to do this because your family is good for it but, I know from experience (me being the debtor) that not all family is that good with money or paying people back on time.

That being said, let me get back to why I like that billionaire Richard Branson so much. He is beyond ambitious but he does it all while wearing a smile. He started a record store nearly 40 years ago - when he was about 20 and then several years later he parlayed that into an airline, and then several other businesses. Today he is of course a billionaire but at the same time, he wears a smile to just about every interview and it's a sincere smile at that. He is also an avid adventurer - constantly trying to break world records - none directly related to finance.

What really makes me want to meet this guy someday is the fact that a few years ago - he decided to make the first Space Airline - Virgin Galactic - basically upping the ante to anyone who doubts a daydreamer's dreams. So what my parents possibly saw as impossible at one point - going into outer space on vacation - I can see as a viable vacation option in say 2020-2030 (when I might be able to afford it).

What do you dream?

• Dream of getting out of debt,
  
• having some fancy car
  
• do you dream about being able to physically fly one day,
  
• to be able to end hunger in Africa or the world,
  
• Find new better jobs for weapons manufacturers so people can work on ways to work together instead of tearing people apart.
• Cure AIDs
• Cure all Cancer
• walking on the moon
  
• visiting a distant planet billions of light-years away
  
• having everyone laugh at your jokes
• Becoming famous
  

Harriet Tubman once said:

"Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world."

I'm a dreamer, a bonafide dreamer since birth. But without dreamers who put their dreams into action -much like Harriet Tubman, the Wright Brothers, Henry Ford, Oprah and Sir Richard Branson - (Visionaries is my word for them) I doubt I'd have a whole lot to dream about today.

I might quite possibly be an uneducated slave, who never rode an airplane, had only seen cars in movies and who never even began to think that flying to California was possible much less flying into outer-space.

I once had an argument - a very drunk argument at that - a few year's ago with friends about who could change the world. I argued that anyone can change the world in fact just about every day your alive you have an opportunity to change the world if you aren't in fact doing it already.

My two friends argued that that was way too idealistic and only a few key people ever truly affect the world in one way or another, the rest of us are just here for the ride. I still disagree with them but, if they're somehow right, I'd much rather be in the saddle then riding along in the carriage... so-to-speak.

Again I've gone completely on a tangent but I'm curious if you're reading this - do you think you can change the world? Personally, I stand by my belief.