Personal Wealth, 1998
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Personal Wealth, 1998
by Barry W. Johnson and Lisa M. Schreiber
T
here were more than 6.5 million individuals in
the United States with gross assets of
$625,000 or more in 1998. These “top wealth
holders” represented about 3.4 percent of the total
U.S. adult population. As a group, top wealth holders
owned more than $11.1 trillion in assets, or almost
32.6 percent of total U.S personal asset holdings.
Almost 4.0 million, or 61.2 percent, of these wealthy
individuals were male, and 2.5 million were female.
The number of millionaires in the United States grew
to more than 2.7 million in 1998.
Background
The distribution and composition of personal wealth in
the United States are topics of great interest among
researchers and policy planners. Unfortunately,
these issues are difficult to research, since there are
few sources of data on the wealth holdings of the
general population, especially the very rich. Federal
estate tax returns (Form 706) provide a unique
source from which to study the nation’s wealthiest
individuals. The estate tax return contains a complete listing of a decedent’s assets and debts, as well
as a demographic profile of the decedent and information on the costs of administering the estate. A
decedent’s estate has up to 9 months to file an estate
tax return, but use of a 6-month extension is common. It is, therefore, necessary to combine returns
filed over a number of calendar years in order to
capture data representative of all estate tax decedents dying in a single year.
The estate multiplier technique is used to estimate the wealth of living individuals from Federal
estate tax return data. The fundamental assumption
underlying this methodology is that estate tax returns
filed for decedents who died in a particular year
represent a random sample, designated by death, of
the living population in that year. Estimates of the
wealth holdings of the living population are derived by
applying a multiplier, based on appropriate mortality
rates, to this sample.
Barry W. Johnson and Lisa M. Schreiber are economists
in the Special Studies Special Projects Section. This
article was prepared under the direction of Michael
Alexander, former Chief, now retired.
Limitations
While the sample size and richness of available data
make this estimation technique attractive, there are
limitations to be noted. First, and most important,
estate tax returns provide a presumably random
sample, stratified by age, not of the total population,
but of living persons with gross estates at or above
the estate tax filing threshold. Research has proven
that “individuals who are economically or socially
better off also live longer, on average, and are
healthier” [1]. Factors such as access to better
health services, better diet and nutrition, fewer risks
on the job, and access to better housing seem to
contribute to this phenomenon. Therefore, determining a mortality rate appropriate to this sample poses a
challenge. It has also been shown that, while estimates of patterns of wealth holding, such as
differences in portfolio composition among various
age and sex groups, appear quite robust over a
variety of reasonable alternate assumptions about the
longevity of the very wealthy, overall aggregate
estimates are relatively sensitive to the selection of
the mortality rates [2]. (See the Appendix to this
article for a more complete discussion of the estate
multiplier technique.)
Second, while estate tax returns are generally
prepared by professionals and are, therefore, likely to
be more accurate in detail than survey responses, the
values reported are used to compute tax liability; so,
there is a natural tendency for the values to be somewhat conservative. This is especially true for hardto-value assets, such as businesses and certain types
of real estate. It should also be noted that the estate
tax data used for these estimates are pre-audit figures. A recent Statistics of Income (SOI) study,
based on the results of IRS audits of estate tax returns filed in 1992, estimated that detected under
valuation of assets was about 1.2 percent of total
asset holdings [3]. In addition, it is common to claim
substantial minority discounts when valuing ownership interests of less than 50 percent in small companies, partnerships, and other, non-liquid assets [4].
Third, while estate tax returns report assets that
are owned outright (what has been called prime
wealth), total wealth would ideally include wealth to
which a person has an income interest but not necessarily actual title. Examples of the latter include definedbenefit pension plans and Social Security benefits.
87
Personal Wealth, 1998
Finally, the wealth of some individuals near
death may differ somewhat from that of the general
population in the same age cohort. For some, wealth
will have been reduced through expenses related to a
final illness. For others, effective estate planning will
have reduced the value of the estate reportable for
tax purposes.
ValuationMeasures
88
The level of wealth to which these estimates apply is
$625,000 or more in gross estate, the Federal estate
tax filing threshold in effect for 1998 U.S. decedents.
Gross estate is a Federal estate tax concept of
wealth that does not conform to usual definitions of
wealth, primarily because it includes the face value of
life insurance in the wealth of the decedent. Therefore, three measures of wealth are used in this
article: gross assets (or gross estate), total assets,
and net worth.
Gross assets reflects the gross value of all
assets, including the full face value of life insurance,
reduced by the value of any policy loans, but excluding any reduction for other indebtedness. This measure defines the individuals included in the top
wealth-holder group. Total assets is a lower wealth
value, but is still essentially a gross measure. It
differs from gross assets in that the cash, or equity,
value of life insurance (i.e., the value of insurance
immediately before the policyholder’s death) replaces
the “at death” value of life insurance included in
gross assets [5]. Total assets is the valuation concept on which all the analyses in this article are
based. Net worth is total assets minus debts.
TopWealthHolders,1998
In 1998, there were an estimated 6.5 million adults in
the U.S., age 18 and older, with gross assets of
$625,000 or more. The combined total assets for this
group was more than $11.1 trillion. By factoring in
the $957.2 billion in debts held by top wealth holders,
the resulting combined net worth was almost $10.2
trillion. Although they accounted for only about 3.4
percent of the U.S. adult population, the net worth of
these top wealth holders made up more than 35.2
percent of total U.S. personal net worth in 1998 [6].
Men made up 61.2 percent of the top wealthholder population in 1998. The estimated 4.0 million
men held almost $7.0 trillion in total assets, making up
approximately 62.4 percent of the value of the top
wealth holders’ asset pool. Almost 1.7 million male
top wealth holders were reported to have had a net
worth of $1 million or more. A large majority, 69.5
percent, of male top wealth holders were married, a
significantly higher proportion than the 61.7 percent
of all adult men in the United States who were married in 1998 (see Figure A). Only 15.0 percent of
male top wealth holders were single, as compared to
the 26.9 percent of males who were single in the
overall U.S. population [7].
There were more than 2.5 million women top
wealth holders in 1998. The combined value of their
total assets was approximately $4.2 trillion. Almost
1.1 million of the female top wealth holders had a net
worth of $1 million or more. The distribution of
wealthy women, by marital status, was quite different
from that of their counterparts in the overall U.S.
population. Married women made up 47.0 percent of
Figure A
Top Wealth Holders, 1998: Marital Status, by Sex
Male
Marital status
Number of top
wealth holders (in
thousands)
(1)
Female
Percentage of top
Percentage of U.S.
wealth holders
population
population
(2)
(3)
Percentage of top
wealth holders
population
Percentage of U.S.
population
(4)
(5)
(6)
Total......................................................................................
3,997
100.0
100.0
2,533
100.0
100.0
Married......................................................................................
2,779
Widowed......................................................................................
264
69.5
6.6
61.7
2.7
1,190
722
47.0
28.5
57.9
10.8
Single......................................................................................
598
15.0
26.9
351
13.9
20.5
Other ¹......................................................................................
356
8.9
8.8
270
10.7
10.8
¹ Includes individuals who were separated or divorced and those for whom marital status was not determinable.
NOTE: Detail may not add to totals because of rounding.
88
Number of top
wealth holders (in
thousands)
Personal Wealth, 1998
all female top wealth holders, while 57.9 percent of
all adult women in the U.S. were married in 1998.
Likewise, while just 13.9 percent of wealthy women
were single, single women made up 20.5 percent of
the adult female population. Conversely, widowed
women made up 28.5 percent of the female top
wealth holders, which is significantly higher than the
percentage of women in the United States who were
widows in 1998, 10.8 percent.
PortfolioComposition
There were significant differences in portfolio
allocation between top wealth holders in 1998 and
similar individuals in 1995, the last year for which
SOI estimates are available. Overall, 1998 top
wealth holders invested more in publicly traded stock
and cash and money market accounts than similar
individuals in 1995, and they invested less in other
financial assets (including Federal, corporate, and
tax-exempt bonds, as well as mixed portfolio mutual
funds) and investment real estate [8]. Growth in the
number of online investment services and increased
Internet usage by the general population during the
period greatly expanded the accessibility and ease of
purchase of stock in publicly held companies; the
overall value of these stocks also increased markedly. Both factors could have contributed to the
increase in the proportion of stock in the portfolios of
wealthy individuals between 1995 and 1998.
Portfolio composition varied substantially by sex
and wealth class among America’s top wealth holders in 1998. Compared to those in higher net worth
groups, individuals with less than $1 million in net
worth devoted a larger percentage of their portfolio
to personal residences, investment real estate, and
retirement assets. In contrast, top wealth holders
with more than $10 million in net worth, dedicated
more of their portfolio to closely held stock than less
wealthy investors [9]. Women’s portfolios contained
a greater proportion of stock in public corporations
than those of men, while stock in closely held corporations made up a larger share in the portfolios of
male top wealth holders.
Investment real estate, combined with the value
of personal residences, dominated the portfolio of
men with a net worth less than $1 million in 1998,
accounting for 33.3 percent of total assets. Investments in publicly traded stock made up the second
largest share of their portfolio, 15.8 percent, a 71.1-
percent increase over the portfolio share devoted to
publicly traded stock by male wealth holders in this
wealth class in 1995 (see Figure B). Male top
wealth holders with between $1 million and $10
million in net worth in 1998 held a significantly different portfolio compared to their 1995 counterparts, as
shown by Figure C. Investment real estate was the
largest asset for individuals in this wealth bracket in
1995. However, in 1998, publicly traded stock was
the dominant asset, accounting for 22.6 percent of
the aggregate portfolio. Conversely, the portfolios of
male top wealth holders with a net worth of $10
million or more were allocated similarly in both 1995
and 1998 (see Figure D). In both years, the most
dominant assets for men in this net worth category
were closely held and publicly traded stocks, although
both made up slightly smaller portions of the portfolio
in 1998. The largest distinction between the two
periods for males in the highest net worth category
was the portfolio share held in cash or money market
accounts; in 1998, male top wealth holders held more
of their portfolio in the form of cash and money
market accounts than those in the earlier period.
The portfolios held by female top wealth holders
in 1998 differed significantly from those of similar
women in 1995. Figure E shows that the portfolio of
female top wealth holders with a net worth of less
than $1 million in 1998 contained significantly less
investment real estate and vastly more publicly traded
stock than the portfolio of their 1995 counterparts. A
similar difference between the two periods can be
observed for female top wealth holders with net
worth between $1 and $10 million, as publicly traded
stock replaced real estate investments (including the
value of personal residences) as the major asset in
the portfolio for 1998, with stock accounting for 30.7
percent of the total (see Figure F). Figure G shows
the dramatic differences between the portfolios of
females with a net worth of $10 million or more in
1995 and 1998. Women in the top wealth bracket in
1998 dedicated 8.0 percent more of their portfolio to
publicly traded stock than their 1995 counterparts.
Significantly, investments in closely held stock by this
wealthiest group of women increased from 13.5
percent of the portfolio in 1995 to 20.2 percent in
1998, reflecting the increasing role of female entrepreneurs in the U.S. economy. In fact, the two most
prevalent assets in 1998, publicly traded stock and
closely held stock, when combined, composed more
89
Personal Wealth, 1998
Figure B
Male Top Wealth Holders with Net Worth of Less Than $1 Million: Selected Assets and Debts as a
Percentage of Total Assets, by Year
Percentage
25%
20.3%
20%
18.6%
17.2%
15.7% 16.1%
20.8%
16.6%
15.8%
14.1%
15%
10.1%
9.2%
10%
6.1%
6.8%
5.2%
7.0%
6.0%
5%
0%
Personal
residences
Investment real
estate
Closely held
stock
Other stock
1995
Other financial
Cash and
assets ¹
money market
accounts
1998
Retirement
assets
Debts and
mortgages
¹ Includes Federal, corporate, and tax-exempt bonds, as well as mixed portfolio mutual funds.
90
Figure C
Male Top Wealth Holders with Net Worth of Between $1 Million and $10 Million: Selected Assets and
Debts as a Percentage of Total Assets, by Year
Percentage
25%
22.6%
20%
17.2%
14.9%
14.7%
15%
14.3%
13.5%
12.4%
12.1%
10.6%
10%
8.9%
9.3%
8.0%
7.6% 8.0%
7.3%
5.1%
5%
0%
Personal
residences
Investment
real estate
Closely held
stock
Other stock
1995
90
Other financial
Cash and
assets ¹
money market
accounts
1998
¹ Includes Federal, corporate, and tax-exempt bonds, as well as mixed portfolio mutual funds.
Retirement
assets
Debts and
mortgages
Personal Wealth, 1998
Figure D
Male Top Wealth Holders with Net Worth of $10 Million or More: Selected Assets and Debts as a
Percentage of Total Assets, by Year
Percentage
35%
29.1% 28.9%
30%
28.2%
25.9%
25%
20%
15%
10.2% 10.2%
10.3% 10.1%
10%
7.7%
6.3%
6.1%
5%
1.9% 2.5%
2.3%
1.8%
3.3%
0%
Personal
residences
Investment real
estate
Closely held
stock
Other stock
1995
Other financial
Cash and
assets ¹
money market
accounts
1998
Retirement
assets
Debts and
mortgages
¹ Includes Federal, corporate, and tax-exempt bonds, as well as mixed portfolio mutual funds.
Figure E
Female Top Wealth Holders with Net Worth of Less Than $1 Million: Selected Assets and Debts as a
Percentage of Total Assets, by Year
Percentage
25%
20%
18.7%
17.3%
19.6%
18.2%
14.9%
15%
13.5%
13.9%
12.9%
12.2%
9.9%
10%
9.6%
10.4%
10.2%
9.3%
5%
2.2% 2.2%
0%
Personal
residences
Investment real
estate
Closely held
stock
Other stock
1995
Other financial
Cash and
assets ¹
money market
accounts
1998
¹ Includes Federal, corporate, and tax-exempt bonds, as well as mixed portfolio mutual funds.
Retirement
assets
Debts and
mortgages
91
Personal Wealth, 1998
Figure F
Female Top Wealth Holders with Net Worth of Between $1 Million and $10 Million: Selected Assets
and Debts as a Percentage of Total Assets, by Year
Percentage
35%
30.7%
30%
25%
21.5%
20%
18.0%
16.1%
14.0%
13.8%
15%
9.9% 10.3%
9.7%
10%
7.0%
6.7%
6.6%
6.6% 6.4%
5.1%
4.8%
5%
0%
Personal
residences
Investment real
estate
Closely held
stock
Other stock
1995
Other financial
Cash and
assets ¹
money market
accounts
1998
Retirement
assets
Debts and
mortgages
¹ Includes Federal, corporate, and tax-exempt bonds, as well as mixed portfolio mutual funds.
92
Figure G
Female Top Wealth Holders with Net Worth of $10 Million or More: Selected Assets and Debts as a
Percentage of Total Assets, by Year
Percentage
40%
36.3%
35%
28.3%
30%
25%
20.2%
19.4%
20%
13.5%
15%
11.3%
5%
10.8%
8.7%
10%
4.8%
3.1% 3.0%
2.2%
1.2% 2.0%
3.3% 2.7%
0%
Personal
residences
Investment real
estate
Closely held
stock
Other stock
1995
Other financial
Cash and
assets ¹
money market
accounts
1998
¹ Includes Federal, corporate, and tax-exempt bonds, as well as mixed portfolio mutual funds.
92
Retirement
assets
Debts and
mortgages
Personal Wealth, 1998
than half of the portfolio value for women with $10
million or more in net worth.
Age
In general, personal investment goals tend to change
as one ages. Younger investors are usually interested in asset growth opportunities and are often
willing to accept higher levels of risk than older
investors, who may be more focused on reliable
income sources and who tend to prefer investments
that are eligible for preferential income tax treatment.
In 1998, the value of investment real estate and
investments in closely held corporations made up
smaller percentages in the portfolios of older top
wealth holders than in portfolios held by younger
individuals in the same wealth classes, while the
portfolios of younger investors included smaller
percentages of Government-issued bonds than those
of older investors. Publicly traded stock was the
dominant asset in the portfolios of wealth holders in
every age group and for both genders in 1998.
Figure H shows that, in 1998, men under the age of
50 held almost twice as much of their portfolio in the
stock of publicly traded corporations compared to
males in this age group in 1995. In 1998, the second
most prevalent asset held by these relatively young
males was stock in closely held corporations, which
made up 17.5 percent of the overall portfolio value.
Similarly, while 1995 male top wealth holders between the ages of 50 and 65 had invested
predominantly in investment real estate (18.2 percent), publicly traded stocks dominated the portfolio
of males in this age bracket in 1998, making up 19.4
percent of the total. For males age 65 and older in
both 1995 and 1998, investments in publicly traded
stock accounted for the largest share of the portfolio;
however, the shares made up of both real estate
investments and closely held stock were smaller than
for younger males. Figure J illustrates that other
financial assets, primarily tax-exempt bonds issued by
State and local governments, made up the second
largest percentage of the portfolio for male top
wealth holders age 65 and older in both 1995 and
1998. These bonds are a low risk, stable source of
income that is exempt from Federal, and in some
cases State, income tax.
The portfolio of female top wealth holders under
the age of 50 held significantly more publicly traded
Figure H
Male Top Wealth Holders under Age 50: Selected Assets and Debts as a Percentage of Total Assets,
by Year
Percentage
25%
19.6%
20%
19.3%
17.7% 17.5%
16.1%
15%
15.5%
13.1%
12.2%
10.7%
10.4%
10.7%
10%
8.5%
6.1%
9.1%
7.0%
5.1%
5%
0%
Personal
residences
Investment real
estate
Closely held
stock
Other stock
1995
Other financial
Cash and
assets ¹
money market
accounts
Retirement
assets
Debts and
mortgages
1998
¹ Includes Federal, corporate, and tax-exempt bonds, as well as mixed portfolio mutual funds.
93
Personal Wealth, 1998
Figure I
Male Top Wealth Holders Age 50 Under 65: Selected Assets and Debts as a Percentage of Total
Assets, by Year
Percentage
25%
19.4%
20%
18.2%
16.0%
15%
15.5%
15.6%
14.7%
13.4%
13.1%
12.0%
11.0%
10%
8.7% 8.8%
6.7%
7.6%
6.1%
4.4%
5%
0%
Personal
residences
Investment real
estate
Closely held
stock
Other stock
1995
Other financial
Cash and
assets ¹
money market
accounts
Retirement
assets
Debts and
mortgages
1998
¹ Includes Federal, corporate, and tax-exempt bonds, as well as mixed portfolio mutual funds.
94
Figure J
Male Top Wealth Holders Age 65 and Older: Selected Assets and Debts as a Percentage of Total
Assets, by Year
Percentage
30%
27.0%
25%
23.2%
20%
15.1%
13.9%
15%
13.5%
13.7%
10.6% 10.4%
9.8%
10%
10.5%
8.7%
6.4% 7.0%
5.6%
5.3%
4.1%
5%
0%
Personal
residences
Investment real
estate
Closely held
stock
Other stock
1995
94
Other financial
Cash and
assets ¹
money market
accounts
1998
¹ Includes Federal, corporate, and tax-exempt bonds, as well as mixed portfolio mutual funds.
Retirement
assets
Debts and
mortgages
Personal Wealth, 1998
stock in 1998 than in 1995, making publicly traded
stock the largest asset in the 1998 portfolio (see
Figure K). Closely held stock and personal residences were other major assets in the portfolio held
by relatively young women, making up 12.5 percent
and 12.4 percent of the total, respectively, in 1998.
Likewise, while the dominant portfolio asset in 1995
for women in the 50 under 65 age group was investment real estate, publicly traded stock was the largest
portfolio asset in 1998 (see Figure L). Investment
real estate ranked second among investment assets,
composing 17.2 percent of the portfolio in 1998.
Figure M shows that publicly traded stocks made up
more than one third of the portfolio of female top
wealth holders age 65 and older in 1998, by far the
largest share contributed by a single asset type in the
portfolios held by men or women in any age bracket.
Similar to males over the age of 65, other financial
assets, primarily tax-exempt bonds issued by State or
local governments, were ranked second in the portfolio, making up 17.6 percent of the portfolio for females in this oldest age group. Investments in closely
held stock accounted for the smallest portfolio share
among the assets shown in Figure M.
While there were clear differences in the investment choices made by individuals based on both sex
and age, the skewed nature of the distribution of
wealth makes it more difficult to discern a similar
relationship among sex, age, and an individual’s
overall level of wealth. Some economic theory
predicts that individuals save over their working
lifetime and then consume out of those savings after
retirement [10]. There are a number of refinements
to this theory that suggest the very wealthy may have
a number of additional motivations for saving, such as
the desire to provide bequests at death, which might
mean that wealth accumulation could continue well
beyond retirement age. Figure N shows that average
net worth clearly increased with age for male top
wealth holders. Men under the age of 50 had an
average net worth of almost $1.2 million, while the
average for males age 85 and older was nearly $2.5
million, more than double that of the youngest group.
For highly skewed distributions, however, the median
Figure K
Female Top Wealth Holders Under Age 50: Selected Assets and Debts as a Percentage of Total
Assets, by Year
Percentage
30%
25.9%
25%
20%
16.5%
15%
14.5%
13.7%
12.4%
12.5%
10.3%
11.2%
10.7%
11.2%
9.3%
10%
8.5%
9.5%
8.9%
7.9%
5.6%
5%
0%
Personal
residences
Investment real
estate
Closely held
stock
Other stock
1995
Other financial
Cash and
assets ¹
money market
accounts
1998
¹ Includes Federal, corporate, and tax-exempt bonds, as well as mixed portfolio mutual funds.
Retirement
assets
Debts and
mortgages
95
Personal Wealth, 1998
Figure L
Female Top Wealth Holders Age 50 Under 65: Selected Assets and Debts as a Percentage of Total
Assets, by Year
Percentage
30%
24.0%
25%
20.8%
20%
17.5%
17.2%
15%
12.9% 13.3%
12.0%
9.6%
10%
8.8%
8.7%
8.4% 8.6%
6.8%
8.1%
6.6%
5.3%
5%
0%
Personal
residences
Investment real
estate
Closely held
stock
Other stock
1995
Other financial
Cash and
assets ¹
money market
accounts
1998
Retirement
assets
Debts and
mortgages
¹ Includes Federal, corporate, and tax-exempt bonds, as well as mixed portfolio mutual funds.
96
Figure M
Female Top Wealth Holders Age 65 and Older: Selected Assets and Debts as a Percentage of Total
Assets, by Year
Percentage
40%
33.7%
35%
30%
25.2%
25%
22.2%
20%
17.6%
15%
10%
12.8%
11.8%
11.6%
8.9% 9.2%
8.8%
4.8% 4.6%
4.0% 4.1%
5%
3.0% 2.5%
0%
Personal
residences
Investment real
estate
Closely held
stock
Other stock
1995
96
Other financial
Cash and
assets ¹
money market
accounts
1998
¹ Includes Federal, corporate, and tax-exempt bonds, as well as mixed portfolio mutual funds.
Retirement
assets
Debts and
mortgages
Personal Wealth, 1998
is often a much better summary measure than the
average since the median is less affected by large
outliers in a population. For young, wealthy males,
the median net worth was $654,800. Figure N
shows that, while the median value of net worth
was higher for males age 50 and older, the median
was about the same for men in each of the over 50
age groups depicted in the graph, approximately
$1.0 million.
The average net worth for females under the age
of 50 was almost $1.5 million, higher than that of
males in the same age group. Unlike their male
counterparts, however, the average was nearly the
same for females in both the 50 under 65 and 65
under 75 age groups. For women over age 75, average net worth was higher, more than $1.6 million for
women in the 75 under 85 age group and almost $1.9
million for women age 85 and older. The median
value of net worth for women, however, was almost
the same for all age groups. For women under the
age of 50, the median was $835,400. For all other
age groups, the median was approximately $950,000.
StateData
Figure O details the States with the largest numbers
of resident millionaires [11]. California, the most
populous State in America in 1998, had the largest
number of residents with a net worth of $1 million or
more, 412,000 millionaires [12]. New York and
Florida had the second and third largest number of
resident millionaires, 243,000 and 206,000, respectively. Overall, the number of millionaires in most
States in 1998 was almost double that recorded in
1995, despite substantially smaller changes in the
overall adult population and in inflation, which was
only about 7.0 percent for the 3-year period [13].
For example, the number of California residents with
a net worth of $1 million or more increased 80.7
percent, having numbered 228,000 in 1995, while the
State adult population increased by 4.2 percent
between 1995 and 1998. Similarly, the number of
resident millionaires in Texas grew dramatically from
76,000 in 1995 to 157,000 in 1998 despite an increase
in the State adult population of only 6.1 percent.
Massachusetts’ adult population increased by only
Figure N
All Top Wealth Holders: Average and Median Net Worth, by Sex and Age, 1998
Millions
3.0
2.5
2.0
1.5
1.0
0.5
0.0
Under 50
50 under 65
65 under 75
75 under 85
Average net worth of males
Median net worth of males
Average net worth of females
Median net worth of females
85 and older
97
Personal Wealth, 1998
Figure O
States with the Largest Number or Highest
Concentration of Resident Millionaires, 1998 ¹
[Numbers are in thousands]
State
Number of
millionaires
Total State
population
Millionaires as a
percentage of
State population
(2)
(3)
California............................................................
412
(1)
23,756
1.7
New York............................................................
243
Florida............................................................
206
13,673
11,376
1.8
1.8
Texas............................................................
156
14,131
1.1
Illinois............................................................
146
Pennsylvania............................................................
122
8,857
9,141
1.6
1.3
New Jersey............................................................
116
6,125
1.9
Ohio............................................................
85
8,365
Massachusetts............................................................
81
4,690
1.0
1.7
Connecticut............................................................
65
2,484
2.6
Colorado............................................................
56
2,930
District of Columbia............................................................
8
420
1.9
1.9
¹ Millionaires are defined as individuals with net worth of $1 million or more.
98
1.0 percent from 1995 to 1998; yet the number of
residents with $1 million or more of net worth increased by 125.0 percent.
Looking at the number of millionaires on a per
capita basis, that is, the number of millionaires per
thousand residents, eliminates the distortions caused
by the large adult populations in some States and,
thereby, presents a somewhat different picture of the
geographic distribution of wealth in the United States.
Connecticut, ranked the 27th largest state by size of
population, had the greatest concentration of millionaires, with more than 2.6 percent of the residents
having $1 million or more in net worth. With an
approximate population of 2.9 million and 56,000
residents with a net worth of $1 million or more,
Colorado had the second highest density of millionaires, 1.9 percent. The District of Columbia, with a
population of 420,000, was ranked third with about
1,900 millionaires per 100,000 residents. The States
with the largest number of millionaires--Florida, New
York, and California--were fifth, seventh, and eighth,
respectively, in the per capita ranking.
ConcentrationEstimates
The distribution of wealth in the United States is
highly skewed, with a relatively small group of
individuals owning a large percentage of the total net
worth. Longitudinal changes in distribution of wealth
in the U.S. can be observed by examining the share
of U.S. wealth, measured in terms of net worth, held
by a constant percentage of the population. Figure P
reports the percentages of total U.S. wealth held by
Figure P
Percentage of Total U.S. Net Worth Held by the Top 1.0 Percent and Top 0.5 Percent of the U.S.
Population, 1989-1998
25
Top 1.0 Percent of U.S. Population
20
15
Top 0.5 Percent of U.S. Population
10
5
0
1989
98
1992
1995
1998
Personal Wealth, 1998
the top 1.0 percent and the top 0.5 percent of the
population, 1989-1998 [14, 15]. In 1998, 1.0 percent
of the U.S. adult population corresponded with 1.9
million individuals. These individuals owned approximately 23.5 percent of total U.S. individual wealth, a
1.0-percent increase over the share owned by this
subpopulation in 1995 and a 2.0-percent increase
since 1989, when the top 1.0 percent of the population owned more than 21.3 percent of U.S. wealth.
A similar pattern was evident in the share of wealth
held by the 963,000 individuals who made up the top
0.5 percent of the U.S. adult population in 1998.
They held about 18.3 percent of the Nation’s net
worth in 1998, up from about 17.4 percent in 1995
and 16.6 percent in 1989. These slight changes in the
concentration may indicate that the real wealth of the
Nation’s top wealth holders grew at a slightly higher
rate than that of the overall adult population. However, the sampling error associated with these
estimates is large, meaning that most of the interperiod differences may not be statistically significant.
Summary
There were more than 6.5 million individuals in the
United States with gross assets of $625,000 or more
in 1998. These individuals represented about 3.4
percent of the total U.S. adult population. As a
group, top wealth holders owned more than $11.1
trillion in total assets, or 32.6 percent of total U.S.
personal asset holdings. Almost 4.0 million, or 61.2
percent, of these wealthy individuals were male, and
2.5 million were female. This strongly contrasted
with the gender distribution of the total U.S. population in 1998, which contained only 48.0 percent men.
Male top wealth holders were more likely to be
married than men in the overall U.S. population, while
the opposite was true for female top wealth holders,
who were less likely to be married than their counterparts in the U.S. population.
Both the age and relative wealth of top wealth
holders impacted the composition of their portfolios.
Women’s portfolios contained a greater proportion of
stock in public corporations than those of men. The
value of the personal residence and investments in
closely held corporations made up smaller percentages in the portfolios of older top wealth holders than
in portfolios held by younger individuals in the same
wealth classes. Individuals with $1 million or less in
net worth devoted a larger percentage of their portfolio to personal residences, investment real estate, and
retirement assets than those in higher net worth
groups. Top wealth holders with more than $10
million in net worth dedicated more of their portfolio
to closely held stock in 1998 than less wealthy investors. Overall, 1998 top wealth holders invested in
more publicly traded stock and cash and money
market accounts than similar individuals in 1995, and
they invested less in other financial assets (including
Federal, corporate, and tax-exempt bonds, as well
as mixed portfolio mutual funds) and investment
real estate.
There was a significant increase in the number of
U.S. citizens with net worth of $1.0 million or more
between 1995 and 1998. Overall, the number of
millionaires per State in 1998 was almost double that
recorded in 1995 despite substantially smaller
changes in State adult populations and low inflation
over the 3-year period. California remained the State
with the largest number of millionaires, while Connecticut was the State with the greatest per capita
concentration of millionaires. Estimates of the
amount of wealth held by the top 1.0 percent and 0.5
percent of the U.S. population suggest that the percentage of overall U.S. wealth held by these groups
increased slightly between 1995 and 1998.
Appendix: TheEstateMultiplierTechnique
The estate multiplier technique assumes that estate
tax returns, taken as a whole, represent a random
sample of the living wealthy population and thus
provide a means of producing reasonable estimates
of personal wealth. The multiplier is equivalent to a
sampling weight where the probabilities of selection
include the probability of being a decedent and also
that of being included in the Statistics of Income sample
of estate tax returns. The more difficult computation
is determining the probability of being a decedent.
Mortality rates for the general population, by age and
sex, available from the National Center for Health
Statistics, provide the basis for the estimates. However, there is much evidence that the wealthy have
mortality rates significantly lower than those of the
entire population. The following sections describe the
sampling criteria used to select the underlying estate
tax returns, as well as efforts to develop mortality rates
appropriate for this elite segment of the population.
99
Personal Wealth, 1998
EstateTaxReturnSampleDesign
100
The Statistics of Income Division collects data from
an annual sample of Federal estate tax returns that
are used primarily for policy and budget purposes.
The sample follows a 3-year cycle that is designed
mainly to accommodate year-of-death estimates, with
each study concentrating on decedents who died in
the first year, the focus year, of the 3-year cycle.
The annual samples are also adequate for producing
filing-year estimates. Year-of-death estimates are
desirable, because filing extensions and other filing
delays mean that returns filed in any given calendar
year may represent decedents who died in many
different years. Thus, estate tax return data for a
single filing year may reflect different economic and
tax law conditions. By concentrating on a single year
of death, these limitations can be overcome, making it
possible to study the data in the context of a single
time period.
Returns are selected using a stratified random
sample with three stratifying variables. Since 1982,
the stratifying variables have been year of death
(focus year verses non-focus years), total gross
estate, and age at death. Gross estate is divided into
five categories: $625,000 under $1 million, $1 million
under $2.5 million, $2.5 million under $5 million, $5
million under $10 million, and $10 million or more.
Age at death is divided into five categories: under 40,
40 under 50, 50 under 65, 65 under 75, and 75 and
older. Sample rates vary from 3 percent to 100
percent, with over half the strata selected with certainty, i.e., at the 100-percent rate.
SOI has combined Federal estate tax returns
filed over 3-year periods to produce the estimates of
wealth for 1998 presented here. One of the strengths
of the estate multiplier technique is the large sample
on which the estimates are based. The 1998 sample
includes more than 26,000 returns [16].
MortalityDifferentials
100
Research has proven that individuals who are economically or socially better off generally live longer
and are healthier than individuals in the general
population. Therefore, it is important to determine a
mortality rate appropriate to the wealthy decedents in
the estate tax return sample. If mortality and wealth
are correlated, then biased estimates will result using
mortality rates unadjusted for wealth level. Evidence
suggests that there is an inverse relationship between
these factors, meaning that unadjusted multipliers
would be too low and, thus, undervalue wealth [17].
There have been a considerable number of
attempts to quantify differences between the mortality of the general population and that of the very
wealthy, looking at factors such as education, income,
and occupation. For the data presented in this article,
the National Longitudinal Mortality Study (NLMS),
produced by the National Institutes of Health, was
used to estimate the magnitude of this difference,
hereafter called the “mortality differential” [18]. The
NLMS is a random sample of 1.3 million Americans
of all ages, races, and sexes, in the civilian, noninstitutionalized population. The sample was drawn
mainly from the Census Bureau’s Current Population
Survey. Interviews, done by telephone, achieved a
96-percent response rate. Respondents were at least
14 years of age.
Because the NLMS did not contain information
on a respondent’s wealth, income and occupation
were used to identify survey respondents with characteristics similar to estate tax decedents. Mortality
rates, by age and sex, were calculated for NLMS
decedents whose incomes and occupations were
similar to the incomes and occupations of estate tax
decedents. Mortality rates, by age and sex, were
also calculated for all individuals in the NLMS
sample. A simple ratio of these two rates was used
to construct mortality differentials. National mortality
rates, published by the National Center for Health
Statistics, were then multiplied by the differentials to
obtain mortality rates appropriate for wealthy decedents [19].
The differences between the mortality rates of
the general population and those of individuals with
characteristics similar to the estate tax decedent
population, captured in the magnitude of the mortality
rate differentials, were most pronounced for young
decedents; these differences disappeared entirely by
age 85. For example, the mortality rate for a wealthy
male under the age of 40 was about half that of a
male in the general population. However, for males
over 85 years of age, the mortality rates were the
same for both groups. Wealth seems to have had a
much smaller effect on the mortality rates of females
in the NLMS sample than it had on the mortality of
males in that sample. The mortality rate for wealthy
females under age 40 was approximately 89.0 percent of that for females in the general population.
Personal Wealth, 1998
For females over 85 years of age, the mortality rates
were the same for both groups.
Multipliers
The multipliers (or sample weights) were calculated
as follows:
MULT= 1 / (p ’•r ’•d) where:
p = probability of selection to the estate tax sample,
r = mortality rate,
d= rate differential.
The multipliers ranged from 2 to 18,000, with an
average of about 250. Some additional smoothing of
the multipliers was employed to constrain both tails of
the net worth distribution [20].
NotesandReferences
[1] See Menchik, Paul (1991), “Economic Status as
a Determinant of Mortality Among Nonwhite
and White Older Males: or, Does Poverty Kill?,”
Institute for Research on Poverty, Discussion
Paper Number 93891.
[2] Scheuren, Fritz (1994), “Historical Perspectives
on IRS Wealth Estimates With a View to Improvements,” Compendium of Federal Estate
Tax Data and Personal Wealth Studies,
Department of the Treasury, IRS Publication
1773, p. 358.
[3] Eller, Martha Britton (2001), “Audit Revaluation
of Federal Estate Tax Returns,” Internal
Revenue Service Statistics of Income Bulletin,
Winter 2000-2001, Washington, DC.
[4] Wherever possible, the value of minority discounts
was added back to the individual asset values
used in these estimates. However, inconsistencies in the way that these discounts are reported
on Form 706 limit SOI’s ability to collect these
data. Therefore, it is likely that the estimates
presented here are still somewhat undervalued.
[5] Estimates of the equity value of life insurance
included in total assets were approximated,
based on the face value reported on Federal
estate tax returns and on the decedent’s age. A
ratio of the equity value to the face value was
developed, using data from wealthy respondents
to the 1989, 1992, and 1995 Board of Governors
of the Federal Reserve System's Surveys of
Consumer Finances (SCF). A simple regression was used to predict the values used in the
Statistics of Income estimates. The same set
of ratios was used for both males and females,
due to a lack of sex-specific data in the SCF.
[6] Estimates of both the total assets and net worth
of the United States are from household
estimates derived from the Board of Governors
of the Federal Reserve System’s Survey of
Consumer Finances (SCF), found in Kennickell,
Arthur, B. (2000), “An Examination of Changes
in the Distribution of Wealth from 1989 to 1998:
Evidence from the Survey of Consumer Finances,” Board of Governors of the Federal
Reserve System working paper, p. 19.
[7] Marital status estimates for the general population, by sex, were obtained from the U.S.
Census Bureau, Current Population Reports,
pp. 20-514.
[8] Estimates of personal wealth for 1995 can be
found in Johnson, Barry W., “Personal Wealth
1995,” Internal Revenue Service Statistics of
Income Bulletin, Winter 1999-2000,
Washingon, DC pp. 59-84.
[9] Closely held stock is stock in a corporation that
is not publicly traded, usually that of a small,
family-owned corporation.
[10] See Modigliani, Franko (1986), “Life Cycle,
Individual Thrift, and the Wealth of Nations,”
American Economic Review, Vol. 68, pp.
547-560.
[11] While the size of the underlying sample of
estate tax returns makes estimates of wealth,
derived using the estate multiplier technique,
fairly robust, estimates of wealth by State can
be subject to significant year-to-year fluctuations for States with relatively small decedent
populations. This is especially true for individuals at the extreme tail of the net worth distribution. For this reason, Table 6 is limited to
individuals with net worth of $20 million or less.
[12] U.S. population data obtained from the U.S.
Bureau of the Census (1999), “Population
Estimates for the U.S., Regions, Divisions, and
101
Personal Wealth, 1998
States by 5-year Age Groups and Sex: Annual
Time Series Estimates, July 1, 1990 to July 1,
1998.”
[13] Consumer Price Index (2002), U.S. City
Average for All Items, U.S. Department of
Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Washington,
D.C.
[14] Estimates of the U.S. adult population obtained
from U.S. Bureau of the Census, press release
CB96-88, also published in U.S. Bureau of the
Census, Statistical Abstract of the United
States: 2000 (120th ) edition, Washington, DC,
Table 13.
[15] For estimates of U.S. net worth for 1989, 1992,
1995 and 1998, see Kennickell, Arthur, B.,
pp. 16-19.
102
[16] Although the overall sample of estate tax
returns is large, the number of decedents who
were young (less than 40) or extremely wealthy
(gross assets of $5 million or more) in any given
year varies considerably and is small in comparison to their number in the living population.
Because of this, the resulting estimates of
wealth for these two categories of living
individuals would be subject to significant
fluctuations from period to period. To reduce
this variance, the sample is “smoothed” by
including all returns for young or wealthy
decedents filed during the 3-year sample period
without regard to the decedent's year of death.
These segments of the sample are then poststratified and reweighted to represent the true
decedent population for the year of interest.
This technique reduces the effect of outliers on
estimates of personal wealth.
[17] Smith, James (1994), “Estimating the Wealth of
Top Wealth-Holders from Estate Tax Returns,”
Compendium of Federal Estate Tax Data
and Personal Wealth Studies, Department of
Treasury, IRS Publication 1773, p. 336.
[18] A more detailed description of this study is
found in A Mortality Study of 1.3. Million
Persons by Demographic, Social, and
Economic Factors: 1979-1985 Follow-up
1992 (1992), U.S. National Longitudinal
Mortality Study, National Institutes of Health,
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, NIH
Publication Number 92-3297.
[19] Mortality data for 1998 were obtained from the
National Center for Health Statistics, Division
of Vital Statistics as reported in the National
Vital Statistics Reports, Volume 48, Number
11, July 24, 2000.
[20] For a more complete methodological discussion, see Johnson, Barry W., “Updating Techniques for Estimating Wealth from Federal
Estate Tax Returns,” 1997 Proceedings of
the American Statistical Association, Section
on Business and Economic Statistics.
SOURCE: IRS, Statistics of Income Bulletin, Winter
2002-2003, Publication 1136 (Rev. 4-2003).
102
Personal Wealth, 1998
Table 1.--Personal Wealth, 1998: Type of Property by Size of Net Worth
[All figures are estimates based on samples--numbers are in thousands, money amounts are in millions of dollars]
Total assets
Debts and mortgages
Net worth
Personal residence
Size of net worth
Number
Amount
Number
(1)
(2)
(3)
Total.............................................................................................................
6,530
11,142,788
5,020
Amount
Number
(4)
(5)
957,211
6,530
Amount
Number
(6)
(7)
10,185,577
Amount
(8)
4,771
1,080,043
Size of net worth:
Negative net worth.............................................................................................................
39
36,353
39
90,087
39
-53,734
22
4,932
$1 under $600,000.............................................................................................................
1,253
671,387
1,105
195,383
1,253
476,004
964
158,492
$600,000 under $1,000,000.............................................................................................................
2,494
2,110,572
1,784
172,173
$1,000,000 under $2,500,000.............................................................................................................
2,058
3,289,005
1,529
222,324
2,494
2,058
1,938,399
3,066,681
1,764
1,508
319,302
351,952
$2,500,000 under $5,000,000.............................................................................................................
440
1,569,754
357
89,762
440
1,479,991
325
119,490
$5,000,000 under $10,000,000.............................................................................................................
166
1,196,100
138
70,470
166
1,125,630
126
65,479
$10,000,000 under $20,000,000.............................................................................................................
51
742,956
42
39,731
$20,000,000 or more.............................................................................................................
29
1,526,661
25
77,280
51
29
703,225
1,449,381
38
23
31,886
28,510
Investment real estate
Closely held stock
Other stocks
State and local bonds
Size of net worth
Number
Amount
Number
Amount
Number
Amount
Number
(9)
(10)
(11)
(12)
(13)
(14)
(15)
(16)
2,073
633,108
Total.............................................................................................................
3,843
1,531,767
Size of net worth:
1,287
Negative net worth.............................................................................................................
24
15,059
8
1,325,080
4,854
2,709,434
Amount
3,087
13
1,120
--
--
$1 under $600,000.............................................................................................................
578
116,607
200
31,493
$600,000 under $1,000,000.............................................................................................................
1,396
311,718
316
79,012
748
1,847
68,421
419,137
102
760
3,178
85,986
$1,000,000 under $2,500,000.............................................................................................................
1,331
484,712
472
236,900
1,650
785,808
843
176,180
$2,500,000 under $5,000,000.............................................................................................................
325
231,284
167
182,806
$5,000,000 under $10,000,000.............................................................................................................
122
152,351
78
198,902
377
147
420,944
350,633
225
95
110,273
92,840
$10,000,000 under $20,000,000.............................................................................................................
40
85,883
27
138,892
44
213,119
30
64,786
$20,000,000 or more.............................................................................................................
25
134,154
20
453,989
27
450,253
18
99,866
Federal savings bonds
Other Federal bonds
Corporate and foreign bonds
Bond funds
Size of net worth
Number
Amount
Number
Amount
Number
(17)
(18)
(21)
(22)
(23)
1,152
96,055
538
39,532
12
3,149
2
69
4
1,191
-47
-2,112
$600,000 under $1,000,000.............................................................................................................
363
10,093
544
52,696
462
23,382
224
11,705
$1,000,000 under $2,500,000.............................................................................................................
275
11,103
523
78,804
$2,500,000 under $5,000,000.............................................................................................................
49
2,186
126
37,153
461
100
35,526
12,031
208
38
16,218
4,342
$5,000,000 under $10,000,000.............................................................................................................
15
502
47
27,941
36
6,636
15
3,712
$10,000,000 under $20,000,000.............................................................................................................
4
139
15
12,102
$20,000,000 or more.............................................................................................................
2
86
8
27,451
13
9
6,515
10,772
3
2
609
835
Total.............................................................................................................
849
24,946
Amount
Number
(19)
(20)
1,338
239,307
Amount
(24)
Size of net worth:
Negative net worth.............................................................................................................
2
4
1
$1 under $600,000.............................................................................................................
139
832
75
103
Personal Wealth, 1998
Table 1.--Personal Wealth, 1998: Type of Property by Size of Net Worth--Continued
[All figures are estimates based on samples--numbers are in thousands, money amounts are in millions of dollars]
Unclassifiable mutual funds
Cash and money market
accounts
Number
Amount
Number
Amount
Number
Amount
Number
Amount
(25)
(26)
(27)
(28)
(29)
(30)
(31)
(32)
1,396
291,600
4,573
221,118
Size of net worth
Total.............................................................................................................
1,659
111,718
6,365
1,014,273
Mortgages and notes
Cash value life insurance
Size of net worth:
Negative net worth.............................................................................................................
2
26
29
1,084
5
1,188
35
3,342
$1 under $600,000.............................................................................................................
249
7,707
1,200
51,733
163
10,571
1,187
65,416
$600,000 under $1,000,000.............................................................................................................
657
36,754
2,438
274,069
$1,000,000 under $2,500,000.............................................................................................................
571
38,373
2,020
347,609
464
497
58,968
88,437
1,620
1,315
51,804
63,233
$2,500,000 under $5,000,000.............................................................................................................
121
12,101
435
123,887
156
47,906
274
21,965
$5,000,000 under $10,000,000.............................................................................................................
41
6,122
164
87,397
$10,000,000 under $20,000,000.............................................................................................................
11
3,251
50
42,049
70
23
29,547
19,201
97
27
9,309
3,094
$20,000,000 or more.............................................................................................................
7
7,384
29
18
35,783
19
2,954
Noncorporate business assets
86,446
Limited partnerships
Retirement assets
Other assets
Size of net worth
Number
Amount
Number
Amount
Number
Amount
Number
(33)
(34)
(35)
(36)
(37)
(38)
(39)
(40)
Total.............................................................................................................
1,148
264,256
805
232,879
Size of net worth:
Negative net worth.............................................................................................................
11
2,699
1
958
$1 under $600,000.............................................................................................................
209
22,014
50
2,864
$600,000 under $1,000,000.............................................................................................................
351
43,097
230
10,726
$1,000,000 under $2,500,000.............................................................................................................
386
76,596
331
30,973
$2,500,000 under $5,000,000.............................................................................................................
110
38,424
105
29,066
$5,000,000 under $10,000,000.............................................................................................................
50
31,129
49
23,932
$10,000,000 under $20,000,000.............................................................................................................
18
25,786
23
46,758
$20,000,000 or more.............................................................................................................
14
24,511
16
87,602
104
104
Amount
3,857
1,017,641
5,782
310,035
9
836
1,410
1,194
262
96
32
19
1,436
95,343
259,392
381,213
137,971
77,434
33,523
31,329
34
1,119
2,155
1,840
404
152
49
27
1,403
30,267
62,733
85,369
37,926
32,234
15,363
44,738
Personal Wealth, 1998
Table 2.-- Personal Wealth, 1998: Male Top Wealthholders, Type of Property, by Size of Net Worth
[All figures are estimates based on samples--numbers are in thousands, money amounts are in millions of dollars]
Total assets
Size of net worth
Debts and mortgages
Number
Amount
Number
(1)
(2)
(3)
Total.............................................................................................................
3,997
6,955,881
3,115
Net worth
Amount
Number
(4)
(5)
Personal residence
Amount
Number
(6)
(7)
Amount
(8)
720,436
3,997
6,235,446
2,894
607,398
84,915
154,914
36
971
-51,073
361,552
20
741
4,389
117,785
$600,000 under $1,000,000.............................................................................................................
1,329
1,143,758
964
113,178
1,329
1,030,580
939
150,338
$1,000,000 under $2,500,000.............................................................................................................
1,236
1,993,000
911
154,675
$2,500,000 under $5,000,000.............................................................................................................
271
985,704
216
64,319
1,236
271
1,838,325
921,385
881
199
192,275
68,364
$5,000,000 under $10,000,000.............................................................................................................
101
738,746
86
51,218
101
687,528
76
35,393
$10,000,000 under $20,000,000.............................................................................................................
33
479,531
27
30,871
$20,000,000 or more.............................................................................................................
20
1,064,835
18
66,346
33
20
448,659
998,488
24
15
18,277
20,578
Size of net worth:
Negative net worth.............................................................................................................
36
33,841
36
$1 under $600,000.............................................................................................................
971
516,466
856
Investment real estate
Closely held stock
Other stocks
State and local bonds
Size of net worth
Number
Amount
Number
(9)
(10)
(11)
Total.............................................................................................................
2,389
995,780
966
Amount
Number
(12)
(13)
996,910
2,898
Amount
Number
(14)
(15)
1,508,805
Amount
(16)
1,040
312,995
Size of net worth:
Negative net worth.............................................................................................................
22
14,355
7
3,070
13
1,120
--
--
$1 under $600,000.............................................................................................................
448
91,300
167
25,139
569
49,659
63
1,936
$600,000 under $1,000,000.............................................................................................................
780
186,228
232
60,326
984
217,607
332
33,373
$1,000,000 under $2,500,000.............................................................................................................
814
297,686
348
181,930
$2,500,000 under $5,000,000.............................................................................................................
203
146,622
122
140,297
969
227
430,310
229,542
438
123
77,858
49,784
$5,000,000 under $10,000,000.............................................................................................................
76
102,395
55
139,972
89
180,771
53
43,925
$10,000,000 under $20,000,000.............................................................................................................
28
62,574
20
105,935
$20,000,000 or more.............................................................................................................
18
94,619
15
340,240
29
19
122,404
277,394
19
12
42,831
63,288
Size of net worth
Federal savings bonds
Other Federal bonds
Number
Amount
Number
(17)
(18)
(19)
Total.............................................................................................................
494
12,396
667
Corporate and foreign bonds
Amount
Number
(20)
(21)
127,689
618
Bond funds
Amount
Number
(22)
(23)
55,836
Amount
(24)
293
24,476
Size of net worth:
Negative net worth.............................................................................................................
2
4
--
--
2
4
--
--
$1 under $600,000.............................................................................................................
100
499
53
2,493
46
807
28
1,311
$600,000 under $1,000,000.............................................................................................................
191
4,894
228
16,601
$1,000,000 under $2,500,000.............................................................................................................
159
5,219
277
41,696
211
259
10,252
19,506
111
117
6,261
9,388
$2,500,000 under $5,000,000.............................................................................................................
27
1,270
70
21,708
63
7,895
24
3,355
$5,000,000 under $10,000,000.............................................................................................................
10
344
25
18,808
23
3,963
9
3,094
$10,000,000 under $20,000,000.............................................................................................................
3
105
10
7,404
$20,000,000 or more.............................................................................................................
1
59
4
18,980
9
6
5,050
8,360
2
1
445
622
105
Personal Wealth, 1998
Table 2.-- Personal Wealth, 1998: Male Top Wealthholders, Type of Property, by Size of Net Worth
--Continued
[All figures are estimates based on samples--numbers are in thousands, money amounts are in millions of dollars]
Size of net worth
Unclassifiable mutual funds
Cash and money market
accounts
Number
Amount
Number
Amount
Number
Amount
Number
(25)
(26)
(27)
(28)
(29)
(30)
(31)
3,881
595,195
188,439
3,242
Total.............................................................................................................
991
68,440
Mortgages and notes
883
Cash value life insurance
Amount
(32)
188,042
Size of net worth:
Negative net worth.............................................................................................................
1
1
26
1,069
5
1,188
33
3,180
$1 under $600,000.............................................................................................................
182
4,874
926
37,837
$600,000 under $1,000,000.............................................................................................................
347
18,571
1,301
131,364
123
259
7,274
30,478
931
1,030
54,200
41,695
$1,000,000 under $2,500,000.............................................................................................................
342
23,592
1,209
199,775
319
57,416
934
54,844
$2,500,000 under $5,000,000.............................................................................................................
80
8,886
267
78,411
$5,000,000 under $10,000,000.............................................................................................................
26
4,167
100
52,975
101
46
26,633
22,445
205
73
20,093
8,620
$10,000,000 under $20,000,000.............................................................................................................
8
1,417
32
28,037
16
14,473
21
2,710
$20,000,000 or more.............................................................................................................
5
6,931
20
13
28,533
15
2,701
Noncorporate business assets
65,727
Limited partnerships
Retirement assets
Other assets
Size of net worth
Number
Amount
Number
(33)
(34)
(35)
Total.............................................................................................................
842
191,560
481
Amount
Number
Amount
Number
Amount
(36)
(37)
(38)
(39)
149,237
2,508
737,654
3,562
195,032
(40)
583
2,201
8
639
857
75,913
31
870
1,322
23,545
Size of net worth:
Negative net worth.............................................................................................................
11
2,699
1
$1 under $600,000.............................................................................................................
184
19,692
34
106
106
$600,000 under $1,000,000.............................................................................................................
243
32,593
122
4,999
803
162,356
1,167
35,822
$1,000,000 under $2,500,000.............................................................................................................
271
56,114
197
18,222
$2,500,000 under $5,000,000.............................................................................................................
76
28,578
69
21,014
773
182
272,199
111,220
1,107
245
54,973
22,034
$5,000,000 under $10,000,000.............................................................................................................
34
21,343
33
14,625
68
64,866
92
21,040
$10,000,000 under $20,000,000.............................................................................................................
13
9,807
15
21,586
$20,000,000 or more.............................................................................................................
11
20,733
12
66,006
22
14
28,499
21,743
31
19
7,977
28,320
Personal Wealth, 1998
Table 3.--Personal Wealth, 1998: Female Top Wealthholders, Type of Property, by Size of Net Worth
[All figures are estimates based on samples--numbers are in thousands, money amounts are in millions of dollars]
Total assets
Size of net worth
Debts and mortgages
Net worth
Personal residence
Number
Amount
Number
Amount
Number
Amount
Number
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
(5)
(6)
(7)
Total.............................................................................................................
2,533
4,186,907
1,905
Amount
(8)
236,775
2,533
3,950,132
1,876
472,645
5,172
40,469
3
282
-2,661
114,452
3
224
543
40,706
$600,000 under $1,000,000.............................................................................................................
1,165
966,814
820
58,995
1,165
907,818
825
168,965
$1,000,000 under $2,500,000.............................................................................................................
822
1,296,005
618
67,649
$2,500,000 under $5,000,000.............................................................................................................
169
584,050
141
25,443
822
169
1,228,355
558,606
627
126
159,677
51,126
Size of net worth:
Negative net worth.............................................................................................................
3
2,512
3
$1 under $600,000.............................................................................................................
282
154,921
249
$5,000,000 under $10,000,000.............................................................................................................
65
457,354
52
19,252
65
438,102
50
30,086
$10,000,000 under $20,000,000.............................................................................................................
18
263,425
15
8,859
$20,000,000 or more.............................................................................................................
9
461,826
7
10,934
18
9
254,566
450,892
14
8
13,609
7,932
Investment real estate
Closely held stock
Other stocks
State and local bonds
Size of net worth
Number
Amount
Number
(9)
(10)
(11)
Total.............................................................................................................
1,453
535,986
321
Amount
Number
(12)
(13)
328,170
1,955
Amount
Number
(14)
(15)
(16)
1,033
320,113
1,200,629
Amount
Size of net worth:
Negative net worth.............................................................................................................
2
703
1
17
1
1
--
--
$1 under $600,000.............................................................................................................
130
25,307
33
6,353
179
18,763
39
1,241
$600,000 under $1,000,000.............................................................................................................
616
125,490
85
18,686
863
201,530
427
52,614
$1,000,000 under $2,500,000.............................................................................................................
518
187,026
124
54,970
$2,500,000 under $5,000,000.............................................................................................................
121
84,662
45
42,509
681
149
355,498
191,402
406
102
98,322
60,488
$5,000,000 under $10,000,000.............................................................................................................
46
49,956
23
58,930
58
169,862
42
48,915
$10,000,000 under $20,000,000.............................................................................................................
13
23,308
7
32,957
$20,000,000 or more.............................................................................................................
7
39,535
5
113,749
15
8
90,715
172,859
11
6
21,955
36,578
Size of net worth
Federal savings bonds
Other Federal bonds
Corporate and foreign bonds
Bond funds
Number
Amount
Number
Amount
Number
Amount
Number
(17)
(18)
(19)
(20)
(21)
(22)
(23)
Total.............................................................................................................
356
12,550
671
111,617
533
40,220
Amount
(24)
245
15,057
Size of net worth:
Negative net worth.............................................................................................................
--1
12
--
--
--
--
$1 under $600,000.............................................................................................................
39
333
22
656
24
383
19
801
$600,000 under $1,000,000.............................................................................................................
172
5,199
316
36,095
$1,000,000 under $2,500,000.............................................................................................................
115
5,884
246
37,108
251
202
13,130
16,021
113
91
5,443
6,831
$2,500,000 under $5,000,000.............................................................................................................
22
916
56
15,445
37
4,137
14
987
$5,000,000 under $10,000,000.............................................................................................................
5
158
22
9,133
13
2,673
6
618
$10,000,000 under $20,000,000.............................................................................................................
1
34
6
4,698
$20,000,000 or more.............................................................................................................
1
27
3
8,471
5
2
1,465
2,411
1
1
165
213
107
Personal Wealth, 1998
Table 3.--Personal Wealth, 1998: Female Top Wealthholders, Type of Property, by Size of Net Worth
--Continued
[All figures are estimates based on samples--numbers are in thousands, money amounts are in millions of dollars]
Size of net worth
Unclassifiable mutual funds
Cash and money market
accounts
Mortgages and notes
Cash value life insurance
Number
Amount
Number
Amount
Number
Amount
Number
(25)
(26)
(27)
(28)
(29)
(30)
(31)
(32)
2,485
419,078
103,161
1,331
33,076
Total.............................................................................................................
668
43,278
513
Amount
Size of net worth:
Negative net worth.............................................................................................................
1
24
2
15
1
1
2
163
$1 under $600,000.............................................................................................................
66
2,833
273
13,896
$600,000 under $1,000,000.............................................................................................................
311
18,183
1,138
142,705
40
204
3,297
28,490
256
590
11,216
10,109
$1,000,000 under $2,500,000.............................................................................................................
229
14,781
811
147,834
178
31,021
381
8,389
$2,500,000 under $5,000,000.............................................................................................................
41
3,216
168
45,475
$5,000,000 under $10,000,000.............................................................................................................
14
1,955
64
34,422
55
24
21,273
7,102
68
24
1,873
689
$10,000,000 under $20,000,000.............................................................................................................
4
1,834
18
14,012
6
4,728
6
384
$20,000,000 or more.............................................................................................................
2
452
9
5
7,251
4
253
Noncorporate business assets
20,719
Limited partnerships
Retirement assets
Other assets
Size of net worth
Number
Amount
Number
Amount
Number
(33)
(34)
(35)
(36)
83,642
375
662
Total.............................................................................................................
306
72,696
324
Amount
Number
Amount
(37)
(38)
(39)
(40)
1,349
279,987
2,220
115,003
2
197
579
19,430
3
249
82
6,723
Size of net worth:
Negative net worth.............................................................................................................
---$1 under $600,000.............................................................................................................
25
2,322
16
108
108
$600,000 under $1,000,000.............................................................................................................
109
10,503
108
5,727
607
97,036
989
26,911
$1,000,000 under $2,500,000.............................................................................................................
115
20,482
134
12,751
$2,500,000 under $5,000,000.............................................................................................................
34
9,846
36
8,052
421
80
109,014
26,751
733
159
30,397
15,893
$5,000,000 under $10,000,000.............................................................................................................
16
9,786
16
9,308
28
12,568
60
11,194
$10,000,000 under $20,000,000.............................................................................................................
5
15,980
8
25,172
$20,000,000 or more.............................................................................................................
3
3,777
5
21,596
9
5
5,023
9,586
18
9
7,386
16,418
Personal Wealth, 1998
Table 4.--Male Top Wealthholders, 1998: Type of Property, by Age
[All figures are estimates based on samples--numbers are in thousands, money amounts are in millions of dollars]
Total assets
Debts and mortgages
Net worth
Personal residence
Age
Number
Amount
Number
Amount
Number
Amount
Number
Amount
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
(5)
(6)
(7)
(8)
720,436
3,997
6,235,446
2,894
607,398
Total..................................................................................................................
3,997
6,955,881
3,115
Age
Under 50..................................................................................................................
1,582
2,223,439
1,357
344,444
1,582
1,878,995
1,100
230,423
50 under 65..................................................................................................................
1,408
2,667,849
1,122
292,202
1,408
2,375,647
1,094
233,613
65 under 75..................................................................................................................
638
1,284,573
415
65,370
638
1,219,203
467
97,484
75 under 85..................................................................................................................
262
508,571
154
13,693
262
494,878
176
34,513
85 and older..................................................................................................................
107
271,449
68
4,727
107
266,723
57
11,365
Investment real estate
Closely held stock
Other stocks
State and local bonds
Age
Number
Amount
Number
(9)
(10)
(11)
Total..................................................................................................................
2,389
995,780
Amount
Number
Amount
Number
(14)
Amount
(12)
(13)
(15)
(16)
966
996,910
2,898
1,508,805
1,040
312,995
Age
Under 50..................................................................................................................
778
290,928
414
389,605
1,064
435,275
255
76,328
50 under 65..................................................................................................................
953
426,395
379
393,157
1,035
516,884
315
72,925
65 under 75..................................................................................................................
440
189,586
132
140,133
497
308,455
260
73,197
75 under 85..................................................................................................................
166
64,214
32
35,230
215
155,197
145
57,251
85 and older..................................................................................................................
52
24,658
8
38,785
87
92,995
65
33,294
Federal savings bonds
Other Federal bonds
Corporate and foreign bonds
Bond funds
Age
Number
Amount
Number
Amount
Number
Amount
Number
Amount
(17)
(18)
(19)
(20)
(21)
(22)
(23)
(24)
Total..................................................................................................................
494
12,396
667
127,689
618
55,836
293
24,476
Under 50..................................................................................................................
149
1,538
168
37,774
144
10,404
82
8,456
50 under 65..................................................................................................................
185
3,088
213
32,184
216
20,030
113
8,030
65 under 75..................................................................................................................
99
4,431
164
31,059
159
14,239
57
4,749
75 under 85..................................................................................................................
43
2,126
85
15,582
72
6,487
31
2,266
85 and older..................................................................................................................
17
1,213
37
11,091
28
4,676
10
975
Age
109
Personal Wealth, 1998
Table 4.--Male Top Wealthholders, 1998: Type of Property, by Age--Continued
[All figures are estimates based on samples--numbers are in thousands, money amounts are in millions of dollars]
Unclassifiable mutual funds
Cash and money market
accounts
Number
Amount
Number
(25)
(26)
(27)
Age
Total..................................................................................................................
991
68,440
3,881
Mortgages and notes
Amount
Number
(28)
(29)
Cash value life insurance
Amount
Number
Amount
(30)
(31)
(32)
595,195
883
188,439
3,242
188,042
69,436
Age
Under 50..................................................................................................................
326
21,868
1,513
188,396
295
66,311
1,302
50 under 65..................................................................................................................
385
26,524
1,375
203,772
325
68,140
1,203
87,973
65 under 75..................................................................................................................
190
13,812
628
120,115
181
38,544
484
22,536
75 under 85..................................................................................................................
68
4,739
258
56,178
62
11,395
191
6,430
85 and older..................................................................................................................
22
1,497
106
26,733
19
4,049
63
1,667
Noncorporate business assets
Limited partnerships
Retirement assets
Other assets
Age
Number
Amount
Number
Amount
Number
Amount
Number
(33)
(34)
(35)
(36)
(37)
(38)
(39)
(40)
481
149,237
2,508
737,654
3,562
195,032
Total..................................................................................................................
842
191,560
Amount
Age
110
110
Under 50..................................................................................................................
334
76,364
126
51,909
978
201,975
1,375
66,450
50 under 65..................................................................................................................
329
80,254
195
60,410
980
356,532
1,296
77,938
65 under 75..................................................................................................................
125
25,728
103
21,884
399
146,978
574
31,645
75 under 85..................................................................................................................
43
7,046
45
11,699
125
28,089
230
10,129
85 and older..................................................................................................................
12
2,168
11
3,334
26
4,079
87
8,871
Personal Wealth, 1998
Table 5.--Female Top Wealthholders, 1998: Type of Property, by Age
[All figures are estimates based on samples--numbers are in thousands, money amounts are in millions of dollars]
Total assets
Age
Debts and mortgages
Net worth
Personal residence
Number
Amount
Number
Amount
Number
Amount
Number
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
(5)
(6)
(7)
(8)
236,775
2,533
3,950,132
1,876
472,645
Total..................................................................................................................
2,533
4,186,907
1,905
Amount
Age
Under 50..................................................................................................................
736
1,208,760
603
114,348
736
1,094,411
555
150,397
50 under 65..................................................................................................................
724
1,187,252
547
77,770
724
1,109,482
593
157,752
65 under 75..................................................................................................................
505
802,520
341
26,970
505
775,550
384
88,748
75 under 85..................................................................................................................
404
675,508
290
13,253
404
662,255
271
58,874
85 and older..................................................................................................................
164
312,866
124
4,434
164
308,433
73
16,874
Age
Investment real estate
Closely held stock
Other stocks
State and local bonds
Number
Amount
Number
Amount
Number
Amount
Number
(9)
(10)
(11)
(12)
(13)
(14)
(15)
(16)
321
328,170
1,955
1,200,629
1,033
320,113
Total..................................................................................................................
1,453
535,986
Amount
Age
Under 50..................................................................................................................
367
124,695
127
151,352
503
312,688
184
55,523
50 under 65..................................................................................................................
480
204,353
118
103,551
587
284,985
266
61,123
65 under 75..................................................................................................................
318
108,254
49
44,566
406
229,532
261
79,500
75 under 85..................................................................................................................
218
74,070
20
21,114
326
233,285
230
86,066
85 and older..................................................................................................................
71
24,613
6
7,588
134
140,139
92
37,901
Federal savings bonds
Other Federal bonds
Corporate and foreign bonds
Bond funds
Age
Number
Amount
Number
Amount
Number
Amount
Number
Amount
(17)
(18)
(19)
(20)
(21)
(22)
(23)
(24)
Total..................................................................................................................
356
12,550
671
111,617
533
40,220
245
15,057
Age
Under 50..................................................................................................................
74
563
135
33,020
96
8,247
46
3,791
50 under 65..................................................................................................................
105
2,792
177
20,720
154
12,080
83
3,818
65 under 75..................................................................................................................
82
3,978
146
21,325
132
9,283
55
3,579
75 under 85..................................................................................................................
67
3,391
150
23,176
111
7,071
38
1,947
85 and older..................................................................................................................
27
1,826
63
13,376
41
3,539
22
1,921
111
Personal Wealth, 1998
Table 5.--Female Top Wealthholders, 1998: Type of Property, by Age--Continued
[All figures are estimates based on samples--numbers are in thousands, money amounts are in millions of dollars]
Age
Unclassifiable mutual funds
Cash and money market
accounts
Number
Amount
Number
(25)
(26)
(27)
Total..................................................................................................................
668
43,278
2,485
Mortgages and notes
Amount
Number
(28)
(29)
Cash value life insurance
Amount
Number
Amount
(30)
(31)
(32)
419,078
513
103,161
1,331
33,076
Age
Under 50..................................................................................................................
180
11,609
715
103,000
149
45,395
460
13,027
50 under 65..................................................................................................................
219
13,974
706
104,445
135
21,674
442
12,690
65 under 75..................................................................................................................
144
9,144
500
87,012
121
18,089
219
3,958
75 under 85..................................................................................................................
93
6,226
401
85,715
85
14,271
162
2,784
85 and older..................................................................................................................
33
2,324
163
38,905
23
3,732
47
617
Noncorporate business assets
Limited partnerships
Retirement assets
Other assets
Age
Number
Amount
Number
Amount
Number
Amount
Number
(33)
(34)
(35)
(36)
(37)
(38)
(39)
(40)
324
83,642
1,349
279,987
2,220
115,003
Total..................................................................................................................
306
72,696
Amount
Age
112
112
Under 50..................................................................................................................
105
33,668
70
31,698
445
95,963
615
34,123
50 under 65..................................................................................................................
102
23,602
111
23,978
469
101,498
669
34,217
65 under 75..................................................................................................................
52
7,280
81
13,795
264
54,452
455
20,024
75 under 85..................................................................................................................
34
6,038
49
10,756
145
24,040
359
16,684
85 and older..................................................................................................................
13
2,107
13
3,415
26
4,034
122
9,954
Personal Wealth, 1998
Table 6.--Top Wealthholders with Net Worth Under $20,000,000 and Gross Assets of $625,000 or More,
1998: Total and Selected Assets, Debts and Mortgages, and Net Worth, by State of Residence
[All figures are estimates based on estate tax return samples--numbers are in thousands, money amounts are in millions]
Total assets
State of residence
Debts and mortgages
Net worth
Number
Amount
Number
Amount
Number
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
(5)
Total..........................................................................................................................
6,501
9,616,127
4,995
State of residence:
Alabama......................................................................................................................
64
95,848
53
Alaska......................................................................................................................
12
16,897
9
Arizona......................................................................................................................
105
141,991
87
Arkansas......................................................................................................................
35
48,543
27
California......................................................................................................................
895
1,423,650
738
Colorado......................................................................................................................
120
187,246
90
Connecticut......................................................................................................................
121
197,524
99
Delaware......................................................................................................................
19
25,208
14
District of Columbia......................................................................................................................
45
55,158
42
Florida......................................................................................................................
461
746,651
332
Georgia......................................................................................................................
163
240,109
136
Hawaii......................................................................................................................
25
30,986
21
Idaho......................................................................................................................
27
37,907
22
Illinois......................................................................................................................
310
498,267
253
Indiana......................................................................................................................
91
122,264
62
Iowa......................................................................................................................
79
82,349
61
Kansas......................................................................................................................
60
79,855
43
Kentucky......................................................................................................................
56
91,964
41
Louisiana......................................................................................................................
68
98,895
58
Maine......................................................................................................................
15
23,549
10
Maryland......................................................................................................................
132
176,119
107
Massachusetts......................................................................................................................
205
281,523
167
Michigan......................................................................................................................
203
271,213
142
Minnesota......................................................................................................................
114
146,828
81
Mississippi......................................................................................................................
34
49,803
29
Missouri......................................................................................................................
111
161,460
78
Montana......................................................................................................................
23
34,958
17
Nebraska......................................................................................................................
56
66,175
38
Nevada......................................................................................................................
38
76,998
30
New Hampshire......................................................................................................................
31
44,234
24
New Jersey......................................................................................................................
264
386,032
183
New Mexico......................................................................................................................
21
38,833
19
New York......................................................................................................................
565
869,428
435
North Carolina......................................................................................................................
175
238,177
133
North Dakota......................................................................................................................
21
21,371
12
Ohio......................................................................................................................
233
313,112
150
Oklahoma......................................................................................................................
49
75,883
34
Oregon......................................................................................................................
72
106,012
53
Pennsylvania......................................................................................................................
261
393,377
199
Rhode Island......................................................................................................................
28
42,301
24
South Carolina......................................................................................................................
92
122,632
72
South Dakota......................................................................................................................
13
19,351
8
Tennessee......................................................................................................................
109
146,733
79
Texas......................................................................................................................
370
544,314
297
Utah......................................................................................................................
37
49,997
27
Vermont......................................................................................................................
11
17,437
9
Virginia......................................................................................................................
165
234,400
134
Washington......................................................................................................................
131
202,297
103
West Virginia......................................................................................................................
30
39,129
17
Wisconsin......................................................................................................................
110
154,240
81
Wyoming......................................................................................................................
7
13,100
5
Other areas......................................................................................................................
21
33,800
13
Amount
(6)
879,931
6,501
8,736,196
8,622
2,148
10,366
5,709
164,954
20,706
12,721
2,164
7,831
83,340
29,724
4,133
2,429
44,690
8,465
7,985
8,906
6,496
9,419
1,411
15,041
27,115
19,075
11,283
3,460
12,061
4,169
6,220
6,181
3,657
23,001
4,006
74,213
23,511
4,108
20,403
7,652
10,645
25,584
2,879
10,751
998
13,020
45,923
4,633
1,139
20,644
18,850
2,058
11,682
854
2,899
64
12
105
35
895
120
121
19
45
461
163
25
27
310
91
79
60
56
68
15
132
205
203
114
34
111
23
56
38
31
264
21
565
175
21
233
49
72
261
28
92
13
109
370
37
11
165
131
30
110
7
21
87,226
14,749
131,625
42,835
1,258,696
166,540
184,804
23,043
47,327
663,312
210,385
26,853
35,477
453,577
113,799
74,364
70,950
85,468
89,476
22,138
161,078
254,409
252,138
135,546
46,343
149,399
30,789
59,955
70,817
40,578
363,031
34,827
795,215
214,666
17,263
292,709
68,231
95,368
367,793
39,422
111,882
18,353
133,712
498,391
45,364
16,299
213,756
183,447
37,070
142,558
12,246
30,901
113
Personal Wealth, 1998
Table 6.--Top Wealthholders with Net Worth Under $20,000,000 and Gross Assets of $625,000 or More,
1998: Total and Selected Assets, Debts and Mortgages, and Net Worth, by State of Residence
--Continued
[All figures are estimates based on estate tax return samples--numbers are in thousands, money amounts are in millions]
Real estate
State of residence
114
114
Corporate stock
Cash
Total bonds
Number
Amount
Number
Amount
Number
Amount
Number
(7)
(8)
(9)
(10)
(11)
(12)
(13)
(14)
3,422
893,940
6,336
927,827
30
3
57
16
470
50
64
13
35
266
63
16
11
176
51
37
27
25
37
10
71
100
113
67
18
60
13
27
22
19
158
9
278
74
8
113
24
39
164
19
41
5
51
203
15
4
89
75
14
64
4
7
8,469
696
15,812
3,261
113,802
13,892
19,687
1,909
12,726
94,302
13,585
1,578
1,983
47,096
11,116
5,376
6,398
5,859
10,326
2,041
16,787
27,140
21,040
13,708
3,699
15,639
2,173
4,308
9,758
4,276
41,439
1,982
101,540
15,330
1,888
26,075
8,258
9,388
39,807
3,553
8,932
1,287
9,784
61,363
2,714
1,345
17,007
14,970
2,761
11,387
1,467
3,219
63
12
103
35
872
116
120
19
45
441
159
24
26
305
88
78
60
55
65
14
130
200
199
109
33
109
23
56
38
30
259
21
540
172
20
227
47
70
252
28
88
11
105
368
35
11
161
130
30
108
7
21
8,052
1,315
12,426
4,535
131,679
12,285
19,683
2,441
10,435
65,772
20,584
3,248
2,905
47,456
11,556
9,461
6,915
7,993
12,242
2,077
16,773
25,765
30,000
12,284
4,545
14,098
2,713
5,824
10,050
3,007
45,047
2,499
91,770
18,881
2,713
32,501
11,531
6,974
37,059
3,450
7,825
1,716
16,973
61,126
3,507
1,530
23,562
18,672
3,440
13,238
1,099
4,598
Total..........................................................................................................................
5,834
2,449,146
5,218
3,130,272
State of residence:
Alabama......................................................................................................................
58
23,920
55
34,638
Alaska......................................................................................................................
10
3,960
9
5,361
Arizona......................................................................................................................
93
33,637
86
46,978
Arkansas......................................................................................................................
33
10,361
30
18,145
California......................................................................................................................
823
539,582
694
365,527
Colorado......................................................................................................................
108
55,855
96
56,834
Connecticut......................................................................................................................
105
44,983
92
68,295
Delaware......................................................................................................................
18
5,237
17
10,605
District of Columbia......................................................................................................................
43
13,697
21
11,299
Florida......................................................................................................................
415
154,591
385
276,053
Georgia......................................................................................................................
144
67,675
127
85,109
Hawaii......................................................................................................................
23
10,588
19
9,881
Idaho......................................................................................................................
26
13,277
23
11,469
Illinois......................................................................................................................
269
114,711
259
160,923
Indiana......................................................................................................................
83
29,550
69
43,095
Iowa......................................................................................................................
72
24,197
56
21,805
Kansas......................................................................................................................
55
17,475
50
27,293
Kentucky......................................................................................................................
53
20,785
45
39,107
Louisiana......................................................................................................................
59
24,866
57
26,771
Maine......................................................................................................................
12
4,261
13
9,535
Maryland......................................................................................................................
124
43,993
112
58,764
Massachusetts......................................................................................................................
182
83,115
154
85,687
Michigan......................................................................................................................
179
59,907
168
99,031
Minnesota......................................................................................................................
106
29,512
95
49,163
Mississippi......................................................................................................................
32
11,596
27
18,041
Missouri......................................................................................................................
97
34,739
94
60,874
Montana......................................................................................................................
20
11,990
17
7,825
Nebraska......................................................................................................................
47
15,665
44
25,834
Nevada......................................................................................................................
34
18,055
33
24,021
New Hampshire......................................................................................................................
26
9,994
25
18,245
New Jersey......................................................................................................................
235
76,944
226
138,510
New Mexico......................................................................................................................
21
9,295
18
17,794
New York......................................................................................................................
470
205,256
409
257,082
North Carolina......................................................................................................................
166
70,216
149
80,218
North Dakota......................................................................................................................
19
5,565
16
2,658
Ohio......................................................................................................................
205
62,586
194
115,195
Oklahoma......................................................................................................................
42
11,876
41
26,905
Oregon......................................................................................................................
64
27,301
57
34,568
Pennsylvania......................................................................................................................
224
66,713
210
132,039
Rhode Island......................................................................................................................
25
10,115
24
18,657
South Carolina......................................................................................................................
85
34,694
75
48,049
South Dakota......................................................................................................................
13
4,361
10
5,865
Tennessee......................................................................................................................
106
38,083
87
47,054
Texas......................................................................................................................
344
111,329
304
161,607
Utah......................................................................................................................
34
13,139
27
17,951
Vermont......................................................................................................................
10
4,078
10
8,897
Virginia......................................................................................................................
154
53,894
138
87,796
Washington......................................................................................................................
123
59,202
115
63,061
West Virginia......................................................................................................................
25
6,201
23
16,900
Wisconsin......................................................................................................................
98
34,910
92
58,753
Wyoming......................................................................................................................
6
2,625
6
3,763
Other areas......................................................................................................................
17
8,990
15
10,740
Amount
Personal Wealth, 1998
Table 7.--Top Wealthholders with Net Worth of $1 Million or More, 1998: Total Assets, Debts
and Mortgages, and Net Worth, by State of Residence
[All figures are estimates based on estate tax renumbers are in thousands--money amounts are in millions]
Total assets
State of residence
Debts and mortgages
Number
Amount
Number
(1)
(2)
(3)
Total................................................................................................................
2,743
8,324,476
2,092
State of residence:
Alabama................................................................................................................
30
81,295
26
Alaska................................................................................................................
6
12,683
4
Arizona................................................................................................................
42
123,801
32
Arkansas................................................................................................................
14
41,292
10
California................................................................................................................
412
1,238,816
341
Colorado................................................................................................................
56
150,016
42
Connecticut................................................................................................................
65
193,805
58
Delaware................................................................................................................
7
16,824
5
District of Columbia................................................................................................................
8
23,874
7
Florida................................................................................................................
206
649,441
151
Georgia................................................................................................................
64
194,151
50
Hawaii................................................................................................................
7
21,163
5
Idaho................................................................................................................
10
24,964
8
Illinois................................................................................................................
146
422,207
115
Indiana................................................................................................................
35
123,224
23
Iowa................................................................................................................
26
47,013
18
Kansas................................................................................................................
20
56,880
13
Kentucky................................................................................................................
24
76,780
18
Louisiana................................................................................................................
24
74,558
20
Maine................................................................................................................
8
19,519
6
Maryland................................................................................................................
53
137,365
41
Massachusetts................................................................................................................
81
219,383
69
Michigan................................................................................................................
74
206,350
53
Minnesota................................................................................................................
37
107,509
26
Mississippi................................................................................................................
16
60,739
14
Missouri................................................................................................................
50
127,135
34
Montana................................................................................................................
10
24,577
8
Nebraska................................................................................................................
17
41,387
10
Nevada................................................................................................................
21
93,829
16
New Hampshire................................................................................................................
16
37,061
11
New Jersey................................................................................................................
116
359,094
79
New Mexico................................................................................................................
11
85,483
9
New York................................................................................................................
243
906,742
188
North Carolina................................................................................................................
62
223,081
43
North Dakota................................................................................................................
5
10,940
3
Ohio................................................................................................................
85
236,997
58
Oklahoma................................................................................................................
21
57,483
13
Oregon................................................................................................................
27
74,671
21
Pennsylvania................................................................................................................
122
320,611
93
Rhode Island................................................................................................................
11
30,953
7
South Carolina................................................................................................................
33
100,376
24
South Dakota................................................................................................................
6
15,102
4
Tennessee................................................................................................................
42
124,081
31
Texas................................................................................................................
156
477,526
123
Utah................................................................................................................
16
45,522
11
Vermont................................................................................................................
4
13,098
4
Virginia................................................................................................................
67
188,564
56
Washington................................................................................................................
58
178,716
44
West Virginia................................................................................................................
11
29,096
5
Wisconsin................................................................................................................
48
143,773
34
Wyoming................................................................................................................
3
15,398
2
Other areas................................................................................................................
10
39,528
7
Net worth
Amount
Number
(4)
(5)
Amount
(6)
499,568
2,743
7,824,909
6,958
996
5,155
1,674
98,566
8,173
10,799
1,110
2,240
34,606
12,682
1,745
952
23,720
4,628
2,161
4,512
3,271
5,296
1,010
8,014
17,263
9,071
5,480
1,585
5,578
2,936
3,045
7,183
2,243
21,234
4,017
51,193
13,958
1,072
10,742
3,375
5,286
16,640
1,231
5,811
158
7,345
28,263
1,989
458
10,075
13,265
945
7,164
503
2,192
30
6
42
14
412
56
65
7
8
206
64
7
10
146
35
26
20
24
24
8
53
81
74
37
16
50
10
17
21
16
116
11
243
62
5
85
21
27
122
11
33
6
42
156
16
4
67
58
11
48
3
10
74,337
11,686
118,646
39,618
1,140,250
141,843
183,006
15,714
21,635
614,835
181,469
19,418
24,012
398,488
118,596
44,852
52,368
73,509
69,262
18,509
129,351
202,120
197,279
102,029
59,154
121,557
21,641
38,343
86,646
34,819
337,860
81,466
855,549
209,123
9,867
226,254
54,108
69,385
303,971
29,722
94,565
14,944
116,736
449,263
43,533
12,641
178,488
165,450
28,150
136,609
14,895
37,336
115
Personal Wealth, 1998
by Barry W. Johnson and Lisa M. Schreiber
T
here were more than 6.5 million individuals in
the United States with gross assets of
$625,000 or more in 1998. These “top wealth
holders” represented about 3.4 percent of the total
U.S. adult population. As a group, top wealth holders
owned more than $11.1 trillion in assets, or almost
32.6 percent of total U.S personal asset holdings.
Almost 4.0 million, or 61.2 percent, of these wealthy
individuals were male, and 2.5 million were female.
The number of millionaires in the United States grew
to more than 2.7 million in 1998.
Background
The distribution and composition of personal wealth in
the United States are topics of great interest among
researchers and policy planners. Unfortunately,
these issues are difficult to research, since there are
few sources of data on the wealth holdings of the
general population, especially the very rich. Federal
estate tax returns (Form 706) provide a unique
source from which to study the nation’s wealthiest
individuals. The estate tax return contains a complete listing of a decedent’s assets and debts, as well
as a demographic profile of the decedent and information on the costs of administering the estate. A
decedent’s estate has up to 9 months to file an estate
tax return, but use of a 6-month extension is common. It is, therefore, necessary to combine returns
filed over a number of calendar years in order to
capture data representative of all estate tax decedents dying in a single year.
The estate multiplier technique is used to estimate the wealth of living individuals from Federal
estate tax return data. The fundamental assumption
underlying this methodology is that estate tax returns
filed for decedents who died in a particular year
represent a random sample, designated by death, of
the living population in that year. Estimates of the
wealth holdings of the living population are derived by
applying a multiplier, based on appropriate mortality
rates, to this sample.
Barry W. Johnson and Lisa M. Schreiber are economists
in the Special Studies Special Projects Section. This
article was prepared under the direction of Michael
Alexander, former Chief, now retired.
Limitations
While the sample size and richness of available data
make this estimation technique attractive, there are
limitations to be noted. First, and most important,
estate tax returns provide a presumably random
sample, stratified by age, not of the total population,
but of living persons with gross estates at or above
the estate tax filing threshold. Research has proven
that “individuals who are economically or socially
better off also live longer, on average, and are
healthier” [1]. Factors such as access to better
health services, better diet and nutrition, fewer risks
on the job, and access to better housing seem to
contribute to this phenomenon. Therefore, determining a mortality rate appropriate to this sample poses a
challenge. It has also been shown that, while estimates of patterns of wealth holding, such as
differences in portfolio composition among various
age and sex groups, appear quite robust over a
variety of reasonable alternate assumptions about the
longevity of the very wealthy, overall aggregate
estimates are relatively sensitive to the selection of
the mortality rates [2]. (See the Appendix to this
article for a more complete discussion of the estate
multiplier technique.)
Second, while estate tax returns are generally
prepared by professionals and are, therefore, likely to
be more accurate in detail than survey responses, the
values reported are used to compute tax liability; so,
there is a natural tendency for the values to be somewhat conservative. This is especially true for hardto-value assets, such as businesses and certain types
of real estate. It should also be noted that the estate
tax data used for these estimates are pre-audit figures. A recent Statistics of Income (SOI) study,
based on the results of IRS audits of estate tax returns filed in 1992, estimated that detected under
valuation of assets was about 1.2 percent of total
asset holdings [3]. In addition, it is common to claim
substantial minority discounts when valuing ownership interests of less than 50 percent in small companies, partnerships, and other, non-liquid assets [4].
Third, while estate tax returns report assets that
are owned outright (what has been called prime
wealth), total wealth would ideally include wealth to
which a person has an income interest but not necessarily actual title. Examples of the latter include definedbenefit pension plans and Social Security benefits.
87
Personal Wealth, 1998
Finally, the wealth of some individuals near
death may differ somewhat from that of the general
population in the same age cohort. For some, wealth
will have been reduced through expenses related to a
final illness. For others, effective estate planning will
have reduced the value of the estate reportable for
tax purposes.
ValuationMeasures
88
The level of wealth to which these estimates apply is
$625,000 or more in gross estate, the Federal estate
tax filing threshold in effect for 1998 U.S. decedents.
Gross estate is a Federal estate tax concept of
wealth that does not conform to usual definitions of
wealth, primarily because it includes the face value of
life insurance in the wealth of the decedent. Therefore, three measures of wealth are used in this
article: gross assets (or gross estate), total assets,
and net worth.
Gross assets reflects the gross value of all
assets, including the full face value of life insurance,
reduced by the value of any policy loans, but excluding any reduction for other indebtedness. This measure defines the individuals included in the top
wealth-holder group. Total assets is a lower wealth
value, but is still essentially a gross measure. It
differs from gross assets in that the cash, or equity,
value of life insurance (i.e., the value of insurance
immediately before the policyholder’s death) replaces
the “at death” value of life insurance included in
gross assets [5]. Total assets is the valuation concept on which all the analyses in this article are
based. Net worth is total assets minus debts.
TopWealthHolders,1998
In 1998, there were an estimated 6.5 million adults in
the U.S., age 18 and older, with gross assets of
$625,000 or more. The combined total assets for this
group was more than $11.1 trillion. By factoring in
the $957.2 billion in debts held by top wealth holders,
the resulting combined net worth was almost $10.2
trillion. Although they accounted for only about 3.4
percent of the U.S. adult population, the net worth of
these top wealth holders made up more than 35.2
percent of total U.S. personal net worth in 1998 [6].
Men made up 61.2 percent of the top wealthholder population in 1998. The estimated 4.0 million
men held almost $7.0 trillion in total assets, making up
approximately 62.4 percent of the value of the top
wealth holders’ asset pool. Almost 1.7 million male
top wealth holders were reported to have had a net
worth of $1 million or more. A large majority, 69.5
percent, of male top wealth holders were married, a
significantly higher proportion than the 61.7 percent
of all adult men in the United States who were married in 1998 (see Figure A). Only 15.0 percent of
male top wealth holders were single, as compared to
the 26.9 percent of males who were single in the
overall U.S. population [7].
There were more than 2.5 million women top
wealth holders in 1998. The combined value of their
total assets was approximately $4.2 trillion. Almost
1.1 million of the female top wealth holders had a net
worth of $1 million or more. The distribution of
wealthy women, by marital status, was quite different
from that of their counterparts in the overall U.S.
population. Married women made up 47.0 percent of
Figure A
Top Wealth Holders, 1998: Marital Status, by Sex
Male
Marital status
Number of top
wealth holders (in
thousands)
(1)
Female
Percentage of top
Percentage of U.S.
wealth holders
population
population
(2)
(3)
Percentage of top
wealth holders
population
Percentage of U.S.
population
(4)
(5)
(6)
Total......................................................................................
3,997
100.0
100.0
2,533
100.0
100.0
Married......................................................................................
2,779
Widowed......................................................................................
264
69.5
6.6
61.7
2.7
1,190
722
47.0
28.5
57.9
10.8
Single......................................................................................
598
15.0
26.9
351
13.9
20.5
Other ¹......................................................................................
356
8.9
8.8
270
10.7
10.8
¹ Includes individuals who were separated or divorced and those for whom marital status was not determinable.
NOTE: Detail may not add to totals because of rounding.
88
Number of top
wealth holders (in
thousands)
Personal Wealth, 1998
all female top wealth holders, while 57.9 percent of
all adult women in the U.S. were married in 1998.
Likewise, while just 13.9 percent of wealthy women
were single, single women made up 20.5 percent of
the adult female population. Conversely, widowed
women made up 28.5 percent of the female top
wealth holders, which is significantly higher than the
percentage of women in the United States who were
widows in 1998, 10.8 percent.
PortfolioComposition
There were significant differences in portfolio
allocation between top wealth holders in 1998 and
similar individuals in 1995, the last year for which
SOI estimates are available. Overall, 1998 top
wealth holders invested more in publicly traded stock
and cash and money market accounts than similar
individuals in 1995, and they invested less in other
financial assets (including Federal, corporate, and
tax-exempt bonds, as well as mixed portfolio mutual
funds) and investment real estate [8]. Growth in the
number of online investment services and increased
Internet usage by the general population during the
period greatly expanded the accessibility and ease of
purchase of stock in publicly held companies; the
overall value of these stocks also increased markedly. Both factors could have contributed to the
increase in the proportion of stock in the portfolios of
wealthy individuals between 1995 and 1998.
Portfolio composition varied substantially by sex
and wealth class among America’s top wealth holders in 1998. Compared to those in higher net worth
groups, individuals with less than $1 million in net
worth devoted a larger percentage of their portfolio
to personal residences, investment real estate, and
retirement assets. In contrast, top wealth holders
with more than $10 million in net worth, dedicated
more of their portfolio to closely held stock than less
wealthy investors [9]. Women’s portfolios contained
a greater proportion of stock in public corporations
than those of men, while stock in closely held corporations made up a larger share in the portfolios of
male top wealth holders.
Investment real estate, combined with the value
of personal residences, dominated the portfolio of
men with a net worth less than $1 million in 1998,
accounting for 33.3 percent of total assets. Investments in publicly traded stock made up the second
largest share of their portfolio, 15.8 percent, a 71.1-
percent increase over the portfolio share devoted to
publicly traded stock by male wealth holders in this
wealth class in 1995 (see Figure B). Male top
wealth holders with between $1 million and $10
million in net worth in 1998 held a significantly different portfolio compared to their 1995 counterparts, as
shown by Figure C. Investment real estate was the
largest asset for individuals in this wealth bracket in
1995. However, in 1998, publicly traded stock was
the dominant asset, accounting for 22.6 percent of
the aggregate portfolio. Conversely, the portfolios of
male top wealth holders with a net worth of $10
million or more were allocated similarly in both 1995
and 1998 (see Figure D). In both years, the most
dominant assets for men in this net worth category
were closely held and publicly traded stocks, although
both made up slightly smaller portions of the portfolio
in 1998. The largest distinction between the two
periods for males in the highest net worth category
was the portfolio share held in cash or money market
accounts; in 1998, male top wealth holders held more
of their portfolio in the form of cash and money
market accounts than those in the earlier period.
The portfolios held by female top wealth holders
in 1998 differed significantly from those of similar
women in 1995. Figure E shows that the portfolio of
female top wealth holders with a net worth of less
than $1 million in 1998 contained significantly less
investment real estate and vastly more publicly traded
stock than the portfolio of their 1995 counterparts. A
similar difference between the two periods can be
observed for female top wealth holders with net
worth between $1 and $10 million, as publicly traded
stock replaced real estate investments (including the
value of personal residences) as the major asset in
the portfolio for 1998, with stock accounting for 30.7
percent of the total (see Figure F). Figure G shows
the dramatic differences between the portfolios of
females with a net worth of $10 million or more in
1995 and 1998. Women in the top wealth bracket in
1998 dedicated 8.0 percent more of their portfolio to
publicly traded stock than their 1995 counterparts.
Significantly, investments in closely held stock by this
wealthiest group of women increased from 13.5
percent of the portfolio in 1995 to 20.2 percent in
1998, reflecting the increasing role of female entrepreneurs in the U.S. economy. In fact, the two most
prevalent assets in 1998, publicly traded stock and
closely held stock, when combined, composed more
89
Personal Wealth, 1998
Figure B
Male Top Wealth Holders with Net Worth of Less Than $1 Million: Selected Assets and Debts as a
Percentage of Total Assets, by Year
Percentage
25%
20.3%
20%
18.6%
17.2%
15.7% 16.1%
20.8%
16.6%
15.8%
14.1%
15%
10.1%
9.2%
10%
6.1%
6.8%
5.2%
7.0%
6.0%
5%
0%
Personal
residences
Investment real
estate
Closely held
stock
Other stock
1995
Other financial
Cash and
assets ¹
money market
accounts
1998
Retirement
assets
Debts and
mortgages
¹ Includes Federal, corporate, and tax-exempt bonds, as well as mixed portfolio mutual funds.
90
Figure C
Male Top Wealth Holders with Net Worth of Between $1 Million and $10 Million: Selected Assets and
Debts as a Percentage of Total Assets, by Year
Percentage
25%
22.6%
20%
17.2%
14.9%
14.7%
15%
14.3%
13.5%
12.4%
12.1%
10.6%
10%
8.9%
9.3%
8.0%
7.6% 8.0%
7.3%
5.1%
5%
0%
Personal
residences
Investment
real estate
Closely held
stock
Other stock
1995
90
Other financial
Cash and
assets ¹
money market
accounts
1998
¹ Includes Federal, corporate, and tax-exempt bonds, as well as mixed portfolio mutual funds.
Retirement
assets
Debts and
mortgages
Personal Wealth, 1998
Figure D
Male Top Wealth Holders with Net Worth of $10 Million or More: Selected Assets and Debts as a
Percentage of Total Assets, by Year
Percentage
35%
29.1% 28.9%
30%
28.2%
25.9%
25%
20%
15%
10.2% 10.2%
10.3% 10.1%
10%
7.7%
6.3%
6.1%
5%
1.9% 2.5%
2.3%
1.8%
3.3%
0%
Personal
residences
Investment real
estate
Closely held
stock
Other stock
1995
Other financial
Cash and
assets ¹
money market
accounts
1998
Retirement
assets
Debts and
mortgages
¹ Includes Federal, corporate, and tax-exempt bonds, as well as mixed portfolio mutual funds.
Figure E
Female Top Wealth Holders with Net Worth of Less Than $1 Million: Selected Assets and Debts as a
Percentage of Total Assets, by Year
Percentage
25%
20%
18.7%
17.3%
19.6%
18.2%
14.9%
15%
13.5%
13.9%
12.9%
12.2%
9.9%
10%
9.6%
10.4%
10.2%
9.3%
5%
2.2% 2.2%
0%
Personal
residences
Investment real
estate
Closely held
stock
Other stock
1995
Other financial
Cash and
assets ¹
money market
accounts
1998
¹ Includes Federal, corporate, and tax-exempt bonds, as well as mixed portfolio mutual funds.
Retirement
assets
Debts and
mortgages
91
Personal Wealth, 1998
Figure F
Female Top Wealth Holders with Net Worth of Between $1 Million and $10 Million: Selected Assets
and Debts as a Percentage of Total Assets, by Year
Percentage
35%
30.7%
30%
25%
21.5%
20%
18.0%
16.1%
14.0%
13.8%
15%
9.9% 10.3%
9.7%
10%
7.0%
6.7%
6.6%
6.6% 6.4%
5.1%
4.8%
5%
0%
Personal
residences
Investment real
estate
Closely held
stock
Other stock
1995
Other financial
Cash and
assets ¹
money market
accounts
1998
Retirement
assets
Debts and
mortgages
¹ Includes Federal, corporate, and tax-exempt bonds, as well as mixed portfolio mutual funds.
92
Figure G
Female Top Wealth Holders with Net Worth of $10 Million or More: Selected Assets and Debts as a
Percentage of Total Assets, by Year
Percentage
40%
36.3%
35%
28.3%
30%
25%
20.2%
19.4%
20%
13.5%
15%
11.3%
5%
10.8%
8.7%
10%
4.8%
3.1% 3.0%
2.2%
1.2% 2.0%
3.3% 2.7%
0%
Personal
residences
Investment real
estate
Closely held
stock
Other stock
1995
Other financial
Cash and
assets ¹
money market
accounts
1998
¹ Includes Federal, corporate, and tax-exempt bonds, as well as mixed portfolio mutual funds.
92
Retirement
assets
Debts and
mortgages
Personal Wealth, 1998
than half of the portfolio value for women with $10
million or more in net worth.
Age
In general, personal investment goals tend to change
as one ages. Younger investors are usually interested in asset growth opportunities and are often
willing to accept higher levels of risk than older
investors, who may be more focused on reliable
income sources and who tend to prefer investments
that are eligible for preferential income tax treatment.
In 1998, the value of investment real estate and
investments in closely held corporations made up
smaller percentages in the portfolios of older top
wealth holders than in portfolios held by younger
individuals in the same wealth classes, while the
portfolios of younger investors included smaller
percentages of Government-issued bonds than those
of older investors. Publicly traded stock was the
dominant asset in the portfolios of wealth holders in
every age group and for both genders in 1998.
Figure H shows that, in 1998, men under the age of
50 held almost twice as much of their portfolio in the
stock of publicly traded corporations compared to
males in this age group in 1995. In 1998, the second
most prevalent asset held by these relatively young
males was stock in closely held corporations, which
made up 17.5 percent of the overall portfolio value.
Similarly, while 1995 male top wealth holders between the ages of 50 and 65 had invested
predominantly in investment real estate (18.2 percent), publicly traded stocks dominated the portfolio
of males in this age bracket in 1998, making up 19.4
percent of the total. For males age 65 and older in
both 1995 and 1998, investments in publicly traded
stock accounted for the largest share of the portfolio;
however, the shares made up of both real estate
investments and closely held stock were smaller than
for younger males. Figure J illustrates that other
financial assets, primarily tax-exempt bonds issued by
State and local governments, made up the second
largest percentage of the portfolio for male top
wealth holders age 65 and older in both 1995 and
1998. These bonds are a low risk, stable source of
income that is exempt from Federal, and in some
cases State, income tax.
The portfolio of female top wealth holders under
the age of 50 held significantly more publicly traded
Figure H
Male Top Wealth Holders under Age 50: Selected Assets and Debts as a Percentage of Total Assets,
by Year
Percentage
25%
19.6%
20%
19.3%
17.7% 17.5%
16.1%
15%
15.5%
13.1%
12.2%
10.7%
10.4%
10.7%
10%
8.5%
6.1%
9.1%
7.0%
5.1%
5%
0%
Personal
residences
Investment real
estate
Closely held
stock
Other stock
1995
Other financial
Cash and
assets ¹
money market
accounts
Retirement
assets
Debts and
mortgages
1998
¹ Includes Federal, corporate, and tax-exempt bonds, as well as mixed portfolio mutual funds.
93
Personal Wealth, 1998
Figure I
Male Top Wealth Holders Age 50 Under 65: Selected Assets and Debts as a Percentage of Total
Assets, by Year
Percentage
25%
19.4%
20%
18.2%
16.0%
15%
15.5%
15.6%
14.7%
13.4%
13.1%
12.0%
11.0%
10%
8.7% 8.8%
6.7%
7.6%
6.1%
4.4%
5%
0%
Personal
residences
Investment real
estate
Closely held
stock
Other stock
1995
Other financial
Cash and
assets ¹
money market
accounts
Retirement
assets
Debts and
mortgages
1998
¹ Includes Federal, corporate, and tax-exempt bonds, as well as mixed portfolio mutual funds.
94
Figure J
Male Top Wealth Holders Age 65 and Older: Selected Assets and Debts as a Percentage of Total
Assets, by Year
Percentage
30%
27.0%
25%
23.2%
20%
15.1%
13.9%
15%
13.5%
13.7%
10.6% 10.4%
9.8%
10%
10.5%
8.7%
6.4% 7.0%
5.6%
5.3%
4.1%
5%
0%
Personal
residences
Investment real
estate
Closely held
stock
Other stock
1995
94
Other financial
Cash and
assets ¹
money market
accounts
1998
¹ Includes Federal, corporate, and tax-exempt bonds, as well as mixed portfolio mutual funds.
Retirement
assets
Debts and
mortgages
Personal Wealth, 1998
stock in 1998 than in 1995, making publicly traded
stock the largest asset in the 1998 portfolio (see
Figure K). Closely held stock and personal residences were other major assets in the portfolio held
by relatively young women, making up 12.5 percent
and 12.4 percent of the total, respectively, in 1998.
Likewise, while the dominant portfolio asset in 1995
for women in the 50 under 65 age group was investment real estate, publicly traded stock was the largest
portfolio asset in 1998 (see Figure L). Investment
real estate ranked second among investment assets,
composing 17.2 percent of the portfolio in 1998.
Figure M shows that publicly traded stocks made up
more than one third of the portfolio of female top
wealth holders age 65 and older in 1998, by far the
largest share contributed by a single asset type in the
portfolios held by men or women in any age bracket.
Similar to males over the age of 65, other financial
assets, primarily tax-exempt bonds issued by State or
local governments, were ranked second in the portfolio, making up 17.6 percent of the portfolio for females in this oldest age group. Investments in closely
held stock accounted for the smallest portfolio share
among the assets shown in Figure M.
While there were clear differences in the investment choices made by individuals based on both sex
and age, the skewed nature of the distribution of
wealth makes it more difficult to discern a similar
relationship among sex, age, and an individual’s
overall level of wealth. Some economic theory
predicts that individuals save over their working
lifetime and then consume out of those savings after
retirement [10]. There are a number of refinements
to this theory that suggest the very wealthy may have
a number of additional motivations for saving, such as
the desire to provide bequests at death, which might
mean that wealth accumulation could continue well
beyond retirement age. Figure N shows that average
net worth clearly increased with age for male top
wealth holders. Men under the age of 50 had an
average net worth of almost $1.2 million, while the
average for males age 85 and older was nearly $2.5
million, more than double that of the youngest group.
For highly skewed distributions, however, the median
Figure K
Female Top Wealth Holders Under Age 50: Selected Assets and Debts as a Percentage of Total
Assets, by Year
Percentage
30%
25.9%
25%
20%
16.5%
15%
14.5%
13.7%
12.4%
12.5%
10.3%
11.2%
10.7%
11.2%
9.3%
10%
8.5%
9.5%
8.9%
7.9%
5.6%
5%
0%
Personal
residences
Investment real
estate
Closely held
stock
Other stock
1995
Other financial
Cash and
assets ¹
money market
accounts
1998
¹ Includes Federal, corporate, and tax-exempt bonds, as well as mixed portfolio mutual funds.
Retirement
assets
Debts and
mortgages
95
Personal Wealth, 1998
Figure L
Female Top Wealth Holders Age 50 Under 65: Selected Assets and Debts as a Percentage of Total
Assets, by Year
Percentage
30%
24.0%
25%
20.8%
20%
17.5%
17.2%
15%
12.9% 13.3%
12.0%
9.6%
10%
8.8%
8.7%
8.4% 8.6%
6.8%
8.1%
6.6%
5.3%
5%
0%
Personal
residences
Investment real
estate
Closely held
stock
Other stock
1995
Other financial
Cash and
assets ¹
money market
accounts
1998
Retirement
assets
Debts and
mortgages
¹ Includes Federal, corporate, and tax-exempt bonds, as well as mixed portfolio mutual funds.
96
Figure M
Female Top Wealth Holders Age 65 and Older: Selected Assets and Debts as a Percentage of Total
Assets, by Year
Percentage
40%
33.7%
35%
30%
25.2%
25%
22.2%
20%
17.6%
15%
10%
12.8%
11.8%
11.6%
8.9% 9.2%
8.8%
4.8% 4.6%
4.0% 4.1%
5%
3.0% 2.5%
0%
Personal
residences
Investment real
estate
Closely held
stock
Other stock
1995
96
Other financial
Cash and
assets ¹
money market
accounts
1998
¹ Includes Federal, corporate, and tax-exempt bonds, as well as mixed portfolio mutual funds.
Retirement
assets
Debts and
mortgages
Personal Wealth, 1998
is often a much better summary measure than the
average since the median is less affected by large
outliers in a population. For young, wealthy males,
the median net worth was $654,800. Figure N
shows that, while the median value of net worth
was higher for males age 50 and older, the median
was about the same for men in each of the over 50
age groups depicted in the graph, approximately
$1.0 million.
The average net worth for females under the age
of 50 was almost $1.5 million, higher than that of
males in the same age group. Unlike their male
counterparts, however, the average was nearly the
same for females in both the 50 under 65 and 65
under 75 age groups. For women over age 75, average net worth was higher, more than $1.6 million for
women in the 75 under 85 age group and almost $1.9
million for women age 85 and older. The median
value of net worth for women, however, was almost
the same for all age groups. For women under the
age of 50, the median was $835,400. For all other
age groups, the median was approximately $950,000.
StateData
Figure O details the States with the largest numbers
of resident millionaires [11]. California, the most
populous State in America in 1998, had the largest
number of residents with a net worth of $1 million or
more, 412,000 millionaires [12]. New York and
Florida had the second and third largest number of
resident millionaires, 243,000 and 206,000, respectively. Overall, the number of millionaires in most
States in 1998 was almost double that recorded in
1995, despite substantially smaller changes in the
overall adult population and in inflation, which was
only about 7.0 percent for the 3-year period [13].
For example, the number of California residents with
a net worth of $1 million or more increased 80.7
percent, having numbered 228,000 in 1995, while the
State adult population increased by 4.2 percent
between 1995 and 1998. Similarly, the number of
resident millionaires in Texas grew dramatically from
76,000 in 1995 to 157,000 in 1998 despite an increase
in the State adult population of only 6.1 percent.
Massachusetts’ adult population increased by only
Figure N
All Top Wealth Holders: Average and Median Net Worth, by Sex and Age, 1998
Millions
3.0
2.5
2.0
1.5
1.0
0.5
0.0
Under 50
50 under 65
65 under 75
75 under 85
Average net worth of males
Median net worth of males
Average net worth of females
Median net worth of females
85 and older
97
Personal Wealth, 1998
Figure O
States with the Largest Number or Highest
Concentration of Resident Millionaires, 1998 ¹
[Numbers are in thousands]
State
Number of
millionaires
Total State
population
Millionaires as a
percentage of
State population
(2)
(3)
California............................................................
412
(1)
23,756
1.7
New York............................................................
243
Florida............................................................
206
13,673
11,376
1.8
1.8
Texas............................................................
156
14,131
1.1
Illinois............................................................
146
Pennsylvania............................................................
122
8,857
9,141
1.6
1.3
New Jersey............................................................
116
6,125
1.9
Ohio............................................................
85
8,365
Massachusetts............................................................
81
4,690
1.0
1.7
Connecticut............................................................
65
2,484
2.6
Colorado............................................................
56
2,930
District of Columbia............................................................
8
420
1.9
1.9
¹ Millionaires are defined as individuals with net worth of $1 million or more.
98
1.0 percent from 1995 to 1998; yet the number of
residents with $1 million or more of net worth increased by 125.0 percent.
Looking at the number of millionaires on a per
capita basis, that is, the number of millionaires per
thousand residents, eliminates the distortions caused
by the large adult populations in some States and,
thereby, presents a somewhat different picture of the
geographic distribution of wealth in the United States.
Connecticut, ranked the 27th largest state by size of
population, had the greatest concentration of millionaires, with more than 2.6 percent of the residents
having $1 million or more in net worth. With an
approximate population of 2.9 million and 56,000
residents with a net worth of $1 million or more,
Colorado had the second highest density of millionaires, 1.9 percent. The District of Columbia, with a
population of 420,000, was ranked third with about
1,900 millionaires per 100,000 residents. The States
with the largest number of millionaires--Florida, New
York, and California--were fifth, seventh, and eighth,
respectively, in the per capita ranking.
ConcentrationEstimates
The distribution of wealth in the United States is
highly skewed, with a relatively small group of
individuals owning a large percentage of the total net
worth. Longitudinal changes in distribution of wealth
in the U.S. can be observed by examining the share
of U.S. wealth, measured in terms of net worth, held
by a constant percentage of the population. Figure P
reports the percentages of total U.S. wealth held by
Figure P
Percentage of Total U.S. Net Worth Held by the Top 1.0 Percent and Top 0.5 Percent of the U.S.
Population, 1989-1998
25
Top 1.0 Percent of U.S. Population
20
15
Top 0.5 Percent of U.S. Population
10
5
0
1989
98
1992
1995
1998
Personal Wealth, 1998
the top 1.0 percent and the top 0.5 percent of the
population, 1989-1998 [14, 15]. In 1998, 1.0 percent
of the U.S. adult population corresponded with 1.9
million individuals. These individuals owned approximately 23.5 percent of total U.S. individual wealth, a
1.0-percent increase over the share owned by this
subpopulation in 1995 and a 2.0-percent increase
since 1989, when the top 1.0 percent of the population owned more than 21.3 percent of U.S. wealth.
A similar pattern was evident in the share of wealth
held by the 963,000 individuals who made up the top
0.5 percent of the U.S. adult population in 1998.
They held about 18.3 percent of the Nation’s net
worth in 1998, up from about 17.4 percent in 1995
and 16.6 percent in 1989. These slight changes in the
concentration may indicate that the real wealth of the
Nation’s top wealth holders grew at a slightly higher
rate than that of the overall adult population. However, the sampling error associated with these
estimates is large, meaning that most of the interperiod differences may not be statistically significant.
Summary
There were more than 6.5 million individuals in the
United States with gross assets of $625,000 or more
in 1998. These individuals represented about 3.4
percent of the total U.S. adult population. As a
group, top wealth holders owned more than $11.1
trillion in total assets, or 32.6 percent of total U.S.
personal asset holdings. Almost 4.0 million, or 61.2
percent, of these wealthy individuals were male, and
2.5 million were female. This strongly contrasted
with the gender distribution of the total U.S. population in 1998, which contained only 48.0 percent men.
Male top wealth holders were more likely to be
married than men in the overall U.S. population, while
the opposite was true for female top wealth holders,
who were less likely to be married than their counterparts in the U.S. population.
Both the age and relative wealth of top wealth
holders impacted the composition of their portfolios.
Women’s portfolios contained a greater proportion of
stock in public corporations than those of men. The
value of the personal residence and investments in
closely held corporations made up smaller percentages in the portfolios of older top wealth holders than
in portfolios held by younger individuals in the same
wealth classes. Individuals with $1 million or less in
net worth devoted a larger percentage of their portfolio to personal residences, investment real estate, and
retirement assets than those in higher net worth
groups. Top wealth holders with more than $10
million in net worth dedicated more of their portfolio
to closely held stock in 1998 than less wealthy investors. Overall, 1998 top wealth holders invested in
more publicly traded stock and cash and money
market accounts than similar individuals in 1995, and
they invested less in other financial assets (including
Federal, corporate, and tax-exempt bonds, as well
as mixed portfolio mutual funds) and investment
real estate.
There was a significant increase in the number of
U.S. citizens with net worth of $1.0 million or more
between 1995 and 1998. Overall, the number of
millionaires per State in 1998 was almost double that
recorded in 1995 despite substantially smaller
changes in State adult populations and low inflation
over the 3-year period. California remained the State
with the largest number of millionaires, while Connecticut was the State with the greatest per capita
concentration of millionaires. Estimates of the
amount of wealth held by the top 1.0 percent and 0.5
percent of the U.S. population suggest that the percentage of overall U.S. wealth held by these groups
increased slightly between 1995 and 1998.
Appendix: TheEstateMultiplierTechnique
The estate multiplier technique assumes that estate
tax returns, taken as a whole, represent a random
sample of the living wealthy population and thus
provide a means of producing reasonable estimates
of personal wealth. The multiplier is equivalent to a
sampling weight where the probabilities of selection
include the probability of being a decedent and also
that of being included in the Statistics of Income sample
of estate tax returns. The more difficult computation
is determining the probability of being a decedent.
Mortality rates for the general population, by age and
sex, available from the National Center for Health
Statistics, provide the basis for the estimates. However, there is much evidence that the wealthy have
mortality rates significantly lower than those of the
entire population. The following sections describe the
sampling criteria used to select the underlying estate
tax returns, as well as efforts to develop mortality rates
appropriate for this elite segment of the population.
99
Personal Wealth, 1998
EstateTaxReturnSampleDesign
100
The Statistics of Income Division collects data from
an annual sample of Federal estate tax returns that
are used primarily for policy and budget purposes.
The sample follows a 3-year cycle that is designed
mainly to accommodate year-of-death estimates, with
each study concentrating on decedents who died in
the first year, the focus year, of the 3-year cycle.
The annual samples are also adequate for producing
filing-year estimates. Year-of-death estimates are
desirable, because filing extensions and other filing
delays mean that returns filed in any given calendar
year may represent decedents who died in many
different years. Thus, estate tax return data for a
single filing year may reflect different economic and
tax law conditions. By concentrating on a single year
of death, these limitations can be overcome, making it
possible to study the data in the context of a single
time period.
Returns are selected using a stratified random
sample with three stratifying variables. Since 1982,
the stratifying variables have been year of death
(focus year verses non-focus years), total gross
estate, and age at death. Gross estate is divided into
five categories: $625,000 under $1 million, $1 million
under $2.5 million, $2.5 million under $5 million, $5
million under $10 million, and $10 million or more.
Age at death is divided into five categories: under 40,
40 under 50, 50 under 65, 65 under 75, and 75 and
older. Sample rates vary from 3 percent to 100
percent, with over half the strata selected with certainty, i.e., at the 100-percent rate.
SOI has combined Federal estate tax returns
filed over 3-year periods to produce the estimates of
wealth for 1998 presented here. One of the strengths
of the estate multiplier technique is the large sample
on which the estimates are based. The 1998 sample
includes more than 26,000 returns [16].
MortalityDifferentials
100
Research has proven that individuals who are economically or socially better off generally live longer
and are healthier than individuals in the general
population. Therefore, it is important to determine a
mortality rate appropriate to the wealthy decedents in
the estate tax return sample. If mortality and wealth
are correlated, then biased estimates will result using
mortality rates unadjusted for wealth level. Evidence
suggests that there is an inverse relationship between
these factors, meaning that unadjusted multipliers
would be too low and, thus, undervalue wealth [17].
There have been a considerable number of
attempts to quantify differences between the mortality of the general population and that of the very
wealthy, looking at factors such as education, income,
and occupation. For the data presented in this article,
the National Longitudinal Mortality Study (NLMS),
produced by the National Institutes of Health, was
used to estimate the magnitude of this difference,
hereafter called the “mortality differential” [18]. The
NLMS is a random sample of 1.3 million Americans
of all ages, races, and sexes, in the civilian, noninstitutionalized population. The sample was drawn
mainly from the Census Bureau’s Current Population
Survey. Interviews, done by telephone, achieved a
96-percent response rate. Respondents were at least
14 years of age.
Because the NLMS did not contain information
on a respondent’s wealth, income and occupation
were used to identify survey respondents with characteristics similar to estate tax decedents. Mortality
rates, by age and sex, were calculated for NLMS
decedents whose incomes and occupations were
similar to the incomes and occupations of estate tax
decedents. Mortality rates, by age and sex, were
also calculated for all individuals in the NLMS
sample. A simple ratio of these two rates was used
to construct mortality differentials. National mortality
rates, published by the National Center for Health
Statistics, were then multiplied by the differentials to
obtain mortality rates appropriate for wealthy decedents [19].
The differences between the mortality rates of
the general population and those of individuals with
characteristics similar to the estate tax decedent
population, captured in the magnitude of the mortality
rate differentials, were most pronounced for young
decedents; these differences disappeared entirely by
age 85. For example, the mortality rate for a wealthy
male under the age of 40 was about half that of a
male in the general population. However, for males
over 85 years of age, the mortality rates were the
same for both groups. Wealth seems to have had a
much smaller effect on the mortality rates of females
in the NLMS sample than it had on the mortality of
males in that sample. The mortality rate for wealthy
females under age 40 was approximately 89.0 percent of that for females in the general population.
Personal Wealth, 1998
For females over 85 years of age, the mortality rates
were the same for both groups.
Multipliers
The multipliers (or sample weights) were calculated
as follows:
MULT= 1 / (p ’•r ’•d) where:
p = probability of selection to the estate tax sample,
r = mortality rate,
d= rate differential.
The multipliers ranged from 2 to 18,000, with an
average of about 250. Some additional smoothing of
the multipliers was employed to constrain both tails of
the net worth distribution [20].
NotesandReferences
[1] See Menchik, Paul (1991), “Economic Status as
a Determinant of Mortality Among Nonwhite
and White Older Males: or, Does Poverty Kill?,”
Institute for Research on Poverty, Discussion
Paper Number 93891.
[2] Scheuren, Fritz (1994), “Historical Perspectives
on IRS Wealth Estimates With a View to Improvements,” Compendium of Federal Estate
Tax Data and Personal Wealth Studies,
Department of the Treasury, IRS Publication
1773, p. 358.
[3] Eller, Martha Britton (2001), “Audit Revaluation
of Federal Estate Tax Returns,” Internal
Revenue Service Statistics of Income Bulletin,
Winter 2000-2001, Washington, DC.
[4] Wherever possible, the value of minority discounts
was added back to the individual asset values
used in these estimates. However, inconsistencies in the way that these discounts are reported
on Form 706 limit SOI’s ability to collect these
data. Therefore, it is likely that the estimates
presented here are still somewhat undervalued.
[5] Estimates of the equity value of life insurance
included in total assets were approximated,
based on the face value reported on Federal
estate tax returns and on the decedent’s age. A
ratio of the equity value to the face value was
developed, using data from wealthy respondents
to the 1989, 1992, and 1995 Board of Governors
of the Federal Reserve System's Surveys of
Consumer Finances (SCF). A simple regression was used to predict the values used in the
Statistics of Income estimates. The same set
of ratios was used for both males and females,
due to a lack of sex-specific data in the SCF.
[6] Estimates of both the total assets and net worth
of the United States are from household
estimates derived from the Board of Governors
of the Federal Reserve System’s Survey of
Consumer Finances (SCF), found in Kennickell,
Arthur, B. (2000), “An Examination of Changes
in the Distribution of Wealth from 1989 to 1998:
Evidence from the Survey of Consumer Finances,” Board of Governors of the Federal
Reserve System working paper, p. 19.
[7] Marital status estimates for the general population, by sex, were obtained from the U.S.
Census Bureau, Current Population Reports,
pp. 20-514.
[8] Estimates of personal wealth for 1995 can be
found in Johnson, Barry W., “Personal Wealth
1995,” Internal Revenue Service Statistics of
Income Bulletin, Winter 1999-2000,
Washingon, DC pp. 59-84.
[9] Closely held stock is stock in a corporation that
is not publicly traded, usually that of a small,
family-owned corporation.
[10] See Modigliani, Franko (1986), “Life Cycle,
Individual Thrift, and the Wealth of Nations,”
American Economic Review, Vol. 68, pp.
547-560.
[11
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