Millionaires Lost 30 Percent of Their Fortunes

If you were a millionaire last year, you may now only be worth $700,000. U.S. households worth $1 million or more have seen their assets decline 30 percent due to the financial crisis. Another 17 percent of millionaires have absorbed declines greater than 40 percent, according to an online poll of 750 households with over $1 million of net worth conducted in November by the Chicago-based wealth-research firm Spectrem Group.

“The current financial crisis has had a dramatic impact on America’s millionaires, reducing their net worth substantially and threatening their ability to maintain both lifestyles and retirement plans,” says Catherine McBreen, managing director of the Spectrem Group. “While they blame the government and Wall Street directly for the situation, many millionaires are not happy with their advisors’ performance and few say they will increase the work they give to advisors.”

Only 36 percent of the millionaires surveyed feel their financial advisor performed well during the crisis and just 14 percent say they will increase their use of financial advisors in the future.

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