Millions of Americans have been impacted financially by the coronavirus, and billions of dollars have been lost in wages, salaries, investment income and portfolio value.

In fact, this crash of the stock market and the economic recession caused by the virus is the most significant ever in the United States in terms of dollars lost, simply because there were more people with more money to lose.

At the end of 2019, the number of wealthy Americans increased for the 11^th consecutive year and more record highs were reached, according to Spectrem Group’s initial compilation of the affluent market size completed at year’s end. However, due to the stock market slide initiated by the coronavirus pandemic, those numbers were greatly reduced, and Spectrem’s recalculation shows just how many Americans had their wealth status altered as a result.

The report analyzes changes in the number of American households based on net worth, from the Mass Affluent (with a net worth of $100,000 not including the value of their primary residence) to the $25 million-plus segment.

Each of four wealth segments were measured and there was initial growth among them all with a higher percentage on the high end of the spectrum. Much of that wealth growth was erased in the first three months of 2020.

·        Among $25 million plus Americans, the number was reduced from 196,000 at the end of 2019 to 178,000 as of March 20, 2020. That reflected an almost 10 percent decrease in the number of the wealthiest Americans in three months’ time.

·        The Ultra High Net Worth market, in which net worth is between $5 million to $25 million NIPR, dropped from 1,520,000 to 1,440,000, a decrease of more than 5 percent from Dec. 31, 2019 to March 20, 2020.

·        The number of Millionaires, defined in the report as those with a net worth between $1 million and $5 million, climbed initially to 11 million, but then lost half a million to 10.52 million Millionaires. Adding all of the citizens with a wealth level above $1 million brings the total to 12.1 million Americans with a net worth of at least $1 million NIPR.

·        At the end of 2019, there were 31.8 million Mass Affluent households with a net worth between $100,000 and $1 million, but that number fell to 31.6 as a result of the coronavirus crash. 

Spectrem’s Market Insights 2020 will be a significant base report for comparison with the Market Insights 2021 edition, assuming the stock market recovers when the pandemic is effectively reduced and Americans are allowed to resume their normal lives as investors and consumers.

The Spectrem Market Insights 2020, which includes key points from several Spectrem studies from 2019, is available on the company website www.spectrem.com.

 

 

©Spectrem 2020

 

Keywords: coronavirus, Spectrem, investors, advisors, market insights, Millionaires, stock market