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What is a millionaire

A millionaire is either an individual or any person who resides in a household whose net worth or wealth exceeds one million units of any currency. A hectomillionaire has a net worth of more than 100 million units of currency, but the technically incorrect centimillionaire is more often used to mean the same thing. While statistics regarding financial assets and net worth are presented by household, the term is also often used to describe only the individual who has amassed the assets as millionaire. Thus the term statistically refers only to households, while in common language use it may only refer to an individual.

A certain level of prestige is associated with being a millionaire, which makes that amount of wealth a goal for many. However, due to inflation, the status of millionaire is no longer as exclusive as it once was. The increasing number of millionaires is partially due to inflation: a million dollars, for example, provides far less purchasing power today than it did in the 19th century. However it still ensures a comfortable lifestyle for those becoming millionaires.
 

 Net worth vs. financial assets

While millionaires are stereotypically said to be upper-class and reside in mansions, many upper-middle class professionals whose net worth is equal to or exceeds one million dollars live in more modest upper-middle class dwellings such as this $600k home in Salinas, CA.
The Sheraton on Waikiki beach in Honolulu, a popular destination among millionaires as well as other upper middle class and middle class tourists.
An extravagant mansion in Carmel, CA. Mansions such as these are exclusive to ultra-high net worth individuals who constitute roughly 0.01% of the population.Recently there has been some controversy over how to correctly determine a person's status as a millionaire. One of the two most commonly used measurements is net worth, which counts the total value of all property owned by a household minus the household's debts. According to this definition a household owning an $800k home, $50k furnishing, two cars worth $60k, a $60k IRA, $45k in mutual funds and a $325k vacation home with a $250k mortgage, $40k in car loans and $25k in credit card debt, would be worth $1,025,000 and every individual in this household would thus be a millionaire. However, according to the financial assets measurement, equity in one's principal residence is excluded. So are all other fixed assets such as the car and furniture.

While millionaires constitute only a small percentage of the population, they hold vast control over economic resources with the most powerful and prominent individuals usually ranking among them. Forbes and Fortune magazines maintain lists of people based on their net worth and are generally considered authorities on the subject. According to Forbes' 19th annual list of the richest people published in 2006 there are 793 US-dollar billionaires in the world. The number of millionaires is much higher.


Multimillionaire

Another commonly used term is multimillionaire. As the term implies, multimillionaire applies to those individuals residing in households with a net worth or wealth of two million or more. Only a small minority of millionaire households are indeed multimillionaire households, yet many of the stereotypical millionaires shown in televisions programs such as "The OC" are actually multimillionaires. The term also has a more prestigious connotation than millionaire.

Roughly 0.9% of high net worth individuals (HNWIs) can also correctly be identified as ultra-high-net-worth individuals (ultra-HNWIs), those who reside in households with a net worth or wealth of 30 million or more. There are approximately 70,000 ultra-HNWIs in the world with 54,000 or 77% residing in the United States and Europe.

Billionaire
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A billionaire is a person who has a net worth of at least one billion units of currency, such as United States Dollars (USD), Pounds or Euros.

Though a "billion" used to be a million million in much of the Commonwealth of Nations, the American version (one thousand million) is commonplace now; so in Britain a billionaire is someone with a net worth of at least 1,000,000,000