5 Responses to “Today’s News Said Singapore Have Highest Ratio Millionaire In Asia, What’s Your Definition Of “millionaire” ?”

1. Doing the Right Thing says:

   November 21, 2009 at 4:34 pm

   There are 2.9 million Americans who are millionaires–as defined by having a net worth of over $1,000,000 not including primary residence. This means you add up all stocks, bonds, cash, and real estate other than your primary home. Then you subtract any and all of your debts.
   There are over 8 million Americans who are millionaires–as defined by having a net worth of over $1,000,000. Add up all real estate, stocks, bonds, cash, etc and subtract all debt.
   I don’t think you can count personal property in either of these calculations (cars, boats, jewelry, art, etc). I think they just looked at money in banks/investments and real estate.
2. lizzgeor says:

   November 21, 2009 at 4:52 pm

   Your bank Account balance has 9 digits in it.
3. thegooda says:

   November 21, 2009 at 5:09 pm

   it’s net worth of at least one million dollars, whether in cash, cd’s, bonds, stocks, real estate etc. of any or all types. it usually reflects real estate, and other assets, and is offset from debts such as loans, etc. part of it may be a 500k house with 350k in debt aginst it leaving asset value of 150k, plus a paid off car worth 15kj plus cash of 250k plus stock worth 500k plus 300k in cd’s plus 500k in retirement gives a net worth over 1.6 million.
4. de bossy one says:

   November 21, 2009 at 5:20 pm

   In simple terms add up everything you OWN and take away all that you OWE. What’s left is your NET WORTH. If that’s over $1 M, then technically you’re a millionaire.
   However, this definition worked well 50+ years ago when someone with $1M net worth was truly “rich”. But today, this is much more common and very few people whose net worth is $1M would really consider themselves rich.
   For this reason, many people choose to calculate it differently.
   One acceptable method is to calculate the value of your ASSETS – that is, the things you OWN that pay you money. Your residential home and car and boat therefore cannot be included in the calculation, as your home costs you money – you don’t make money each week or month or year from your home, so it’s not an asset, it’s a liability.
   Lots of people will disagree with this definition, however an ASSET is simply something that pays you money, like an investment or a business. “But my house is increasing in value” some people will say. Yes, and you will make money on it when you SELL it – that is, you only make the money once it belongs to someone else. Therefore, it’s not yours, so you can’t call it an asset.
   If the value of your assets exceeds $1 M, then you can comfortably call yourself a millionaire these days.
   Simply calculating your net worth gives you a false impression. After all the term “millionaire” refers to a certain lifetsyle.
   I sincerely hope this helps.
5. CK says:

   November 21, 2009 at 5:23 pm

   A millionaire is someone who has a net worth (Assets minus Liabilities) of 7 figures. So if this person liquidated all his assets and paid off all his liabilities, this would be his net worth.
   Let’s say you have $100,000 in a bank, $1 million in investments, and your home is worth $300,000. So your asset is $1.4 million. But you have a car payment of $20,000, a mortgage of $250,000, credit cards payment of $10,000, so your liability is $280,000. $1.4 million minus $280k is $1,120,000