America lost 27% of its millionaires last year

A new report released on Wednesday revealed that a number of millionaires in America was significantly reduced in light of the severed crisis environment. The report from market research firm Spectrem Group shows that American households with a net worth of $1 million or more, excluding the value of their primary residence, accounted for 6.7 million in 2008 which is a 27% drop from an all-time high of 9.2 million the year before.

However, the study also reports that the number of both multi-millionaires and aspiring millionaires decreased last year as well. Affluent households, defined as those with a net worth of $500,000 or more, declined 28% to 11.3 million from 15.7 million. Households worth $5 million or more, excluding primary residence, fell 28% to 840,000 last year from 1.16 million households in 2007.

The survey also says that millionaire households estimated that the financial crisis dented their net worth by between 30% and 40%. The turmoil in the economy incited many wealthy change their investment portfolios with 45% of the respondents reporting about such alterations. Majority of them said they are shifting capital into safer assets such as cash with 30% of the polled, mostly younger households, saying that they still invest in stocks.