Ranks of U.S. millionaires swelled in '09

Break out the caviar. Richie Rich has rallied. The number of millionaires in the United States jumped 16% last year to 7.8 million, according to a report released today by Spectrem Group, “Affluent Market Insights 2010.” Though that number is still below the all-time high of 9.2 million reached in 2007, the “growth in the millionaire population is nevertheless welcome news for an economy still working to recover,” George H. Walper, Jr., president of Spectrem, said in a press release. Other segments of the wealthy population also showed gains last year, Spectrem reported. The number of ultrahigh-net-worth households — those with assets of $5 million or more, not including their primary residences — increased 17% to 980,000. And the larger affluent population, or those with $500,000 or more in assets, increased by 12% to 12.7 million. The Spectrem report was based on surveys conducted last year of 3,000 affluent households, plus online surveys of smaller segments of the wealthy population.