More U.S. millionaires are middle-class - survey

By Belinda Goldsmith

NEW YORK (Reuters Life!) - Sitting on a million but still middle-class? New research has found that more and more Americans worth at least $1 million want luxury goods such as yachts but otherwise lead family-focused, work-oriented lives.

Private wealth specialists Lewis Schiff and Russ Alan Prince found the number of Americans with $1 million to $10 million had risen to 8.4 million households -- or 7.6 percent of U.S. households -- and was growing at 15 percent a year.

But instead of entering the echelons of the elite, these new millionaires adhere to middle-class values, earning their money rather than inheriting it, working 70 hours a week, and choosing neighbourhoods based on the quality of schools.

"These are middle class people who are in the community and don't insulate themselves but they are different because they have managed to accumulate wealth," said Schiff, the president of private wealth consultant Advanced Planning Group.

"They spend their money on all the things that tie back to family values -- on the health and welfare of their family, career development, and as you move up the ladder they spend on leisure and luxury activities."

Schiff and Prince surveyed about 3,600 people -- 600 millionaires and 3,000 middle-class people -- to research their book "The Middle Class Millionaire: The Rise of the New Rich and How they are Changing America" due out next February.

They found that 89 percent of middle-class millionaires believed anyone could attain wealth through hard work.