How Much Cash Do Millionaires Keep on Hand?

It’s the sought-after financial title, being able to call oneself – A Millionaire. Without going down a cultural rabbit hole of “What is success?” and “Does being rich matter?”, I’ve often wondered how much cash do most millionaires actually have?

Millionaires are people who have a net worth of more than a million dollars and usually have a portion of their wealth in various assets like cash, stocks, bonds, real estate and other investments. Put simply, its Total Assets minus Total Liabilities.

So What Are the Numbers?

According to the Credit Suisse Global Wealth Report data, the number of millionaires in the US was slightly below 30 million in 2020. From 2010 to 2020, the number of millionaires increased by more than 3 million.

The answer to our original question can be a bit tricky since sources vary, and there really isn’t a central repository for this information. Most estimates I’ve found are that millionaires have 18 – 27% of their net worth in cash at any time.

Ana-Ioana Ciochia from FinMasters put together an excellent piece that dives further into the habits of millionaires if you want to learn more about their investing habits, how they got their wealth or how liquid they are, among other facts and statistics.

References:

Yahoo! (2022, October 10). The Sneaky Place Millionaires Keep Their Money. Retrieved April 12, 2023, from: https://www.yahoo.com/video/where-millionaires-keep-money-070638027.html

FinMasters (2023, January 9). How Many Millionaires Are in the US? 2023 Millionaire Statistics. Retrieved April 12, 2023, from: https://finmasters.com/millionaire-statistics/

Medium | Data Driven Investor (2022, April 13). How Much Cash Do the Rich Keep in Their Bank Accounts? Retrieved April 12, 2023, from: https://medium.datadriveninvestor.com/how-much-cash-do-the-rich-keep-in-their-bank-accounts-56103e746d01

SmartAsset (2023, March 30). Where Do Millionaires Keep Their Money? Retrieved April 12, 2023, from: https://smartasset.com/financial-advisor/where-do-millionaires-keep-their-money

Credit Suisse (2022, September 1). Global Wealth Report 2022. Retrieved April 12, 2023, from: https://www.credit-suisse.com/about-us/en/reports-research/global-wealth-report.html