Northwestern Mutual's 2025 Planning & Progress Study Found That 64% of American Millionaires Don't Consider Themselves Wealthy

"The threshold sounds like a finish line: if you hit $1 million in investable assets, the math says you have made it. The reality is that the people who have actually crossed that line are likely going to disagree. According to Northwestern Mutual's 2025 Planning & Progress Study, only 36% of American millionaires with at least $1 million in investable assets consider themselves "wealthy." The other 64% have the assets but reject the label, and that gap between balance sheet and self-image is the entire story."

"Inflation has not been kind to anyone holding cash or fixed income. Headline PCE inflation ran at 3.5% year over year in April 2026, with core PCE at 3.2% and energy prices up 14.43% from a year earlier. The Consumer Price Index sits at 330.293, a 12-month high, and even so, a million dollars in 2026 does not buy what a million dollars bought even five years ago, and the people closest to that number tend to feel the slippage most acutely."

"Consumer sentiment reflects the same mood. The University of Michigan index reads 48.9 as of April 2026, down from 53.3 in March and sitting in what the survey defines as recessionary territory. The 12-month average of 55.6 places sentiment in the lower quartile of historical readings. Wealthy households feel that mood too, reading the same headlines and watching the same prices."

"Geography compounds the perception problem, and the Bureau of Economic Analysis makes that clear through its regional price parity data. California posts an index of 110.7, Hawaii comes in at 110.0, and the District of Columbia sits at 109.9, all well above the national baseline of 100. At the other end of the spectrum, Arkansas stands at 86.9 and Mississippi at 87.0. A millionaire in San Francisco and a millionaire in Little Rock are not living the same life, and the one in San Francisco feels that differen"

Only 36% of American millionaires with at least $1 million in investable assets consider themselves wealthy, while 64% hold the assets but reject the label. Inflation and rising prices reduce purchasing power, making $1 million in 2026 feel less valuable than it did earlier. Headline and core inflation remain elevated, and energy prices have increased sharply. Consumer sentiment is weak, with the University of Michigan index in recessionary territory and historical readings in the lower quartile. Regional price differences further shape perceptions, with high-cost areas like California and Washington, D.C. showing much higher price parity than states like Arkansas and Mississippi.

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