Millionaires hold most of their wealth in stocks, followed by bonds, cash, real estate and alternatives such as private equity. For the richest households, ownership stakes in companies make up a large share as well. Here, a "high-net-worth individual" means someone with at least US$1 million in investable assets. That measure leaves out the home they live in.
That mix matters. Stocks now lead millionaire portfolios, so the market's swings drive most changes in fortunes. Two major data sources track this wealth: Capgemini's global study and the Federal Reserve's U.S. household accounts. Each one measures something different.
Table of Contents
- How Many Millionaires Are There Now?
- What Is in a Millionaire's Portfolio?
- How Concentrated Is Stock Ownership in the U.S.?
- Where Do Property and Private Companies Fit?
- Why Different Wealth Figures Don't Match
- Frequently Asked Questions
How Many Millionaires Are There Now?
Capgemini's World Wealth Report 2026 press release says the number of high-net-worth individuals grew by nearly 2 million in 2025, to 25.3 million worldwide. Their combined wealth rose 8.7% to a record US$98.3 trillion. That was the biggest one-year gain since 2018. The United States led the growth. According to Capgemini, it added 736,000 new millionaires in 2025, more than any other country.
Its high-net-worth population rose 9.2% to 8.7 million. Capgemini credits the U.S. gain mainly to strong stock market returns. Most of these people did not become millionaires by starting a company or buying property in 2025. Rising share prices pushed many existing portfolios over the line.
What Is in a Millionaire's Portfolio?
As of January 2026, Capgemini's full World Wealth Report 2026 puts stocks at 25% of these investors' portfolios. That share is up three percentage points from a year earlier. Here is how the mix breaks down: Alternatives were 15% in Capgemini's previous report.
The drop does not mean investors sold them off. Stocks rose faster, so everything else became a smaller slice of a bigger total. This is worth knowing when you read claims that the wealthy are "fleeing" crypto or private equity. A falling share can simply mean another asset did better.
- Stocks: 25%, up three points
- Bonds: 20%, up two points
- Alternatives such as private equity and crypto: 12%
- Cash and real estate: the remaining share
How Concentrated Is Stock Ownership in the U.S.?
Company shares are where the gap between the richest and everyone else is widest. Federal Reserve data on FRED show that on March 31, 2026, the wealthiest 1% of U.S. households owned 50.13% of all stocks and mutual fund shares held by households. The top 10% owned 87.33%.
The bottom half of households owned 1.06%. When the stock market has a strong year, almost all of the gain goes to households that are already wealthy. Total wealth is less concentrated. In Q1 2026, the top 1% held about 31.6% of all household net worth, according to the Federal Reserve's release tables. That figure counts real estate, stocks, private business interests, pensions and durable goods, minus mortgages and consumer debt.
Where Do Property and Private Companies Fit?
The Fed's broader net worth measure includes privately held business interests and real estate. This is where many founders and property owners keep most of their fortune. Their businesses are not traded on an exchange, so they do not show up in stock ownership figures. The Fed also keeps a separate quarterly series on the top 1%'s share of household real estate.
It runs from 1989 through Q1 2026. Comparing it with the stock series shows whether the wealthy lean more on property or on shares. The gap between 50% of stocks and about 31.6% of total net worth suggests the answer. Other assets, such as homes and pensions, are spread more widely across households than stocks are. A typical family's main asset is its house, while a wealthy family's main asset is more often a stock portfolio or a business.
Why Different Wealth Figures Don't Match
Capgemini counts only investable assets. It leaves out a person's main home and their collectibles. The Fed counts all household wealth. The two sources measure different things, so their figures cannot be compared directly.
The Fed's numbers have their own limits. Its Distributional Financial Accounts combine quarterly national balance sheets with the Survey of Consumer Finances, which runs only every three years. Between surveys, the shares for each wealth group are estimates, not direct counts. When you read a celebrity's net worth or a "millionaire count," check what the figure includes:.
- Does it count the person's home, or only investable assets?
- Are private company stakes valued, and how?
- Is the number a direct survey count or a modeled estimate?
- What date is it from? Stock-heavy fortunes can shift a lot within a single quarter.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does owning a $1 million house make someone a millionaire in these reports?
Not in Capgemini's count, which leaves out a person's main home. The Fed's household net worth figures do include real estate, minus mortgage debt.
Why did alternatives like crypto shrink in wealthy portfolios?
Capgemini says stocks outperformed them. That lowered alternatives from 15% to 12% of portfolios without investors selling out.
Which asset moves millionaire wealth the most?
Stocks. They are the wealthy's biggest liquid holding, so their fortunes rise and fall mostly with the stock market.