Figuratively Speaking: Survey: Number of $1M U.S. households drops 27 percent

Percentage drop in the number of U.S. households with a net worth of $1 million or more, not including primary residence, according to a report released by Spectrem Group: 27

Percentage drop in the number of ultra-high net worth households, with a net worth of $5 million or more: 28

Percentage drop in affluent households, a broader group defined as those with $500,000 or more in net worth: 28

Long-term investment choices

When asked which of four common investments is best for the long term, percentage of Americans who chose savings, according to a Gallup Poll: 34

Percentage who said real estate: 33

Percentage who cited stocks and mutual funds: 15

Percentage who said bonds: 12

Percentage of Americans who agree that stocks remain a good long-term investment: 53

Percentage of stock owners who agree with this statement: 67

Valuing assets

Percentage of Americans who say it is "very or somewhat important" for them to be wealthy, according to a survey conducted by the Pew Research Center's Social and Demographic Trends project: 57

Percentage who say it is not important at all: 10

Sharing the wealth

Percentage of high-net-worth business owners, whose companies have at least $10 million in annual revenue, who say they have incorporated philanthropic giving into their financial plan, according to a SunTrust Bank Private Wealth Management study: 36

Among them, percentage who have written nonprofit organizations into their wills: 53

Future security

Average amount of life insurance coverage on insured husbands, according to a survey commissioned by Heritage Union: $235,600

When asked how much life insurance they thought was enough, percentage of respondents who said they would need between $400,000 and $1 million: 23

Percentage who thought that $11,001 to $100,000 would be sufficient: 22

Networking and wealth

Percentage of elite professionals (those who are earning more than $200,000per year) who say networking impacts income, according to a study from Upwardly Mobile Inc. and the Graziadio School of Business Management at Pepperdine University: 80

Percentage who believe a skilled networker could see up to a 100 percent increase in income: 58

Percentage of respondents who said networking is how they found their current job: 40

Shrinking pension assets

Percentage shrinkage in the global institutional pension fund assets in the 11 largest pension markets - consisting of the U.S., Japan, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Germany, France, Ireland and Hong Kong - during 2008, according to Watson Wyatt Worldwide's global pension assets study: 19 (from $25 trillion to about $20 trillion)

Percentage of the average gross domestic products this represents: 61 (This is down from 72 percent 10 years ago, which takes the measure back to levels last seen in 1996.)

Luxurious living

Number of households that represent the wealthiest 10 percent of all U.S. households, as determined by the Federal Reserve Board, according to a study by the American Affluence Research Center: 11.2 million

Percentage of luxury consumers who report they have reduced overall expenditures during the past 12 months and/or will do so during the next 12 months: 81

Percentage decline in home remodeling plans from what they were one year ago: 50

Debt loads

Percentage of consumers who are carrying nonmortgage debt, according to the 2009 survey of financial values and debt sponsored by Securian Financial Group: 82

Percentage of baby boomers in debt who owe at least $50,000 in nonmortgage debt: 20, a 10-point spike from the 2007 survey. (Boomers were the only generation in the survey - which included Generations Y, X and the Silent Generation - to add debt since 2007.)

What we owe

Estimated total consumer debt in the U.S., according to the U.S. Federal Reserve and reported in a survey of working adults commissioned by Workplace Options: $963.5 billion

Percentage that is personal credit card debt: 98

Idle Thought:

"This country will not be a permanently good place for any of us to live in unless we make it a reasonably good place for all of us to live in."

-Theodore Roosevelt,26th U.S. president[[In-content Ad]]John MacIntyre is a Nova Scotia-based author and former city magazine editor. His "Figuratively Speaking" column, launched in 1989, is published in more than 40 newspapers and magazines.