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Wealth of US millionaires down 30 percent: survey

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-01-07 15:04

NEW YORK -- American millionaires have seen their assets shrink by 30 percent during the economic crisis, a report said on Tuesday, with only 36 percent of them pleased with the performance of their financial advisers.

A 5th Avenue apartment building in New York City, in a file photo.[Agencies]

Of US households worth $1 million or more, 55 percent are concerned they will not have enough assets to maintain their lifestyles, said Spectrem Group, a consulting firm specializing in the affluent and retirement markets.

Ninety percent fear a prolonged downturn, it said.

"While they blame the government and Wall Street directly for the situation, many millionaires are not happy with their advisors' performance and few say they will increase the work they give to advisors," said Catherine McBreen, managing director of Spectrem Group.

Only 14 percent said they would make more use of financial advisors in the future.

Seventeen percent of the millionaires took hits to their portfolios of more than 40 percent, according to the report "Attitudes of Affluent Investors on Surviving the Economic Crisis."

The report was based on online polling in November of 750 households with more than $1 million of net worth and from information gathered in focus groups in New York, Palm Beach, Seattle, Los Angeles and Chicago, Spectrem said.