Allison Schrager, Columnist

The Era of the Illiquid Millionaire Is Here

October 17, 2025 at 9:00 AM UTC

Allison Schrager is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering economics. A senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, she is author of “An Economist Walks Into a Brothel: And Other Unexpected Places to Understand Risk.”

Where all the wealth is.
Photographer: Kena Betancur/AFP

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Being a millionaire isn’t what it used to be. This isn’t a lament, it’s a fact: As Bloomberg News reported last week, almost one-fifth of US households have a net worth of more than $1 million. Fully one-third of them have gained that status since 2017.

There is, however, an important caveat to this data, which is through 2023: Most of that wealth is on paper. America may be entering the Era of the Illiquid Millionaire. Compared to the alternative — the illiquid non-millionaire — it is a nice problem to have. But it also is redefining what it means to be rich, with profound implications for both society and public policy.