Got money? One in 13 U.S households has assets of at least $1 million

By Dian Vujovich

April is Financial Literacy Month so throughout the next four weeks I’ll be focusing on all things money-dream related.  Like, becoming hugely wealthy.

Depending upon the crowd you socialize with, the Census Bureau stat that 1 in 13 households across this great nation of ours has assets—sans the value of their home—of more than a million bucks will either evoke a shocking, not so surprising or ho-hum response. Those who live in Palm Beach might find that asset figure a bit boring and perhaps even something to pity rather than rave about.

But Palm Beach isn’t Sheboygan and to get from the former to the later  takes some doing. With that in mind, participants in the stock market know that fortunes can be made there over time — provided they are willing to take the up-and-down ride required.

While there’s no telling what stocks to buy or sell or how long it will take to make a million or a billion, Navellier’s MarketMail newsletter this month pointed out that April has had a pretty good reputation for being the best performing month of the year to be in the markets.

From that newsletter and dated April 1, 2013: “Today, we enter April, typically the best month of the year in recent market history. We believe we should see further gains, but after pension funding concludes in mid-April and earnings announcement season begins, I expect the market to be more selective.”

That said, only four of Florida’s 25 richest stated that their fortunes were made directly from investing, according to the story  profiles. Although investing somewhere, some how and  in some degree no-doubt played a part in keeping or growing their wealth.

While these lucky souls made their billions in everything from coal to magazine publishing, and diet drinks to  subs,all this money-making took time meaning: there are no youngsters on the list as ages ranged from 48 to 88. The youngest is Dirk Ziff, of North Palm Beach son of the builder of Ziff-Davis and the oldest Palm Beach’s Daniel Abraham of Slim-Fast fame.

Most who made the list were in their 60s and 70’s and none—I repeat none— women. But, perhaps that’s not so horrible as there will likely be some very wealthy widows coming down the pike in the future.

For those with  the financial goal of becoming a billionaire, here are the names of the five richest in Florida and how they made their money: Tops on the list at $5.4 billion is Fred DeLuca, Subway; next at $5.2 billion is Micky Arison, Carnival cruise lines; then, Dirk Ziff of Ziff-Davis publishing and Ziff Brothers Investments, at $4.2 billion; followed by Palm Beach’s William Koch, Oxbow Carbon at $4 billion; and then,  Palm Beach’s Malcolm Glazer, $3.6 billion, real estate/sports.

Yes,  it’s a big leap from $1 million in assets to 100 million or one billion, but a 7-figure start is sure a great place to begin.

Good luck.

Read the entire list of the 25 riches Floridian’s in Florida Trend magazine at:

http://tinyurl.com/c9calad or

floridatrend.com/article/15413/richest-floridians-the-top-25