From the article: Most millionaires opt for stealth wealth. Their friends don’t know, their coworkers don’t know, their extended family doesn’t know. In a few cases, not even their children know! Wealth is accumulated through habits; at least in a free society like ours. At the moment, something like 1 out of 25 households falls into the millionaire category, most of it self-made. From the comments: Your right in Jac…
What percentage of those millionaires are house-rich? I.e. the house they live in just happened to appreciate significantly and is now worth over $1mm? Those people can still feel as if they are not wealthy at all.
Add in that Boomers skew much richer at the same stage in life as later generations, and that they're a large chunk of retired people, and yeah, "1 in 25 households are millionaires" just means half or 1/3 of retired people aren't living on cat food, and were actually able to retire. Hooray.