Where To Find a Millionaire?

A 126-year-old family-owned business in Michigan had a mystery to solve. Used to selling small batches of the air vents they manufactured, Armstrong International suddenly had orders for thousands. It turns out that new AI data centers have liquid cooling systems that need Armstrong’s vents for expelling hot air.

It is likely that Armstrong’s owners are “Everywhere Millionaires.”

Millionaires Are Everywhere

There are approximately three million millionaires in the U.S. Very possibly one of our neighbors, an “Everywhere Millionaire,” could be the owner of the local BMW dealership, a McDonald’s franchisee, or a dentist who owns several practices. Defined by economist Eric Zwick in a Harvard Gazette interview, an everywhere millionaire’s net worth is at least $5 million. And, through a family business, their average wealth is close to $25 million.

Pass-through income (business income that is individually taxable) determined the millionaires in these county-by-county totals:

With close to 25% of the “Everywhere Millionaires” having inherited their businesses, we are left with 75% that are self-made. But are they entrepreneurs?

Our Bottom Line: Entrepreneurs

According to economist Joseph Schumpeter (1883-1950), there is more to an entrepreneur than starting a business. As he explained, entrepreneurs are the source of “creative destruction” because their businesses render others obsolete. Creating new products and processes, entrepreneurs change consumer habits, develop new means of production, and new forms of economic organization. Not necessarily concerned with risk, they are unusually focused on making a difference in the world.

Using Schumpeter’s definition, we can assume that most ‘Everywhere Millionaires,” including the owners of Armstrong International, are not entrepreneurs.

However, having invented the inverted bucket steam trap in 1911, their ancestors were.

My sources and more: Thanks to WSJ for inspiring today’s post, here and here. From there, we discovered more “Everywhere Millionaire” details in a Harvard Gazette interview.

We should note that several of today’s sentences were in a past econlife post. And finally, our featured image is an Armstrong vent.