Female millionaires on the rise.

Do women still marry into wealth?  Apparently not, according to Barclays Wealth management.

Less than one in four female millionaires said that marrying a rich man was the major reason for their wealth.  Most said they earned their own money from starting a business or investments.

Women are more likely to make their own money, than marry it.  Economists predict there will be more female than male millionaires by 2020.

The Centre for Economics and Business Research found last year that women now make up 46 per cent of the 370,000 millionaires in Britain. It predicted that they will overtake men to reach 53 per cent by 2020.

The Centre said the fact that women live longer than men - meaning they often inherit a husband’s wealth - coupled with increasingly generous divorce settlements would play a big role in pushing up the numbers.

But yesterday’s study dismissed the idea that marriage, inheritance and increasingly generous divorce settlements are largely responsible for the growing numbers of rich women.

The report suggested that the rise of service industries - which have attracted working women in unprecedented numbers - is behind the boom.

The survey of 600 wealthy women found that 83.9 per cent pointed to earnings and business ownership as the main reasons for their affluence.

Just under a third (32.8 per cent) named personal investment. By contrast, less than a quarter (24.7 per cent) said that marriage had brought them wealth and just under a fifth (19.9 per cent) said they inherited it.

Only 2.2 per cent named divorce as the source of their money and property.

June 12th, 2007