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In 1850, there were 19 millionaires in the United States. By the turn of the century, the number had risen to 4,000. Today, there are over 28 million millionaires and rising. What was once an exclusive club ain’t so exclusive these days.

The Billionaire’s Club is a different story. It’s believed that John D. Rockefeller was its first member, back in 1916. By 1980 that number had grown to only 13, and even with a roaring economy, the tech boom and countless instances of Wall Street insider trading, the current number of billionaires in the U.S. is still under 1,000.

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Charting the differences between a millionaire and a billionaire is an enlightening exercise. The leap from the Millionaires Club to the Billionaire Club is both........

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