A version of this article first appeared in CNBC’s Inside Wealth newsletter with Robert Frank, a weekly guide to the high-net-worth investor and consumer. Sign up to receive future editions, straight to your inbox.

Soaring stock markets created nearly 2 million new millionaires around the world last year, with the ultra rich seeing the strongest growth, according to a new study.

The population of global millionaires surged 7.9% to 25.3 million in 2025, according to the Capgemini World Wealth Report. Their total wealth increased by 8.7% to $98.3 trillion, marking the fastest growth in five years.

At the same time, a wealth gap between millionaires and the ultra wealthy continues to widen. The increasing wealth of millionaires — defined by Capgemini as those with $1 million or more in investible assets, excluding primary home, collectibles and consumer goods — was outpaced by the growth of so-called “ultra-high-net-worth individuals (UHNWI),” or those with $30 million or more. The population of UHNWIs grew 9.4% in 2025, to 250,000, and their fortunes grew 9.7%, according to the report.

UHNWIs now represent 1% of the overall millionaire population, but they hold 35% of all millionaire wealth, according to the study. Gareth Wilson, global banking industry lead at Capgemini, said one reason the ultra wealthy are outpacing millionaires is their access to higher-returning private investments.

“They have access to investments and opportunities that aren’t afforded even to the millionaires next door, whether it be pre-IPO investments or private markets,” Wilson said. “When you look at those individuals who have investable assets at that scale, they probably have more influence in terms of access to some of the hedge funds, access to the private markets, and they’re probably afforded access to some other kind of pre-IPO investments that us mere mortals probably don’t even know about.”

Geographically, the U.S. continues to power much of the global millionaire growth. The U.S. added 730,000 new millionaires in 2025, bringing the total U.S. millionaire population to 8.73 million, according to the report. Their fortunes surged by nearly $3 trillion to $31.3 trillion.

Asia also posted strong growth, with its millionaire wealth up 10.5% and millionaire population up 9.4%.

While China had been the main growth engine for Asian wealth for years, Korea and Taiwan are now leading Asian wealth creation, as the Korean stock market surged 76% last year and semiconductor stocks powered Taiwanese markets higher. Asia’s total millionaire population reached 8.3 million in 2025, according to the report.

Europe’s millionaire population grew 6.5%, while Latin America’s grew 0.3% and the Middle East saw a decline of 1.4%.

When it comes to their investments, the world’s millionaires are increasing their holdings of stocks. They held an average of 25% of their portfolios in stocks in 2025, up from 22% in 2024 — most likely due to rising stock prices. Their share of alternatives declined to 12% from 15% and their cash holdings also fell to 24% from 26%. Their holdings of fixed income increased from 18% to 20% and their real estate investments remained flat at 19%.

The increased holdings of stocks and drawdowns in cash point to a continued “risk on” attitude among millionaire investors. With markets coming off three years of double-digit gains, investors are more fearful of missing out on a bull run than they are of losses.

“The equities performance is encouraging the movement from lower-risk to higher-risk investments,” Wilson said. “I would say we’ve probably seen an increase in the risk appetite, and we’ve also seen the high-net-worth individuals follow the money in terms of equity performance.”

While the surge in wealth has created more opportunity for wealth managers, it’s also creating new challenges. Today’s wealthy are increasingly dividing their fortunes between multiple advisors based on their specialties, rather than relying on one or two trusted firms. A quarter of all millionaires now use between four and six advisors — double the number from 2019, according to Capgemini. The number of millionaires using only one advisor has fallen by more than half, to 19%.

At the same time, wealthy investors are turning to nontraditional firms for advice. On the lower end of the wealth spectrum, for those with between $1 million and $5 million, investors are using more roboadvisors, or automated platforms. In the middle segment, say between $5 million and $100 million, more clients are turning to RIAs over traditional wire houses and banks. And at the top, many are creating their family offices.

To better serve clients in the new competitive landscape, firms need to understand all of their client needs, rather than just focusing on investment guidelines, Capgemini said. Firms that provide personalized and products and services tailored to the lives and needs of clients will capture more assets.

Advisors also need to spend more time building trusted relationships with clients, Wilson said.

“We’ve seen where that relationship manager is able to build trust, build a very personalized connect, and also orchestrate all the products and services for the client in a specific way,” Wilson said. “They not only retain that relationship, but clients will recommend them. You want your high-net-worth individuals recommending you to their friends at the country club, or the golf club, or the boat club.”