Name: BK Boreyko Age: 46 Occupation: President and CEO of Vemma Nutrition Co. and New Vision USA Inc. Previous life: Advertising Net worth: Prefers not to discuss but does offer that “he’s a millionaire a couple dozen times over.” Year he made his first million: 1996 First big purchase: Ferrari Secret to success: “Do what you love and you’ll never work another day in your life.”

Who wants to be a millionaire, indeed?
Actually, contrary to Engel’s personal findings, there are plenty of millionaires in the Valley – 126,394, to be exact. In the May 2008 annual survey of wealthy households conducted by the London-based TNS Global, the leading market research provider for the financial services industry, Maricopa County ranked third in the nation for highest number of millionaire residents, coming in just behind Los Angeles County and Cook County (Chicago).
But just because the Valley now has more millionaires than New York City (ninth-ranked Nassau County), Silicon Valley (eighth-ranked Santa Clara County), and other large metro areas, that doesn’t mean it’s all champagne wishes and caviar dreams for the Phoenix-area households with a $1 million-plus net worth.
What the statistics also reveal is that roughly half of those millionaire residents, at a median age of 66, are retired, leading some to speculate that many of Phoenix’s newest millionaires are actually retirees cashing out of their residences in California or other states hard-hit by the housing bust and moving to the more affordable Valley.
After all, the lifestyle a million dollars bought in 1980 costs more than $2.5 million to maintain today (factoring in inflation). Even BMW and Mercedes owners are griping at the gas pumps.
“People always tell me, ‘Rich people don’t shop at your stores,’” says Ann Siner, CEO and founder of My Sister’s Closet and other consignment stores, who left a marketing position at PetSmart to start the business that has made her a billionaire. “And I say, ‘Where do you think rich people got their money?’ They got it by being smart and they didn’t blow it. They know how to budget, and they love a bargain! And it’s certainly nice to have affordable everything in Phoenix.”