The World’s Affluent

By standardized accounts, in order to be considered a “millionaire,” you must have more than one million dollars not counting their primary residence or private collections of objects such as art, antiques or coins. This can, however, include cash, equities, bonds, funds, or other real assets. How many of these High Net Worth Individuals (HNWIs) are there out there? How about their bigger, wealthier brother, the Ultra High Net Worth Individuals (UHNWIs) around the world?

Financial services group Capgemini and U.S. investment bank Merrill Lynch recently conducted a study about the slowing global economy and a consolidating and increasingly wealthy class of “super-rich” individuals around the world. Their findings shed some interesting light on the evolving face of wealth across the globe.

· The financial assets owned by the group totaled 37.2 trillion dollars (27.7 trillion Euros)

· Financial assets owned by this group increased by 11.4 percent from 2005

· Singapore, India, Indonesia and Russia produced the greatest number of new millionaires in this category

Why did this group grow so much, with the cumulative wealth of their combined whole increasing at such a strong magnitude? Increased production the world over increased real GDP and market capitalization rates drove and accelerated this growth through 2006.

· UHNWIs also increased their standing in recent years:

• Increased by 11.3 percent in 2006
• Global population of this extremely affluent group now estimated at 94,970 people
• UHNWIs now account for 1.43 percent of the global population
• Assets of Ultra-HNWIs increased by 16.8 percent compared with 2005

So, where does all their money go?

• More than 25 percent of investments were in private jets, sports teams, yachts or race horses
• Art investments accounted for 20 percent of the HNWIs’ investments
• The remainder went into fine wine and jewelry, and alternative investments such as real estate

What to expect in the future? The report indicates that the collective fortune of the HNWI population is forecast to hit 51.6 trillion dollars in 2011, compared with 37.2 trillion in 2006.