The environment for millionaires remains challenging over the next 6-12 months, but long term, the trend remains in tact, reports Merrill Lynch, in its annual World Wealth Report.
The number of HNWI’s (that’s high net worth individuals – people with over $1m in assets excluding their homes) grew to 10.1m, with a combined wealth up 9.4 per cent from last year at $40,700bn.
As for the super rich (those with more than $30m in assets), there are now 103,320 of them.
Growth areas pretty much in line with general market conditions, with millionaire wealth rising fastest in emerging markets (inflationary commodity wealth?).
As for global stocks:
Generally the the various Dow Jones World Indexes only experienced moderate returns in 2007, averaging 6.8%, well below the 17.3% average struck in 2006. As a result, stock market gains did not have as positive an impact on HNWI wealth generation in 2007 as they did in 2006.
Also telling:
Property asset allocation in 2006: 24%
2007: 14%
Hedge fund asset allocation in 2006: 10%
2007: 9%
Related links
World’s richest cut exposure to property and hedge funds – FT