Tag Archives: global wealth

Review Capgemini World Wealth Report series 2023 Wealth Management

What is this Report?

The report is the 27th annual world wealth report by Capgemini Research Institute. The report analyzes the state of wealth and wealth management across the world in the prior calendar year. The report focuses on High Net Worth Individuals (HNWIs) defined as individuals with assets of $1M+ and over.

What are key findings from the article?

  • The global economy showed signs of slowing compared to prior years. Notably, the global economy grew 3.2% in 2022, compared to 6% in 2021.  North America saw a steep decline in HNWI wealth of 7.4% and HNWI population in 6.9% but North America remains number 1 in wealth amount and total population. Asia-Pacific and Europe saw declines in both wealth and population of HNWI. Africa, Latin America, and Middle East saw growth.
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Reviewing the World Ultra Wealth Report 2022

What is this Report?

Reviewing the World Ultra Wealth Report 2022

The report is the first World Ultra Wealth Report that is published by Altrata. It’s the tenth such report using Wealth-X data. The report looks at the global ultra-high net worth (UNHW) population in the first half of 2022.

UHNW individuals are defined as individuals who have a net worth over $30 million. High net worth population is defined as individuals with net worth over $1M.

What are key findings from the article?

  • The Ultra High Net Worth population fell by 6% and the combined value of wealth dropped 11% in the first half of 2022. The report points to the war in the Ukraine and global economic volatility (including inflation) as causes of the drop.The population of UHNW individuals totals 392K and they have combined net worth of $41.8trn. “The ultra-wealthy account for just 1.2% of the global HNW population, yet hold over 31% of this group’s total wealth.”
  • North America reported the biggest drop in total UHNW individuals at 10%. China was the only major wealth market that saw a rise of 2.3% in total number of UHNW. In the US, the report believes the drop is due to policy changes at the Federal Reserve, rising interest rates, “slump in capital markets.”However, the US is still number one with 121,465 UHNW individuals, followed by China with 51,145 individuals. Germany, Japan, and Hong Kong are the next three respectively. Hong Kong is the #1 city of UHNW individuals followed by New York and Los Angeles.
  • While women are only 11% of UHNW population, their numbers are rising. The average age of UHNW women is 64 and more than half inherited some or all of their wealth.
  • However, the number of UHNW women who are self-made is not evenly distributed in all regions. US is close to the average at 51.1% whereas China has a whopping 81% of UHNW women who made their wealth. Other countries like Germany are lower, at 16.5%.
  • The majority of UHNW women work in the non-profit and social organizations sector. In comparison, the majority of UHNW men work in banking and finance. The report ascribes the higher percentage of women in nonprofits due to greater amounts of inherited wealth.
  • Asset distribution is similar for both UHNW women and men except with real estate. UHNW women tend to invest a higher percentage of their wealth in real estate and luxury assets compared to men. UHNW women tend to prefer jewelry and art as luxury assets compared to men. Notably the report found, “Women account for 70 of every 100 UHNW owners of luxury watches and jewelry, assuming an equal number across genders. In contrast, UHNW men prefer jets and yachts.
  • Given that nonprofits are the number one industry for UNHW women, it’s not surprising that philanthropy is the biggest hobby of the population. For UHNW men, sports are first, then followed by philanthropy. Both UHNW men and women prioritize giving to education, followed by arts & culture, then social services.
  • In the US, UHNW women make larger political gifts on average: $134K compared to $125K. They donate more frequently, but men tend to give bigger donations from companies.

Additional Resources

Boston Consulting Group Global Wealth 2022

What is this Report?

The Boston Consulting Group’s 22nd annual report looks at global wealth as well as the field of wealth management. Ultra-high net worth individuals are those individuals with assets over $100M.

What are key findings from the article?

  • Global wealth expanded by 10.6% in 2021. It’s the fastest rate in a decade with $26 trillion in new wealth. BCG credits gains were made in corporate profits and real assets. The company noted the resiliency of wealth growth despite the pandemic and the Great Recession.
  • However, BCG warns of destabilizing factors of global inflation and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Their models suggest that there would be a short-term decrease in wealth but then an average rate of growth at 5.3% through 2026. The company also expects inflation to stay high in 2022 but decrease in 2023.
  • Asia-Pacific and Oceania (but not Japan) is projected to have the largest growth of 8.4% through 2026. Middle East and Africa would be next with 5.4% and then North America at 4.1%. Western Europe would drop to 4%.
  • Sustainable investing is growing fast. Investors are keen on net-zero, which means that the amount of greenhouse gases produced, and gasses taken from the atmosphere are zero. Companies have a goal of becoming net zero by 2050 but investors want changes now. BCG believes that by 2026 the asset class of sustainable investing will rise be 8%-17%, a rise from 4%-11% today. Wealth managers will have to consider climate data when making recommendations for investments.
  • The report noted: “Responsible investing—which loosely considers environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors—is not the same as sustainable investing.”  The report defines sustainable investing as including investing in companies with top sustainable sectors. Broader sustainable investing excludes investments that fail to sustain measures like net zero by 2050. It excludes things detrimental to the world such as weapons and war manufacturing.
  • Cryptocurrency will grow 4 to 5 times bigger before 2030. BCG makes this prediction despite the recent turmoil in the sector. Although cryptocurrencies are 90% of the space, there is a growing interest in NFTs, crypto custody and insurance, mutual funds, crypto options and futures and more. BCG thinks there will be regulations in the future. Blockchain-based decentralized finance, known as DeFi, attracted more than $200 billion in assets since April 2022. Major financial institutions such as Wells Fargo, JP Morgan Chase have hired people in crypto-related jobs since 2018.
  • Digital wealth management (WM) companies have grown significantly, attracting $14.5 billion in 2021. Digital WM uses financial technology, sometimes automation, to provide wealth management services to its customers, usually completely remotely. These are younger companies, many formed in the past 15 years. Examples include Marstone, Yield Stone, and StashAway.

What can I do as a result?

  • While investors are becoming more interested in sustainability and net-zero, prospective donors might become interested in how your organization is implementing/considering these areas. Even if you aren’t a nonprofit with an environmental focus, these concerns about environmental impact are going to expand in future areas, not just the world of wealth management.
  • While extremely volatile, crypto is likely here to stay. While many think we are seeing the final hemorrhaging of the cryptocurrency, it’s significant that BCG thinks it will continue. How prepared is your organization to accept it? Or has your organization made a choice not to accept it due to ethical concerns, such as environmental cost, etc.? As noted in previous blog posts, the industry is new and there will be startups that will fail and others succeed, just as we have seen with other industries.
  • But cryptocurrencies and NFTs are not all there is to crypto. Decentralized finance is likely to grow, and a new class of prospects may come out of that industry with money to donate.
  • With the increase in digital wealth management, more people have access to invest in private equity, private debt and pre-Initial Public Offering (IPO) participation that was originally limited to top investors. Digital WM can bundle these investments with multiple individuals. This means that more prospects may have investments, but may be using digital services instead of traditional wealth management firms.

Additional Resources

Get Personal and Deliver Impact: Reviewing Capgemini 2022 World Wealth Report

By Elisa Shoenberger

What is this report?

Get Personal and Deliver Impact: Reviewing Capgemini 2022 World Wealth Report

The World Wealth Report is an annual report about the wealth of high-net-worth individuals (HNWIs) and the economic conditions in the Wealth Management industry. This year’s report is based on responses from over 2,973 HNWIs in 24 wealth markets, administered in January 2022.

Capgemini defines HNWI as those who have “investable assets of US$1 million or more, excluding primary residence, collectibles, consumables, and consumer durables.”

What are key findings from the article?

  • Wealth increased with a rise in global High Net Worth Individuals (HNWI) of 7.8% and global wealth totals of 8.0%.
  • Following the trend in 2020, North America leads the world on HNWI individuals with 13.2% growth and 13.8% wealth in 2021. Europe comes second, then Asia-Pacific. The report credits the strong performance of the technology sector, specifically Microsoft, Alphabet, Apple, Tesla and Nvidia. US real estate also grew 11%.
  • However, with rising inflation and interest rate hikes, Capgemini estimates that global HNWI wealth declined by 4% from 12/31/2021 to 4/30/2022. North America would be the most impacted followed by Europe.
  • Globally, 55% of HNWI want to make more investments with ESGs (environmental, social, and government). Interestingly, HNWIs in Asia-Pacific (except Japan), Latin America and Europe are most interested in sustainable investments, followed by North America. But millennials are the most interested age group in these types of investments.
  • Cryptocurrencies and other digital assets are still popular. The report noted: “71% of HNWIs globally have invested in digital assets and 91% of HNWIs younger than 40 have investments in digital assets.” Cryptocurrency is their first digital asset, then exchanged-traded funds and the metaverse are next. Morgan Stanley has three funds that allow investors with at least $2M into bitcoin. (Of course, the report was written before the recent extreme volatility of cryptocurrencies and NFTs).
  • Family offices are popular for HNWI. The 10,000 or so family offices manage 8% of the global HNWI wealth, which is about $7 trillion. That is up from $5.9 trillion with 7,300 family offices in the prior year. Even more striking is that HNWIs prefer them to large banks or wealth management firms – by 63%! They prefer them due to “one-stop-shop convenience and personalized services” as well as “reduced service costs.” Emotional connection is also key, something hard to build with banks and wealth management firms.
  • Demographics keep changing. Women, millennials, tech-wealth HNWIs are emerging. The reported noted, “Women across all wealth brackets will inherit 70% of global wealth over the next two generations and will likely manage two-thirds of household wealth by 2030.” But there’s a disconnect with women and wealth management firms.

What can I do as a result?

  • Pay attention to prospects who have family offices or participate in multi-family offices. Family offices are a huge wealth indicator. Family offices deliver investment and wealth management for the family, generally where the family has over $100 million in investable assets. Families with $25M+ in assets are more likely to participate in multi-family offices.
  • Keep in mind rising demographics of wealth. The report noted: ““Women want firms to earn their trust and confidence and support their unique needs,” including returns on their investments and purpose.” The same could be said about women and philanthropy. Women may not want to have transactional relationship with a nonprofit.
  • With the rise in popularity of ESGs, people may see impact investing as a means of giving back. For some prospects, your organization may have to approach them with the general framework of ESGs to “meet them where they are.”
  • Cryptocurrency has had some rough months but there may still be opportunity for philanthropy. Fidelity Charitable reported that in 2021, $331 million in cryptocurrencies was donated to donor advised funds. It will be interesting to see what happens in the next few months. As with stock gifts, it is prudent to convert cryptocurrencies into cash as well as be more mindful of what donations your organization will take. Also, it may be worth looking at other digital assets including digital currencies, exchanged-traded funds and the metaverse.

Additional Resources

Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) World Giving Index 2021: a global pandemic special report – June 2021

What is this Report?

The report is an annual report that looks at global giving focusing on three areas: helping strangers, donating money to charity and volunteering time. The report surveys 1.6 million people interviewed since 2009.

What are key findings from the article?

  • One of fifth of all people around the globe volunteer.
  • Indonesia is number one in generosity. Eight out of ten Indonesians gave to charity and the number of volunteers were three times the global average. The countries in the top ten most generous countries changed dramatically. They are (in order):
    1. Nigeria
    2. Myanmar
    3. Australia
    4. Ghana
    5. New Zealand
    6. Uganda
    7. Kosovo
    8. Thailand
  • The United States, usually in the top five, fell to 19th in 2020. It has significantly declined in all three categories since 2016. Other countries usually in the top ten (United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada, the Netherlands) also dropped out of the top 10. Overall, developing countries are seeing participation in philanthropy increase across the board; developed countries are showing some decline or stalling. The report finds that European countries dominated the list of countries least likely to help a stranger.
  • People were more likely to give to strangers than ever before. More than three billion people (over 55% of total population) helped a stranger in 2020. Six of ten countries that topped the list were in Africa. CAF attributes the high rates of caring for strangers to the African idea of ubuntu “described as the capacity in an African culture to express compassion, reciprocity, dignity, humanity and mutuality in the interests of building and maintaining communities with justice and mutual caring.”
  • Giving is up despite (or because of) the pandemic. 31% of people gave, and volunteer levels were unchanged in 2020.
  • CAF tracks the countries that have increased their World Giving Score in at least four out of the five past years. The Biggest risers are:
    1. Georgia
    2. Paraguay
    3. Ethiopia
    4. Bulgaria
    5. Vietnam
    6. Serbia
    7. Bangladesh
    8. China
    9. Ukraine
    10. India

What can I do as a result?

  • Look beyond the US and Europe if your organization has a global reach. There’s potential for philanthropy from other parts of the world, provided that your mission touches the country in some way. Check out if you have prospects in Indonesia, Kenya and Nigeria. However, the report did not focus on where the philanthropy went —in other words, did the money stay in the country or go elsewhere?
  • There’s money available for philanthropy. This is a theme that has shown up in many recent wealth reports. Some nonprofits were worried about asking for donations during COVID-19, but people still want to give to nonprofits, probably even more, as a result of the pandemic.
  • Think outside the box with your volunteers. Despite the pandemic, volunteerism did not decrease. How can your organization continue to engage your volunteers for your mission? After all, we know that volunteerism makes people feel good and more likely to want to give to your organization.
  • The drop in US in philanthropy is concerning. Consider examining how you are engaging donors — and when and how you are losing donors.

Additional Resources