World Wealth Report 2010

Latest Headlines

• State of the World’s Wealth: The world’s population of high net worth individuals (HNWIs) grew 17.1% to 10.0 million in 2009. HNWI financial wealth increased 18.9% from 2008 levels to $39 trillion. After losing 24.0% in 2008, Ultra-HNWIs saw wealth rebound 21.5% in 2009.
• Asset Allocations: HNWI investors favored predictable returns and cash flow, allocating more to fixed-income instruments and markets outside their home regions in search of higher returns and geographic diversification. Equity holdings rose while cash holdings declined slightly.
• Spotlight: HNWIs seize a more hands-on role in their finances as shifts in asset allocation mirror investor caution from the crisis as Emotional factors play a prominent role as WM firms leverage key tenets of behavioral finance to rebuild investor trust and confidence.
• Passion Investments and Philanthropy: With financial markets still in flux, some HNWIs indicated they are approaching their passion investments as “investor-collectors”, seeking out those items that are perceived to have tangible long-term value.. Philanthropic giving is expected to grow across nearly all regions by 2010, except for North America, which has a mixed outlook.
• Regional and Country Trends: North America remains the single largest home to HNWIs representing at 31% of the global HNWI population or 3.1 million. Asia-Pacific’s HNWI population reached 3 million in 2009, matching that of Europe for the first time. Asia-Pacific wealth rose 30.9% to $9.7 trillion, surpassing the $9.5 trillion in wealth held by Europe’s HNWIs.

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For the complete story on global wealth trends:

• Get customized International Market Sizing and US-City Market Sizing using our proven models
• Visit the History of the World Wealth Report to read reports from 2003 to 2009
• Read the Regional Facts for HNWI trends in North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East and Latin America
• Explore the Asia Pacific Wealth Report 2009 for deeper insights into HNWI in the Asia Pacific region