Speed bump ahead for wealth growth

Assets held by the world's highest-net individuals climbed 11.4% to $37.2 trillion last year.

Assets held by the world’s highest-net individuals climbed 11.4% to $37.2 trillion last year.
But that growth is expected to grow in the years ahead.
The increase in wealth, which marked the first double-digit increase in wealth generation in seven years, was attributed to growing real domestic product and market capitalization as the number of wealthy individuals and their total assets increased, according to Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc. and Capgemini Group’s World Wealth Report, released today.
However, the growth is expected slow to a 6.8% clip each year up until 2011 due to rising energy costs and geopolitical conflicts.
The number of people with more than $1 million in investable assets—excluding their homes—increased 8.3% to 9.5 million people worldwide.
Meanwhile, the number of ultra high net worth individuals—those with over $30 million in investable assets excluding their homes—grew by 11.3% last year to 94,970.
Last year’s growth was driven by increases in Latin America, Africa, the Middle East and Asia-Pacific regions of 23%, 14%, and 12% respectively.
Strong returns in the Real Estate Investment Trusts have pushed the average allocation in wealth management portfolios to 24% from 16% in 2005.
Meanwhile, allocation of assets to alternative investments fell to 10% from 20% during that same period.