What Do The Wealthiest Individuals Invest In?

As the number of ultra-high net worth individuas rises, Carla Maria Issa, senior research analyst at Property Finder, examines whether prime property is enjoying renewed interest.

SINCE 2016 THERE have been a number of global events that created – and are still creating – quite a bit of turmoil; not least among investors.

From unrest in the Levant region, trade tensions between the US and China, Brexit, the effects of climate change on the migration of people, and food insecurity, global events have meant that wealth and investment decisions are seeing some interesting trends – particularly when it comes to how some asset classes are performing in comparison with others.

And for that class of movers and shakers in the world who invest in a range of assets in an effort to generate greater wealth, there have been some changes to the breadth of the investment landscape.

Traditionally, stocks, bonds, commodities and property have been common modes of wealth creation, but these assets have exhibited some uncertainty for a number of years now. Despite a period of pronounced peaks and troughs, the world is coming to the end of one of the longest bull markets in modern history – from the bottom of the financial crisis that began in 2008, until the present, according to the Wall Street Journal. What this ongoing cycle of wide-spread productivity and market favourability means is that there has been an increase in the number of people able to generate wealth.

Knight Frank’s 2019 Wealth Report says that “the global UHNWI (ultra high net worth individuals) population is forecast to rise by 22 per cent over the next five years, meaning an extra 43,000 people will be worth more than $30m by 2023”. And meanwhile, those that already meet a healthy threshold can continue to expect their wealth to increase in the years ahead.

The global wealth shift