Helping hands
The report contains more data to back up Wilson’s point about the growth in relationships that UHNW individuals want or need. The report said that 78 per cent of surveyed UHNW individuals consider value-added services essential to wealth management firm relationships. 

This news service asked Wilson about whether, as UHNW individuals use so many financial institutions, they should acquire a sort of “overseer” to keep a holistic view of all this complexity. 

Wilson was not certain an actual person is needed to do that job. 

“I am not sure if it must be a person; this could be a single digital aggregation of your wealth. Today, with data reporting, people want speed,” he said. 

In talking about the very language of “high net worth” and the like, this news service suggested to Wilson that the definitions must change to account for the inflation in the value of money. The old “HNW” amount of $1 million of investable wealth isn’t worth what it used to be.

Wilson said that those with $1 million to $5 million of investable wealth count as “millionaires next door,” from $5 million to $30 million, they are “mid-tier millionaires,” and above $30 million, they are ultra-HNW.

The faster pace of wealth growth by North America has various causes. The region is more friendly towards innovation, Wilson said. The rapid rise of US equities – led by the “Magnificent Seven” Big Techs, such as Amazon, Nvidia and Microsoft – is one of the reasons. All that said, “Asia, though, is still very relevant,” Wilson said.

Wilson referred, for example, to the growth of a large and affluent Indian middle class. Asia is well placed to capture economic benefits from AI and forms of digital technology.  

In Europe, while growth has been less robust than in North America – perhaps a reflecting Europe’s higher taxes and regulatory levels – markets in certain countries have posted strong gains. The CAC 40 index of French equities ended 2023 up by almost 17 per cent, driven by gains to its luxury goods sector, as seen by share price performance of Hermès and LVMH. The more domestically focused FTSE 250 only gained 4.5 per cent, buffeted by a lack of tech companies, sluggish economic growth and political uncertainties.

In Asia, a bum note was sounded last year by China, with the Shanghai Composite down 4 per cent, dragged by a weak economic recovery and troubles in the real estate sector. On the other hand, Japan had a banner year: the Nikkei-225 chalked up 28 per cent returns, benefiting from the country’s drive to unlock cash from corporates under new governance rules.