How Do Today’s Global HNWIs Approach Wealth Generation?

According to a survey of over 1,000 HNWIs conducted by FactSet and Scorpio Partnership, today’s wealthy individuals are highly concerned about uncertainty in the marketplace. More than 60% of wealthy investors assert that unforeseen market events are a major threat to their wealth creation strategy. 

However, while there was commonality regarding concerns, when evaluating their approaches to potential opportunities for creating wealth, interesting deviations emerged.

In Hong Kong for example, 59% of respondents saw healthcare and wellness development as an opportunity to grow their wealth. The same percentage of respondents there (59%) saw developments in education offering similar prospects.

Singapore and the UK were more aligned in their identification of wealth building opportunities. Globalisation was identified in both regions as the second biggest opportunity; with 55% of UK respondents, and 67% of respondents in Singapore identifying it. Healthcare and wellness opportunities were also given high marks in Singapore and the UK.

In the U.S., respondents see changing energy sources (51%) and the performance of their wealth managers (47%) as the second and third most common areas for building wealth.

Wealth Management for Global Age

While these figures reveal the preferences of individual regions, they also indicate that HNWI’s may not be harnessing potential wealth creation opportunities through direct investment or philanthropy. Such issues are the perfect opportunity for wealth managers to reconsider their tactics with the goal of building their client base.

Broader practice adjustments also exist. For example, concerns in all corners of the world surrounding uncertainty are not exclusive to the geographies where shocks originate. Systemic risk was identified as a significant threat by majorities in Canada, U.S., U.K., Hong Kong, and Singapore, highlighting the universal requirement for a wealth managers to present a clear framework to guide investors through times of market stress.

To understand these regional differences and how wealth managers can adjust their strategies to accommodate them, download the full survey: The Resilience Agenda: The Wealth Manager’s Guide to the New Era of Volatility.