The recent World Ultra Wealth Report had this to say - the really, really rich got richer. It’s been a good year for billionaires. Wealth-X reported that the world's number of billionaires increased by 9.4% to 2160 people and their collective wealth grew 14% to $6.2-trillion.
The fortunes for mere multi-millionaires haven’t been as bright. There are now 187,380 people in the world worth $30 million or more. Their combined fortune fell 1.8 percent to $25.8 trillion, although in North America the $30-million-plus crowd grew 2.8 percent up to $8.88 trillion.
According to the Fed, the top 5 percent own 60 percent of the nation’s individually held financial assets. They own 82 percent of the individually held stocks and more than 90 percent of the individually held bonds. Quantitative easing benefits the wealthy by driving up the prices of assets, especially financial assets and boosting wealth for those already engaged in the financial sector. By helping to reinflate the stock market in 2009 and 2010, the Fed created a recovery where the wealthy quickly recovered much of their wealth as stocks doubled in value*. According to Spectrem Group, the wealthy have only about 13 percent of their investible assets in cash therefore less effected by the present low interest rates while the rest (more than 85 percent) in stocks, bonds, alternative investments and mutual funds - all benefited from quantitative easing.
* see here for a similar interpretation by the Bank of England
The fortunes for mere multi-millionaires haven’t been as bright. There are now 187,380 people in the world worth $30 million or more. Their combined fortune fell 1.8 percent to $25.8 trillion, although in North America the $30-million-plus crowd grew 2.8 percent up to $8.88 trillion.
According to the Fed, the top 5 percent own 60 percent of the nation’s individually held financial assets. They own 82 percent of the individually held stocks and more than 90 percent of the individually held bonds. Quantitative easing benefits the wealthy by driving up the prices of assets, especially financial assets and boosting wealth for those already engaged in the financial sector. By helping to reinflate the stock market in 2009 and 2010, the Fed created a recovery where the wealthy quickly recovered much of their wealth as stocks doubled in value*. According to Spectrem Group, the wealthy have only about 13 percent of their investible assets in cash therefore less effected by the present low interest rates while the rest (more than 85 percent) in stocks, bonds, alternative investments and mutual funds - all benefited from quantitative easing.
* see here for a similar interpretation by the Bank of England
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