Strong global economic performance and fast-rising stock markets stoked a 5.3% increase in personal wealth to $166.5 trillion last year.
The surge outpaced a rise of 4.4% in 2015 and is expected to hit 6.o% for 2017.
The Asia-Pacific filed the strongest performance in 2016 and is set to overtake Western Europe in the wealth stakes by the end of 2017 and leap ahead of North America by 2019.
The money is generated by fast GDP growth which creates new cash for savings and investment.
Growing at 9.5%, the Asia Pacific is racing head of Western Europe, which is gripped in Brexit uncertainty and European Union financial troubles. With a miserable comparison rate of 3.2%.
More millionaires and billionaires
Regions, such as North America and Western Europe, have to rely on existing assets to produce their wealth rather than an economy producing new money..
Not only is the world getting richer, but so are billionaires and millionaires.
Almost one in 10 (9.1%) of global households have a net worth of $100 million or more, says the Boston Consulting Group report Transforming The Client Experience.
Another 10.2% have between $20 million and $100 million, while 7.9% have a wealth of between $1 million and $20 million.
“Globally, the greatest share of private financial wealth remained invested in equities in 2016, with significant differences by region,” says the report.
Net worth soaring in Asia Pacific
“These differences can roughly be grouped into three types: equity heavy, balanced, and cash heavy. North America leaned heavily toward equities. Western Europe showed a more balanced allocation, with just a slight tendency toward equities.
“The remaining regions, including Japan and Asia-Pacific, leaned toward cash and deposits. In terms of asset classes, bonds posted lower allocation growth than either equities or cash and deposits in 2016. Nonetheless, by the end of 2021, equities are expected to gain share.”
Net worth soared by 12% in the Asia Pacific to $38.4 trillion and personal wealth is expected to push on with double-digit growth until at least 2021.
The biggest economies in the region – China and India – both posted double-digit increases. Total wealth in India exceeded $2 trillion and is tipped to continue to grow significantly.
