Optimism among the wealthy is at a four-year high

Some 71% of our Attitudes Survey respondents expect their clients’ wealth to increase in 2021. That’s the highest level since we started asking that question four years ago and to date, expectations have proved largely accurate.

While there is a tendency to overshoot expectations, the largest diversion between prospective and retrospective changes in wealth was only six percentage points.

Unsurprisingly, this was seen in the 2020 edition of the report (released pre-pandemic) where 55% of respondents expected their clients’ wealth to increase during the year. When asked a year later how their clients’ wealth had actually changed during 2020, just under half said it had increased.

This points to an expansion in global ultra-high-net-worth individual (UHNWI) numbers during the year ahead. As shown in the table below, the higher positivity in wealth registered by our survey respondents corresponds to greater growth in UHNWI numbers.

In The Wealth Report 2021 we discuss some of the biggest influences on wealth creation in 2021 including new investment opportunities in a post-pandemic world and technological disruption. With optimism about the speed of recovery gathering pace amid a largely successful global vaccine rollout, the confidence of our survey respondents could be well placed.

Note on the Attitudes Survey: This year we analysed responses from more than 600 private bankers, wealth advisors and family offices across 50 countries and territories, representing combined wealth of more than US$3.3 trillion. The survey was taken during October/November 2020 – for full results please click here.

Photo by Joshua Woroniecki on Unsplash