The wealthy are only getting wealthier.
Super-rich families are set to be worth a bonkers US$9.5 trillion (HK$74 trillion) by 2030, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday. That sky-high number, from a new Deloitte report that surveyed family offices, is an impressive 73 per cent increase from the US$5.5 trillion (HK$42.8 trillion) currently owned by people with such businesses. In that same time span, the number of family offices is expected to jump by one-third to 10,720.
In recent years, family offices have become more popular with those wealthy enough to have them, Bloomberg noted. It’s become easier to open a family office, for example, and they have fewer restrictions than a hedge fund. Because of that, though, they can also lead to major problems—take the case of Bill Hwang: The investor’s Archegos Capital Management defaulted in 2021, and in July, he was found guilty of criminal charges related to the collapse.
The family offices assessed in the Deloitte report managed an average of US$2 billion (HK$15.5 billion) in assets, according to Bloomberg. With just about 15 employees, only one-third were led by someone outside the family in question. “It can definitely be risky managing that much wealth,” Rebecca Gooch, global head of insights for Deloitte Private, told the outlet. “Family offices really need to be careful about who they bring on board.”
The new data are just the latest signal that the super-rich are controlling more money than ever before. To even be considered a member of the 1 per cent in the United States, you would need to have at least US$5.8 million (HK$45.2 million), a report from earlier this year showed. That’s a 15 per cent increase from 2023. (If you live in Monaco, you would need an even more hefty US$12.8 million/HK$99.7 million to meet that threshold.) And just last month, another report noted that the world’s ultra-wealthy population—those with a net worth of US$30 million (HK$233.8 million) or more—is expected to grow 38 per cent by 2028.
Those numbers pale in comparison to the wealth depicted in Deloitte’s report, which is largely focused on billionaires rather than millionaires. And in fact, the 500 richest people in the world collectively got US$1.5 trillion (HK$11.6 trillion) wealthier last year. They’re on track to bring in only more dough in the next six years.
