India: World's Largest Economy by 2050

East is the New West

The East is going to emerge as the new global hotspots of High Net Worth Individuals (HNWIs). There will also be significant growth in the number of centa-millionaires in the regions of South-East Asia, Japan and China. Ledbury Research predicts that by 2016, there will be more than 26,000 centa-millionaires in these regions, while Western Europe will have 15,000 and North America - 21,000.

James Lawson, Director at Ledbury Research, says, “We believe the number and concentration of centa-millionaires accentuates the trajectory of current global wealth flows.” Lawson further says, “Trends seen in this wealth bracket are likely to be replicated in lower wealth tiers in years to come.”

These forecasts are based on economic performance of nations in the Asia-Pacific. Though GDP is not the deciding factor here, major opportunities for generating large wealth is abundant here.

Lawson further quotes, “To amass this sort of wealth means there must be an alignment between opportunity and ability. For those who make more than $50m, the opportunity usually arises because of a major liquidity event, and these are more common, and can be tapped into more readily, in fast-moving economies.” He further says, “Just looking at the wealthiest in some emerging markets, you can see the sectors where they are generating their wealth include natural resources, manufacturing or construction.”

Buiter adds, “As part of the process of fast economic growth, vast wealth will be created. The distribution of that wealth will be dictated by political factors as much as the economic process itself, but there will be high returns from investment in skills and education.”