The world’s richest people are getting richer. And their combined wealth has hit a new record.
The combined wealth of the world’s millionaires and billionaires has hit $70.2 trillion, reaching a new record for collective wealth among the world’s richest, Capgemini revealed on Tuesday in its annual World Wealth Report.
The research firm said that it was sixth-straight year of high-net-worth individuals adding more cash to their coffers. The collective wealthy was more than double the $32.8 trillion in wealth the world’s richest people had in 2008.
Capgemini’s report sheds light not only on how much wealth people have around the world, but where they live and how they’ve amassed so much. The study defines a high-net-worth individual as someone who has assets of $1 million or more. That sum needs to be available to invest and cannot include a primary residence and collectibles, among other products.
According to the report, the U.S. has the most wealthy people in the world with 5,285 individuals hitting the mark of a high-net-worth individual. Japan and Germany landed in second and third place with 3,162 and 1,365 wealthy people, respectively.
In its evaluation of the world’s wealthiest people, Capgemini analyzed how their wealth is dispersed among asset classes. It found that 30.9% of their wealth is kept in equities and 27.2% in cash and cash equivalents. Another 16.8% of their wealth resides in real estate.
Additionally, Capgemini found that high-net-worth individuals are investing in cryptocurrency more than ever. And 29% of them say that they have “high interest” in purchasing and holding cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ether. Nearly 40% of those individuals said they want to invest in cryptocurrency because of its investment return and 19.3% told Capgemini that they see value in it as an “alternative store of value.”
Interestingly, age matters in cryptocurrency appeal. More than 71% of younger high-net-worth individuals place a high importance on getting cryptocurrency information from their wealth managers, compared to 13% of those aged 60 and over.
