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Downturn? What downturn? Number of wealthy Irish grew last year

Survey of global wealth also shows that more wealthy people prefer safe assets like cash.

THE LATEST World Wealth Report shows we’re not all in the financial doldrums in Ireland – the country had 19,000 “High Net Worth Individuals” in 2010 – up 5 per cent on 2009.

High Net Worth Individuals (HNWIs) are defined by the report as people with $1m (€700,000) of investible assets.

The report by Merrill Lynch Global Wealth Management and Capgemini said that wealth in Ireland was driven by national savings and exports, both of which rose in 2010.

Cash, please

According to the survey, more wealthy people around the world prefer to hold on to low-yielding and safe assets like cash because they do not have much confidence in the stability of the financial markets. Less than half say they have faith in industry watchdogs and over a third say they actively distrust them.

The report says that wealthy people are also worried about the next generation’s ability to manage their inheritance and that their income will not be able to keep up with rising inflation.

Global results

The US remains the single largest HNW segment overall, with over a quarter of all high net worth individuals (HNWIs) in the world living there. However, the Asia-Pacific region showed the most HNWI population growth last year and now has a higher HNWI population than Europe.

Globally, the wealth of HNWIs rose almost 10 per cent to his $42.7 trillion last year.

The Ultra-HNWIs group (people with investible assets of $30m/€21m) grew even more. Its population was up 10.2 per cent last year and its wealth, by 11.5 per cent – meaning that they account for 36.1 per cent of overall global HNWI wealth (up slightly from 35.5 per cent in 2009).

The wealth report covered 71 countries which account for over 98 per cent of global gross national income and 99 per cent of world stock market capitalisation, according to its researchers.

Read: Ireland faces €200m hit if Greek economy crumbles >

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6 Comments
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    Mute Thomas Stadler
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    Jun 23rd 2011, 9:20 AM

    How could they not when Brian Lenihan cut the tax for millionaires by 26000k, and increased the taxes on a person earning 26k by 900. The above article explains why domestic demand is being destroyed in this economy. When the vast majority of the people are fleeced and the very top are protected, it kills economies. Look at Sweden, Germany, Holland, Finland, all growing at “Celtic Tiger” rates, all strong Social Democracies.

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    Mute James Bashford
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    Jun 23rd 2011, 9:44 AM

    Actually Germany is in a worse situation than us. There are people working on, no joke, €1 an hour; and there are dockyards in Hamburg charging below cost price for shipments just to get work. I actually know German people who moved HERE of all places to escape the economic crisis there.

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    Mute Thomas Stadler
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    Jun 23rd 2011, 10:17 AM

    Germany is growing at 3.1% and Sweden at 6% at the moment. The state here is contracting at 2.5% per annum and can be defined as in an economic depression. The German banks are in trouble because they lent our banks so much but they are being repaid by Irish tax and IMF loans. Their unemployment rate is falling, wages are rising, there may be problem areas but all of the Social Democracies in Europe are growing and have low unemployment, all of the Free market loohlah economies such as America, Ireland and Britain are up to their oxters in debt, high unemployment and are barely growing if at all.

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    Mute Dublin City
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    Jun 23rd 2011, 12:02 PM

    Guy on €260k is probably also giving a job to 100 people. Guy on €26k is not… There’s only as much you can squeez rich before they leave, taking their jobs with them…

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    Mute JimBob Hillbill
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    Jun 23rd 2011, 4:11 PM

    Typical neo-liberal bulls**t from Dublin City there. We here that kind of thing trotted out all the time. Show me some proof. Just because someone is rich that does not mean they are producing wealth for others. If these people were to leave where exactly would they go? Ireland is a tax haven. There are so many tax breaks and loopholes for wealthy people that its beyond a joke. Put the tax up 5-10% on those earning over 100k and Ireland is still going to be to most attractive place in Europe tax wise.

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    Mute Ann Illing
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    Jun 23rd 2011, 3:28 PM

    The old old saying …. The rich get rich and the poor get poorer.

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