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CNBC
2 days ago
- Business
- CNBC
The U.S. added a thousand new millionaires a day in 2024: report
The United States is home to the most millionaires of any country, with a tally of 23.8 million in 2024, according to a new report by UBS. The Swiss bank estimated the U.S. minted some 379,000 new millionaires last year, or more than a thousand each day, for an increase of 1.5%. Mainland China came in second at 6.3 million, up 2.3%, with 141,000 new millionaires. By percentage, Turkey's millionaire population increased the most with an 8.4% bump to 87,000. America extended its lead thanks to a banner year for Wall Street as well as a stable U.S. dollar. The first six months of 2025, however, have been rocky. President Donald Trump's trade war and recession fears have roiled markets and weighed on the dollar, which is down about 9% this year. UBS economist James Mazeau told CNBC it's too early to say whether U.S. household wealth will grow at a slower rate this year. A weaker dollar spurs wealth growth in countries with non-dollar currencies rather than stalling it in the U.S., according to Mazeau. But he also said American real estate has been resilient and that U.S. equities could end the year slightly higher than where they are now. The Inside Wealth newsletter by Robert Frank is your weekly guide to high-net-worth investors and the industries that serve them. Subscribe here to get access today. "This year could be lower than last year, but it doesn't mean we'll have a reversal in fortune and see negative wealth creation," he said. "I don't think the engines of growth are dead in the United States — far from it." While nearly 40% of the world's millionaires are based in the U.S., Luxembourg and Switzerland have higher concentrations of wealth. In both countries, more than one in seven adults are worth at least $1 million, according to UBS. The worldwide millionaire population rose by more than 684,000 to some 60 million, due in large part to increasing real estate values. However, this growth was disparate geographically, with some countries losing share. Japan, for instance, lost 33,000 millionaires with its shrinking population. The billionaire count increased modestly to 2,891, but Mazeau noted that there was high turnover. Billionaires lost wealth in 15 of 56 markets in UBS's sample, with the sharpest declines in the Netherlands and Uruguay. Singapore, Qatar, Greece and Poland recorded the highest gains. "There can be great reversals of fortune even within that segment," he said. Even among the world's richest people, the wealth is concentrated toward the top. UBS estimates some 60 million individuals hold $226.47 trillion combined, nearly half of the world's global wealth. Within that group are 2,860 billionaires who represent $15.7 trillion in assets. And at the very top, 15 centibillionaires, less than 1% of the group, boast a combined net worth of $2.4 trillion. "We do see that there is wealth concentration or, I would say, wealth inequality, even amongst billionaires," Mazeau said. He attributed most of the concentration to the outperformance of the tech sector and the rise of "mega tech entrepreneurs." There is not much data on individuals in the $50 million to $1 billion range, which distorts the picture, according to Mazeau. He also said the wealth growth among middle and lower wealth brackets is underappreciated. For instance, the number of individuals with $1 million to $5 million, whom UBS dubs "everyday millionaires," has more than quadrupled since 2000 to about 52 million. "They have more wealth collectively than all the billionaires in the world," he said. "It is often overlooked how much wealth is rising and is going towards the middle of the pack."
CNBC
12-06-2025
- Business
- CNBC
Family offices are struggling to recruit and retain staff, and salary isn't the biggest challenge
A version of this article first appeared in CNBC's Inside Wealth newsletter with Robert Frank, a weekly guide to the high-net-worth investor and consumer. Sign up to receive future editions, straight to your inbox. Investment firms of the ultra-wealthy spend as much as 72% of their budgets on C-level staff, according to a new report. And yet, even family offices with massive portfolios face headcount problems, per a survey by wealth manager AlTi Tiedemann Global and research firm Campden Wealth. Nearly eight out of 10 family offices reported difficulty hiring and 54% expressed concerns about retaining key staff. The survey, provided exclusively to CNBC, polled 146 family offices between November 2024 and March 2025. The problems are particularly acute for large family offices, despite being able to offer more competitive salaries, with 92% of firms managing at least $1 billion reporting recruiting challenges. Large family offices also reported higher turnover, averaging one employee departure every nine months, according to the report. Smaller family offices with $150 million to $249 million in assets generally reported fewer retention issues, as they could rely on family members for many key roles. Many older family offices, regardless of size, need to find new talent as staffers retire, said Erik Christoffersen, head of AlTi's multifamily office practice. There is also fierce competition from institutional investors over a shrinking pool of top-tier investment professionals, he said. "I'm not sure that family offices are prepared for the sticker price shock of the going market rate to really attract and keep great talent year after year," he added. Perhaps a bigger challenge than compensation, according to Christoffersen, is the lack of clear or attractive long-term career opportunities in the family office space. Fifty-five percent of respondents identified this as a substantial impediment, while only 26% cited compensation. "I'm not sure it's always that compelling a job description, and I think they need to really spend more time showing what's so great about our family office," he said. As for current employees, he said, "family offices can revisit the organizational structure to maximize the strengths of those talented individuals, so you can broaden and make more interesting their job and ideally compensation also can go upwards with it." Better benefits and more flexibility, especially remote work, also make it harder for employees to leave, he said. Christoffersen added that all family offices, other than the very largest, should take advantage of outsourcing to cover any gaps in-house. In light of market volatility that is unlikely to go away, having best-in-class talent is more crucial than ever, he said. "In the last decade, with low cost of capital and very little volatility, you just saw all ships sailed great or the tide rose for all boats," he said. "Now in this decade, we're seeing much more volatility. And you can't just rely on a passive index portfolio."
CNBC
05-06-2025
- Business
- CNBC
Family office deals slow in May with bets on nuclear batteries and AI testers
A version of this article first appeared in CNBC's Inside Wealth newsletter with Robert Frank, a weekly guide to the high-net-worth investor and consumer. Sign up to receive future editions, straight to your inbox. Starwood Capital's Barry Sternlicht made his multibillion-dollar fortune in real estate. Now he is betting on nuclear batteries through his family office, Jaws Ventures, joining a $50 million fundraise for Zeno Power in May. The startup's microwave-sized batteries provide years of energy in remote environments like deep space and the seabed by using heat from nuclear waste. The U.S. Department of Defense and NASA are customers. The Jaws investment comes as family offices have dialed back their dealmaking due to economic uncertainty, making 41 direct investments in May, down nearly 50% year over year, according to data provided exclusively to CNBC by Fintrx, a private wealth intelligence platform. Nuclear energy, however, is set to gain steam with the private investment firms of the ultra-wealthy. Investing in nuclear energy is a way to tap into the artificial intelligence boom, as AI requires immense power. A UBS survey found in 2024 that 78% of family offices planned to invest in AI within the next two to three years. In February, nuclear reactor startup X-Energy garnered investment from Citadel CEO Ken Griffin, Laurene Powell Jobs' Emerson Collective and Pittco, the family office of AutoZone founder Joseph "Pitt" Hyde. Tech giants are increasingly turning to nuclear plants for energy, including Facebook's parent company Meta, which announced a 20-year deal to buy nuclear power from Constellation Energy on Tuesday. William Blair's Jed Dorsheimer told CNBC's Carl Quintanilla that this deal was the first of many to come. "I think you're going to start to see more of these deals," he said . "We have really suppressed the most energy dense technology, to our detriment. And I think that this is going to be coming back." President Donald Trump 's executive order in late May calling to speed reactor deployment and overhaul the Nuclear Regulatory Commission may also spur investment. Family offices are finding other ways to invest in the picks and shovels of AI. In May, Jeff Bezos' family office participated in a $155 million seed round for Atlas Data Storage, alongside Joby Pritzker's Tao Capital Partners. Atlas, newly spun out from Twist Bioscience, aims to store information more efficiently and at a lower cost with a DNA-style data storage system.
CNBC
30-05-2025
- Business
- CNBC
Summer rentals in the Hamptons are down 30%
A version of this article first appeared in CNBC's Inside Wealth newsletter with Robert Frank, a weekly guide to the high-net-worth investor and consumer. Sign up to receive future editions, straight to your inbox. Summer rentals in the Hamptons are off to a chilly start to the season, as unrented homes start to pile up and sales slow, according to brokers. Hamptons rentals are down 30% from the same period in previous years, according to Judi Desiderio of William Raveis Real Estate. Brokers who focus on ultra-high-end rentals say their rental business is down between 50% and 75%. "People are holding on to their money," said Enzo Morabito, head of the Hamptons-based Enzo Morabito Team at Douglas Elliman. "They don't like uncertainty." Of course, Hamptons renters often wait until the last minute to book July and August rentals. Brokers say this year may be starting even later due to cold, rainy weather in May. Some renters may also be holding out for better deals in a Hamptons market that has become far more expensive after Covid. Yet brokers and renters say privately that the volatility in the stock market and economic uncertainty sparked by the ever-changing tariff landscape has made some affluent renters and even some buyers hold off on a pricey Hamptons vacation this summer. After the post-election euphoria in markets at the end of last year, brokers saw a surge in interest from potential renters in January and February. But as spring arrived, along with the April tariff announcements, the early interest didn't translate into rentals. Morabito said he represents several homeowners with large waterfront and luxury properties that typically would have been rented by March or April. Today, they're still available. He said some homeowners who rent out three or four homes in the Hamptons during the summer may start to question their investments after this summer if renters don't start emerging. On the plus side, the rise in unrented inventory means potential bargains and choice for renters. Brokers say some listings have started lowering their prices by 10% to 20% in hopes of saving the summer. Some homeowners are adding more flexibility, allowing for shorter one- or two weeks stays in hopes of getting renters. Gary DePersia of My Hampton Homes said the best houses in the Hamptons typically get rented early in the year. "But this year I have great rentals available in every town, from Southampton to Montauk." While tariffs and economic uncertainty may play a role in the slump, he said renters seem to have been waiting longer and longer every year, perhaps holding out for better deals. Eventually, he said, they end up renting. "I think a number of people have deferred decisions, or they weren't sure what [they were] going to do, go to Europe or the West Coast," he said. "They will realize they want to be in the Hamptons; they have lot of friends and colleagues here and then they start scurrying around for rentals." Desiderio said the combination of weather and grim economic headlines made for a slow start that will quickly reverse. "I believe this year there was so much 'dark noise' out there financially, and geopolitically, and the weather was not conducive to thinking of summertime," she said. "There's no doubt that by the time July 1 is upon us, all of the rentals will be taken this year." When it comes to home sales, the Hamptons real estate market remains fairly strong, despite relatively low inventory. Sales in the first quarter were down 12% from a year ago, although the median sales price jumped 13% to a record $2 million. Brokers say when a quality home in the Hamptons is priced right, it sells immediately. They add that the surge in high-end sales in Manhattan over the past two months could also lift the Hamptons market. "I just had two Canadians put a bid on an $18 million house, sight unseen" Morabito said. "When Manhattan comes alive, we always follow."
CNBC
20-05-2025
- Business
- CNBC
Here's JPMorgan's summer reading list for the wealthy for 2025
The top summer reading list for the wealthy this year includes books on happiness, resilience, artificial intelligence and the future of the U.S. dollar. JPMorgan's annual summer reading list, which has become the go-to selection of beach books for the wealthy, offers up 16 titles this year — from Suzy Welch's career guide and Melinda French Gates' reflections on her life and philanthropy to Palantir CEO Alex Karp's predictions for AI and Kenneth Rogoff's treatise on the dollar. The list, now in its 26th year, was compiled from more than 1,000 suggestions from JPMorgan's client advisors and whittled down by a special review committee. "Our focus was around the power of curiosity for this year's list," said Darin Oduyoye, chief communications office for JPMorgan asset and wealth management, who oversees the list. "You can think of it from a reflection standpoint or transformation standpoint." The Inside Wealth newsletter by Robert Frank is your weekly guide to high-net-worth investors and the industries that serve them. Subscribe here to get access today. Oduyoye said JPMorgan also received input from family offices — the private investment arms of wealthy families — and many cited the need to guide the next generation of wealth holders. With over $100 trillion expected to pass from older generations to spouses and their children, family offices have made educating and teaching the next generation a top priority. "From our family office survey, what we heard loud and clear was that values are very important to the next generation," he said. "As they're thinking about the adult leadership of the next generation for the family operating committee or business, they want to make sure these people are prepared. It's about how to think about that from a psychological perspective as well, to make sure you're balancing, not just the prosperity of wealth, but also the things that you can do to make impact both within your community and within your business." Along with the list of 16 books, and increase from prior lists, which had 10, this year's Summer Reading List also includes suggested summer experiences, from the DATALAND exhibit at The Grand LA, to the SailGP racing series and the Hill Family Estate in Napa, California. Here is the full list of books:
