Yet another reminder that the rich are very different from you and me -- they have a completely separate economy:
For Rich, '13 Was Good for Making, and Spending, MoneySo ... how's your decade been economically? Funny, it seems to me that the last half of it has been pretty awful for mot people. For the rich? Apparently not.
... The ultrarich shattered many records last year, buying notable works of art, shiny baubles and sleek toys. A rare 1967 Ferrari Spider went for $27.5 million. Francis Bacon’s "Three Studies of Lucian Freud" sold for $142.4 million. And 12 bottles of 1978 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, described by one expert as "as close to perfect as wine gets," landed in someone's collection for a cool $476,405.
The world's club of ultrawealthy individuals, or those with $30 million or more in net assets, added about 5,000 new members last year and now stands at around 167,000, according to the latest Wealth Report, an annual compendium of all things rich from Knight Frank, the property management firm.
Over the last decade, the ranks of the über-rich have swelled by 59 percent, and the register of billionaires climbed 80 percent, to 1,682, according to Knight Frank's data....
If you want to read the Wealth Report, it's here. Here are some more statistics:
The number of UHNWIs [ultra high net worth individuals] across the world has ballooned by 59% since 2003, more than doubling in the Middle East, Latin America, Australasia and Africa.Yeah, those headwinds -- they're tough on economies. But the rich are flying above the turbulence.
The number of centamillionaires – those with US$100m in net assets – has risen by 62%, while the tally of billionaires has climbed by 80% to 1,682, according to WealthInsight, a leading wealth intelligence firm.
While UHNWI numbers in North America and Europe remain slightly below the levels seen back in 2007, these regions saw the strongest rates of growth last year.
An additional 1,500 individuals boosted their net value beyond US$30m in North America during2013, a 3.5% rise.
The number of UHNWIs in Europe increased by 3.3%, or almost 2,000 people, over the same period. Asia gained nearly 1,000 UHNWIs during the year, taking the region's total to 41,114, only slightly fewer than in North America.
This wealth creation and conservation came even as political, fiscal and economic headwinds buffeted some of the world's biggest economies.
Everything floats up to them -- and what goes up doesn't come down. Trickle down? Nothing's trickling down. You've heard of the glass ceiling? The wealth of the rich has a concrete floor.
They have the economy arranged exactly the way they want it right now. They're just going to keep taking and taking -- and denying us even a tiny share -- if we don't wake up and realize it's us vs. them.
