Joining arguably the most exclusive club in the world – the top 1% – has never seemed more doable, but a lot depends on the country in which you are trying to achieve this status.
This is according to the Knight Frank Wealth Report 2024, which quantifies how many millions an individual needs to join the most lucrative club worldwide.
And while the one percent label may seem exclusive, “it is actually easier to become a member of this particular club than to obtain UHNWI status,” notes the Knight Frank report, released on Wednesday.
Anyone who has achieved UHNWI status is a very high net worth individual with a net worth of $30 million or more.
Definition of “easier”, right? The country with the highest barrier to entry at 1% is Monaco, where more than $12.8 million is needed to be part of this top percentage point category as of the end of 2023.
The five countries with the highest barriers to entry are Monaco, Luxembourg, Switzerland, the United States, and Singapore.
In the United States, the minimum is $5.8 million. And for those seeking a fast track to the 1% club, with unrestricted freedom to move, in China, at the bottom of that list of 17 countries, just over $1 million is required to qualify as a 1%, only followed by Japan, where you need to… Just under two million dollars.
Global real estate firm Knight Frank said that the number of high-net-worth individuals globally rose by 4.2% to 626,619 from 601,300 the previous year, reversing the decline seen in 2022.
The report included an attitudinal survey that showed how optimistic money managers were that their clients would accumulate more wealth in 2024. On a scale of 1 to 5, the Middle East came out on top, with North America at the bottom, according to this graph:
Looking across generations, the report found that one group in particular was the most optimistic about building their wealth — Generation Z (born between 1997 and 2012, Pew Research Center estimates), of whom 75% said they expected their wealth to increase in 2024. Boomers (those born, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, between mid-1946 and mid-1964), are among the survey respondents, at the lower end, with Generation Just over 50% each.
Continue reading: Retirement balances hit highest levels in nearly two years, with 20% jump in 401(k) millionaires
