My focus will be on Asia Pacific and especially on Singapore since I am based here. Wealth in Asia Pacific has grown the most by 177% since 2008. Asia Pacific’s exceptional growth is powered by both financial and non-financial wealth has been accompanied by a significant spike in debt. Total debt has grown by 192% since 2008. Rising debt may not be bad, it is common for growth in credit as the financial system matures. Rising prosperity allows households to take on more debt when they finance assets like owner-occupied property.
Wealth growth is slowing down, it has fallen from an average of 7% between 2000 and 2010 to 4.5% between 2010 and 2023. One-third has been chopped off. Singapore was at 10% between 2000-2010 and it dropped to 7% between 2010-2023. I have not seen much improvement in our industries here in Singapore.
Many people feel the growth in wealth has passed them without them noticing. This is due to the difference between average and median wealth. In most markets average wealth in 2023 is higher than the median wealth per adult. The wealth figures are skewed up by high wealth at the top while median wealth is less distorted by tail-end figures. Singapore’s average wealth growth of 116% contrasts with a decline of 2% in median terms. Singapore is a safe regional wealth hub, attracting the ultra-rich and family offices to park their funds here. It will just skew the figures but does not add value to uplift the median wealth. The general population needs higher-skill jobs to increase their employment income.
In Singapore, the average wealth growth strongly exceeds the median growth. The rise in wealth benefited the upper-income brackets. Higher wealth brackets have seen their fortunes improve, faster growth than the lower ones. It is interesting to note the average wealth in Singapore is SGD 534,837. The median wealth is SGD 141,148.
Singapore’s inequality increased by 23% since 2008. There is still an opportunity for the middle class to move up to the highest wealth bracket within a decade. As of 2023, there are 333,204 USD millionaires in Singapore and it is forecast to grow by another 13% to 375,725. There will be more millionaires and it could be you!
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