1,466,000 German millionaires: empires in the world hoard $ 74 trillion

Shares, investments, real estate – rich people have plenty of it. And benefit. Last year, millionaires worldwide were able to accumulate even more money. However, the effects of the corona crisis could reduce the wealth of the super-rich.

The rich and super rich are going into the corona crisis with a strong financial cushion. Among other things, they benefited from the rise in share prices last year. Overall, the wealth of dollar millionaires worldwide rose by 8.6 percent year-on-year to $ 74 trillion (€ 65.58 trillion), according to a study by the consulting firm Capgemini. At the same time, the Club of the Rich gained more members.

The consequences of the Corona crisis are currently difficult to estimate. "The uncertainty is great," said Capgemini expert Klaus-Georg Meyer. There were 19.6 million people around the globe last year with investment assets of over $ 1 million. That was 8.8 percent more than in 2018. Just under one percent came to more than $ 30 million.

In Germany, the number of wealthy private investors rose by 8.6 percent to 1,466 million. Their assets from stocks, fixed income, alternative investments, cash and real estate that was not used rose by 8.8 percent to around $ 5.48 trillion (€ 4.86 trillion). The dollar millionaires in Germany benefited in particular from higher stock market prices and higher property prices.

Richest ten percent own more than half

For comparison: The financial assets of all private households in Germany totaled around 6.46 trillion euros at the end of 2019, according to the Bundesbank. These are cash, securities, bank deposits and insurance claims. Real estate is not taken into account. According to a study published by the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW) last autumn, these make an important difference – in addition to owning or participating in a company. People who live in their own four walls benefited from the real estate boom – their wealth grew particularly strongly. According to the DIW, the richest ten percent in Germany recently owned more than half of the total wealth (56 percent). The poorer half, on the other hand, only has a share of 1.3 percent.

According to Capgemini, Germany continues to be one of the countries with the most dollar millionaires. The USA is again at the top, followed by Japan, Germany and China. Together, these countries represent almost 62 percent of the world's wealthy. According to a recent study by the Boston Consulting Group, dollar millionaires worldwide hold more than half of their total financial assets from cash, stocks, securities and funds.

The consequences of the Corona crisis, which the International Monetary Fund (IMF) believes will plunge the global economy into an unprecedented crisis, are currently difficult to predict, according to Capgemini. The consulting firm estimates the decline in the global wealth of the rich as of the reporting date at the end of April 2020 compared to the end of December 2019 at six to eight percent. Some of the losses have been made up for by the recent recovery on the stock exchanges. "After the sharp slump in March there was an astonishingly strong increase again," said Meyer.