They’re referred to as high net worth individuals (HNWIs), even though most of us thought the ‘H’ meant hereditary and the ‘W’ white.

With the release of its South African Wealth Report for 2018, New World Health shed some light on current wealth trends in SA – now home to 43 600 US dollar millionaires.

Straight from BusinessTech:

This is up from the 40,400 recorded at the end of 2016, and climbing from the 38,500 recorded in 2015, when millionaire growth declined to levels last seen in the middle of the global economic crisis of 2008.

Global HNWI in 2017 stayed true to that of South Africa, with total private wealth increasing from $670 billion at 2016’s end to $722 billion at the close of 2017. At least we’ve got something in common with the rest of the world, eh?

For the aspiring accountants out there, here’s a detailed look at SA’s HNWI stats at the end of 2017:

• Total private wealth held in SA amounts to approximately US$722 billion. Around US$306 billion of this is held by HNWIs.
• The average South African individual has net assets of US$12,900 (wealth per capita), which is the second highest level in Africa, behind Mauritius.
• SA is home to 43,600 HNWIs, each with net assets of US$1 million or more.
• SA is home to 2,200 multimillionaires, each with net assets of US$10 million or more.
• SA is home to five billionaires, each with net assets of US$1 billion or more.

Who’d we rob? Apparently nobody. The growth is thanks to a strengthening rand (from R13,70 against the dollar to R12,20 during 2017) and a 30% gain in the JSE all share index.

But when we take a broader look, say over 10 years, things are pretty different:

Between 2007 and 2017, the number of dollar millionaires in South Africa only grew by 2%. While this takes into account the global crash in 2008, and the slow recovery thereafter – the political crisis of 2015 and 2016, where the Zuma government wreaked havoc on the economy, has also played a significant part more recently.

Eish, I could’ve told you it had to do with Jacob. He’s travelling economy now though, so maybe he felt the pinch too.

Ok, the decade of doom wasn’t entirely because of our ex-president:

The 10 year-review was negatively hit by a depreciating rand (which slipped from R6.90 in 2007 to R12.30 at the end of 2017), a sluggish property market, and a poor performance from key sectors, especially mining, New World Wealth said.

Life, however, has a way of balancing itself out. This same period saw an increase of 17% on the JSE all share index, while there was some serious growth in the professional services sector. Furthermore, the MSCI World Index climbed by 43% as many local HNWIs have cookie jars abroad.

According to New World Wealth, over the next 10 years:

HNWI growth in South Africa is forecast at 28% – on the back of recent, more positive political changes – expected to reach 56,000 dollar millionaires by 2027.

Supporting this growth is a well-developed wealth management, fund management and banking system, as well as a large, free media that helps investors by feeding them reliable information, New World Wealth said.

Oh, and, SA boasts one of the 20 biggest stock exchanges in the world – also one of the fastest growing in the last quarter century when it comes to market capitalisation.

So, where do the HNWIs live? Constantia? Close:

There are now 3 200 dollar millionaires living in Paarl, Franschhoek and Stellenbosch.

[T]he number of dollar millionaires in the three towns have grown by 20% since 2007, with 3,200 (7.3%) of South Africa’s 43 600 dollar millionaires now living there.

If you’re a HNWI reading this now, find a way of contacting me and tell me how you did it.

[source:businesstech]