• As the financial panic turned a year old this September, a surge of ultra-high-net-worth investors have taken to budgeting their money. They’re spending less on luxury goods, they’re cautious and more involved in their investing, and they’re targeting their giving more.
• The trend illustrates how attitudes about wealth have shifted during the economic crisis, making even the richest of the rich more aware of how they spend, grow, and give their money.
• What does this mean for the future? It depends on whether this trend means the wealthy are becoming more conscious and thoughtful about managing their money or if they’ve just become scared of losing any more.

Facts & Figures

• The Boston Consulting Group predicted that worldwide, wealth would not return to pre-2007-crisis levels until 2013.
• It also found that the number of millionaires was down 18% overall.
• The report found that across the board, clients of wealth management firms had lost trust in their advisers.

Best Quote

“For many of them, it [the economic crisis] was a loss of confidence in themselves as well as in the markets.” – Nancy Rooney, Head of the Northeast Investment Business for J.P. Morgan Private Wealth Management