Musical wealth from the Beatles

Michael Jackson, U2 and The Wealth Report – WSJ Blogs
zyakaira notes: WSJ blogs also have U2′s Larry Mullen speaking against the
Irish Bile and resentment against the rich..the US is cautioned not to treat
them poorly. In a related story, the death of Michael Jackson has caused
speculation about the sale of his rich music collection that’s jointly owned
with Sony and includes the vintage Beatles collection purchased by him for
$47.5 million. This collection along with his own is valued at $1 billion
and may go higher given the quality of the artiste’s recordings despite the
debts that pwned him and raised questions on his lifestyle. Sony has hard
work cut out for them to sort out these squabbles The world population of millionaires fell 15% last year, with the super-rich
taking an even bigger hit, according to a new survey.
The Capgemini and Merrill Lynch World Wealth Report, released this morning,
finds that the number of global millionaires fell to 8.6 million from 10.1
million in 2008. The declines were the largest since Capgemini/Merrill
started the survey 13 years ago. (The survey defines millionaires as those
with investible assets of $1 million or more).
There were 2.5 million millionaires in the U.S. at the end of 2008, down
from 3 million in 2007.
The wealth held by the world’s millionaires plunged nearly 20%, to $32.8
trillion from $40.7
trillion. The ultrawealthy, or those with $30 million in investible assets,
saw their ranks drop 25%, with their wealth dropping 24%.
According to the survey, the more rapid fall in wealth by the superrich had
an outsize impact on the overall numbers, since so much of global wealth is
concentrated at the top of the millionaire pyramid. At the end of 2008, the
ultrawealthy accounted for less than 1% of the millionaire population but
held 34.7% of the wealth.
The main reason for all the declines: the financial crisis, contracting
gross domestic product and the accompanying declines in stocks, real-estate
values, private equity, hedge funds and other things the wealthy invested
in.
Surprisingly, the U.S. wealthy fared better than many
via The Wealth Report – WSJ .

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$one: The Merrill Wealth Report bottomline

“One million gets you nothing nowadays” « Dr Hsu’s Forum

zyakaira notes: A whimsical connection to the one million ‘watermark’ on the Wealth report (Merrill Lynch) – my connection here is not the rural-urban divide or any other . Also ($FXE $FXC are both up..)

This is reported in the NST today:

She said since Todt, who was appointed last month, was serving and promoting the country on a voluntary basis, it was only fair that the government covered his expenses.

“Just because he is volunteering his services, you cannot expect him to pay out of his own pocket.“This budget is not for his personal use, it is for the expenses incurred when he meets top people from television and the media.“Besides, RM1 million in Europe gets you nothing nowadays,” she said at the Parliament lobby.

The ’she’ refered to is a minister in charge of Tourism.Before I go further, I would want to stress that Jean Todt, as a foreigner married who is a good freind of  a Malaysian Michelle Yeoh, must be commended for his good intention in volunteering his service to promote Malaysia, and I am sure being a super rich guy, he would never ask to be reimbursed for his expenses in promoting Malaysia.

It was also laudable for the Ministry to propose to reimburse him on his expenses, too.What I cannot understand is the need to utter this phrase: “Rm 1 million in Europe gets you nothing nowadays”.And because of that, and being the cynic I am, I wish to say that for most of us, 1 million is a big big sum, and certainly it can still buy a lot in Europe.

Even in Europe, not many people earn a million RM a year more than 200,000 euros

via hsudarren (WP blogs)

Filed under: China, Global, India, Retail Lifestyle , $one, Amitonomics, Banking,China, Global investing, India, Wealth, Wealth Management

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India's wealth drop 32%

(PTI – NDTV.Com)
The wealth of world’s rich people dropped nearly 20 per cent to $32.8 trillion, while India saw the second largest decline in the number of High Net Worth Individuals at the end of 2008, says a report.
 
The population of HNWIs shrank by about 15 per cent to 8.6 million and in India, the numbers came down by 31.6 per cent to 84,000, says the World Wealth Report from Merrill Lynch and Capgemini.
 
HNWIs are referred to those who have at least $one million in investable assets, excluding primary residence, collectibles, consumables, and consumer durables.
 
“At the end of 2008, the worlds population of HNWIs was down 14.9 per cent from the year before to 8.6 million, and their wealth had dropped 19.5 per cent to $32.8 trillion.
 
The declines were unprecedented, and wiped out two robust years of growth in 2006 and 2007,” the report said.
 
Interestingly, the wealth of such individuals grew about 7.2 per cent from 2005 to 2007 while their wealth rose 10.4 per cent during the same period.
 
“India’s HNWI population shrank 31.6 per cent to 84,000, the second largest decline in the world, after posting the fastest rate of growth (up 22.7 per cent) in 2007.
 
“India, still an emerging economy, suffered declining global demand for its goods and services and a hefty drop in market capitalisation (64.1 per cent) in 2008,” the report said.

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