Wealthy Americans Are Prioritizing Protecting Assets And Limiting Personal Taxes
2 min
Protecting assets and minimizing tax liabilities are the top priorities of wealthy Wall Street Journal and Barron’s Group readers, according to a recent personal finance study conducted by WSJ Intelligence.
Around 57% of the more than 3,600 respondents—who had an average net worth of just over US$3 million—said growing and protecting their wealth is their No. 1 priority going into 2024, the data showed. That stands to reason, as 55% of readers were most concerned about inflation and the rising cost of living, while 40% reported that market volatility was their biggest issue.
About 81% of participants were male, with 3,280 of them being over age 55—aka, Baby Boomers. The combined total of Millennial and Gen X respondents was 333. Across wealth bands, the largest number of participants—1,656—were high-net-worth individuals with assets between US$1 million and US$9.9 million, followed by 718 “emerging affluent” respondents (with a net worth of less than US$1 million) and 253 ultra-high-net-worth individuals, with assets of US$10 million or more.
“This study was really to understand the behavior of our financially savvy readers and explore how they improve their financial acumen and make informed investment decisions,” says Donna Zeolla, the associate director of Finance Intelligence for the Wall Street Journal and Barron’s Group.
Certain concerns are unique to those in the highest income bracket, the survey found. For example, members of that group are 22% more likely to be concerned about identity theft and financial fraud than emerging affluents, the data showed. Zeolla said that was a surprise, given how rampant it can be.
The wealthiest are also 28% more likely to be worried about cybersecurity risks in digital banking and three times more likely to be concerned with estate planning and inheritance, according to the report. They are looking to educate themselves on tax planning, private banking, and estate planning—and in turn seeking out content that helps them do that.
Survey participants across wealth bands use a variety of wealth management services, including brokerage, tax and estate-planning services. When selecting an investing company, key considerations are the fee and commissions charged (49%), expertise (44%), customer service (38%), and the company’s reputation (36%), the figures showed.
“Every survey we’ve done here, at least for the 18 years I’ve been here, it’s the same things that they’re looking for in the institutions,” Zeolla says. “They look at fees, right? I don’t care if you’re the wealthiest person, you’re looking at the fees…[and] they look at the trust and the reputation of the companies. That’s always on their minds.”
And while many are loyal to their financial institutions, the richest investors are more open to switching. Only 41% of ultra-high-net-worth individuals wouldn’t consider moving their money to a new company, versus 53% of high-net-worth individuals and 49% of the emerging affluent.
“Wealthier individuals use a variety of different services—they don’t just have one institution that they’re working with, they’re working with many,” Zeolla says. “But what we did find was that the wealthier people were, the more that they’re open for change. It could be because they’re not loyal to one institution.”
Other differences included their preferred credit cards—the wealthiest were concerned about foreign-transaction fees while low interest rates were more important to younger respondents—and the richest also craved the personal touch. About 47% of ultra-high-net-worth individuals don’t use an automatic investing service because it doesn’t cater to their needs vs. 27% of the emerging affluent.
Copyright 2020, Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved Worldwide. LEARN MORE
From elevated skincare to handcrafted home pieces, this year’s most thoughtful gifts go beyond the expected.
A haven for hedge-fund titans and Hollywood grandees, Greenwich is one of the world’s most expensive residential enclaves, where eye-watering prices meet unapologetic grandeur.
The lunar flyby would be the deepest humans have traveled in space in decades.
4 min
It’s go time for the highest-stakes mission at NASA in more than 50 years.
On April 1, the agency is set to launch four astronauts around the moon, the deepest human spaceflight since the final Apollo lunar landing in 1972.
The launch window for Artemis II , as the mission is called, opens at 6:24 p.m. ET.
National Aeronautics and Space Administration teams have been preparing the vehicles to depart from Florida’s Kennedy Space Center on the planned roughly 10-day trip. Crew members have trained for years for this moment.
Reid Wiseman, the NASA astronaut serving as mission commander, said he doesn’t fear taking the voyage. A widower, he does worry at times about what he is putting his daughters through.
“I could have a very comfortable life for them,” Wiseman said in an interview last September.
“But I’m also a human, and I see the spirit in their eyes that is burning in my soul too. And so we’ve just got to never stop going.”
Wiseman’s crewmates on Artemis II are NASA’s Victor Glover and Christina Koch, as well as Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen.
What are the goals for Artemis II?
The biggest one: Safely fly the crew on vehicles that have never carried astronauts before.
The towering Space Launch System rocket has the job of lofting a vehicle called Orion into space and on its way to the moon.
Orion is designed to carry the crew around the moon and back. Myriad systems on the ship—life support, communications, navigation—will be tested with the astronauts on board.
SLS and Orion don’t have much flight experience. The vehicles last flew in 2022, when the agency completed its uncrewed Artemis I mission .
How is the mission expected to unfold?
Artemis II will begin when SLS takes off from a launchpad in Florida with Orion stacked on top of it.
The so-called upper stage of SLS will later separate from the main part of the rocket with Orion attached, and use its engine to set up the latter vehicle for a push to the moon.
After Orion separates from the upper stage, it will conduct what is called a translunar injection—the engine firing that commits Orion to soaring out to the moon. It will fly to the moon over the course of a few days and travel around its far side.
Orion will face a tough return home after speeding through space. As it hits Earth’s atmosphere, Orion will be flying at 25,000 miles an hour and face temperatures of 5,000 degrees as it slows down. The capsule is designed to land under parachutes in the Pacific Ocean, not far from San Diego.
Is it possible Artemis II will be delayed?
Yes.
For safety reasons, the agency won’t launch if certain tough weather conditions roll through the Cape Canaveral, Fla., area. Delays caused by technical problems are possible, too. NASA has other dates identified for the mission if it doesn’t begin April 1.
Who are the astronauts flying on Artemis II?
The crew will be led by Wiseman, a retired Navy pilot who completed military deployments before joining NASA’s astronaut corps. He traveled to the International Space Station in 2014.
Two other astronauts will represent NASA during the mission: Glover, an experienced Navy pilot, and Koch, who began her career as an electrical engineer for the agency and once spent a year at a research station in the South Pole. Both have traveled to the space station before.
Hansen is a military pilot who joined Canada’s astronaut corps in 2009. He will be making his first trip to space.
Koch’s participation in Artemis II will mark the first time a woman has flown beyond orbits near Earth. Glover and Hansen will be the first African-American and non-American astronauts, respectively, to do the same.
What will the astronauts do during the flight?
The astronauts will evaluate how Orion flies, practice emergency procedures and capture images of the far side of the moon for scientific and exploration purposes (they may become the first humans to see parts of the far side of the lunar surface). Health-tracking projects of the astronauts are designed to inform future missions.
Those efforts will play out in Orion’s crew module, which has about two minivans worth of living area.
On board, the astronauts will spend about 30 minutes a day exercising, using a device that allows them to do dead lifts, rowing and more. Sleep will come in eight-hour stretches in hammocks.
There is a custom-made warmer for meals, with beef brisket and veggie quiche on the menu.
Each astronaut is permitted two flavored beverages a day, including coffee. The crew will hold one hourlong shared meal each day.
The Universal Waste Management System—that’s the toilet—uses air flow to pull fluid and solid waste away into containers.
What happens after Artemis II?
Assuming it goes well, NASA will march on to Artemis III, scheduled for next year. During that operation, NASA plans to launch Orion with crew members on board and have the ship practice docking with lunar-lander vehicles that Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin have been developing. The rendezvous operations will occur relatively close to Earth.
NASA hopes that its contractors and the agency itself are ready to attempt one or more lunar landing missions in 2028. Many current and former spaceflight officials are skeptical that timeline is feasible.
Wealthy Aussies are swapping large family homes for high-end apartments, with sales of prestige units tripling over the past decade.
A luxury lifestyle might cost more than it used to, but how does it compare with cities around the world?
