Why personal wealth in Australia is rising faster than other nations

The average wealth of Australian adults grew by nearly 10 percent last year, more than double the pace of 56 other countries, and we are now the second-wealthiest per capita in the world, according to the 2024 UBS Global Wealth Report. The median wealth of Australians is now USD$261,805 per person (AUD$387,612). The wealthiest people live in Luxembourg where the average resident is worth USD$372,258 (AUD$551,142).

UBS says the bulk of our rising wealth over the past year has come from gains in property values and superannuation. More than half of our wealth is in ‘non-financial’ or relatively illiquid assets such as bricks and mortar. This is unusual relative to our neighbours in the Asia-Pacific region, where 60 percent of personal wealth is held in shares, bonds, mutual funds and savings accounts.

Australia also has the world’s third-largest population of millionaires. According to UBS, 1,936,114 Australians are millionaires in US dollar terms, which equates to 10 percent of the population. By 2028, UBS forecasts that Australia will have almost 400,000 more millionaires at 2,334,015 people. Of the 56 countries covered in the report, the United States has the most millionaires at 21,951,319 people. This cohort is forecast to expand by almost 3.5 million people to 25,425,792 by 2028.

Property has delivered exceptional capital gains to Australian homeowners since the onset of the pandemic. Sydney home values are 28 percent higher today than they were in early 2020, according to CoreLogic data. Home values in Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth are more than 60 percent higher. In Hobart, property values are 28 percent higher, and in Canberra they are 32 percent higher. Melbourne home values are 11 percent higher.

UBS explains that rising wealth tends to go hand-in-hand with economic development. Since the Global Financial Crisis, wealth has risen fastest in the Asia-Pacific region at nearly 177 percent over 15 years. This has occurred alongside 192 percent growth in debt, however, UBS notes that “it is not uncommon for emerging economies to experience fast growth in credit as the financial system develops and matures”.

While global wealth is steadily rising, it is doing so at a slower pace. There are many reasons for this, including smaller rates of growth as countries become wealthier and their economies mature. Also, countries with aging populations tend to see falling rates of economic activity, which affects both personal and national wealth. Between 2000 and 2010, Australia’s annual compound growth rate in wealth was 15 percent. Between 2010 and 2023, it shrank to four percent. China’s annual growth rate has fallen from 19 percent between 2000 and 2010 to eight percent between 2010 and 2013.

The report also looked at wealth inequality and assigned a score of between zero and 100 to each of the 56 nations. A low score indicated more equality and a high score indicated greater inequality. Australia has an inequality score of 51 now. This is forecast to grow to 54 by 2028. Countries with a similar score include Japan (50), Italy (50), Belgium (51) and Finland (53). Saudi Arabia had the highest wealth inequality score at 89, followed by the United Arab Emirates (88), United States (76) and Sweden (74).

The best financial advice many Australians are receiving right now is not coming from licensed advisers charging by the hour. It is coming through a phone screen, in the ten minutes between work and dinner, from creators who have built credibility the hard way: by being right, being transparent, and being specific in a space where vagueness has always been the easy default.

This is not a ranking by follower count. Follower count is a measure of distribution, not of quality. What follows is a ranking by substance — credentials, accuracy, community depth, and the quality of what an audience actually learns from following these accounts. The distinction matters, because the Australians acting on this content are making real financial decisions with real money.

1- Queenie Tan – Corporate Authorised Representative; Co-Founder & Director, Invest With Queenie & Billroo

There are finance influencers who talk about building wealth, and there are those who document it in real time with receipts. Queenie Tan belongs firmly in the second category. Starting from a $400-per-week income, Tan built her net worth past $1 million while publishing the actual numbers — income, savings rate, investment decisions — for an audience of more than 400,000 across platforms.

She is a Corporate Authorised Representative, co-founder of the personal finance app Billroo, and the author of a book that has become a practical reference for young Australians navigating ETFs, superannuation and property. What separates her from the crowded field of money educators is precision: she does not talk in principles when she can talk in percentages.

2- Alan Kohler – Editor-in-Chief, Eureka Report; Editor-in-Chief, InvestSMART Group; ABC News finance presenter, host of Inside Business.

If Queenie Tan represents the new wave of personal finance creators, Alan Kohler represents something the new wave will spend decades trying to build: institutional credibility that has survived multiple economic cycles. As Editor-in-Chief of the Eureka Report and InvestSMART Group, and a decades-long presence on ABC News, Kohler has spent more than thirty years making financial analysis accessible without dumbing it down.

His coverage of RBA decisions, market movements and economic policy is cited by podcasters, journalists and fund managers alike. He is not chasing virality. He does not need to.

3- Aleks Nikolic – Corporate lawyer; host, Big Swinging Stocks podcast

Most finance creators address the mechanics of money. Aleks Nikolic addresses the psychology — and that distinction explains why her following is as loyal as it is. Operating as Broke Girl Wealth across Instagram, TikTok and YouTube, Nikolic covers ETFs, crypto and investment strategy, but her real differentiator is a willingness to discuss the emotional architecture of financial decision-making.

Shame around debt. Fear around market volatility. The limiting beliefs that stop people acting on what they already know. In a space where confidence is routinely performed, her candour is a genuine competitive advantage.

4- Bryce Leske & Alec Renehan – Equity Mates Media

Equity Mates did not build a following. They built a media company. What began as a podcast by two friends learning to invest has grown into Australia’s most established investing media brand, covering ASX stocks, ETFs, global markets and fund manager interviews across podcast, social and YouTube.

The longevity is the credential. Equity Mates has operated through multiple market cycles, a global pandemic, and a generational shift in how Australians engage with investing — and its audience has grown through all of it. When the hosts speak, their listeners know they have been paying attention for years.

5- The Lazy CEO – CEO & Founder, Showpo; Shark Tank Australia investor

The metric that matters most on social media is not followers — it is engagement, because engagement signals trust. Jane Lu, known as The Lazy CEO, maintains an engagement rate of approximately 1.15 per cent on Instagram, which is exceptional for a finance account of his size. Her 242,000-plus followers are not passive consumers: they ask questions, share experiences and apply what they read.

Her content focuses on business finance and wealth building, and the active comment sections are the clearest possible evidence that her audience does not merely scroll past.

6- Tash Invests – Founder, Tash Lends; Forbes Australia 30 Under 30

Tash Invests built her following on a premise that sounds simple but is rarer in practice than it should be: she publishes the actual numbers. Not approximations or ranges or anonymised case studies — her salary, her savings rate, her portfolio value, her net worth, updated and on the record.

Having bought her first property at twenty-two and grown her documented net worth past $1 million, she has become the primary reference point for young Australians trying to understand what building wealth on a moderate income genuinely looks like. The specificity is the product.

7- David Scutt – APAC Market Analyst at StoneX Group

The authority of most finance social media content rests on research and reading. David Scutt‘s authority rests on having done the job. A former Treasury Dealer at Arab Bank and the Commonwealth Bank, former ASX Business Supervisor, and former Global Markets Editor at Business Insider Australia and anchor at ausbiz TV, Scutt now brings that direct market experience to his role as APAC Market Analyst at StoneX Group, rather than relying on secondary commentary.

When he discusses foreign exchange movements or ASX dynamics, it is not because he has read about them. It is because he has traded them.

8- Meddy Demars – Investing & crypto content creator

The gap Meddy Demars fills is specific and underserviced: connecting global macroeconomic events to the practical reality of Australian investors. When the US Federal Reserve adjusts interest rates, when inflation data moves, when commodity prices shift — most Australian finance content either ignores the local implications or translates them poorly.

Demars, operating across TikTok and Instagram from Sydney, does the translation well: explaining what global conditions mean for Australian stocks, savings rates and investment portfolios in terms that are accessible without being condescending.

9- Simran Kaur – Founder, Friends That Invest

Friends That Invest is arguably the most successful community-building exercise in Australian personal finance, and Simran Kaur is the reason why. The New Zealand-based creator — whose audience is predominantly Australian — built a podcast, a book and a social media presence around a single insight: that the personal finance world was not speaking to young women, and that the consequences of that gap were significant.

The measurable cultural shift that followed — women engaging with investing concepts in communities that had not previously existed — is the kind of impact that most financial literacy programmes aim for and rarely achieve.

10- Effie Zahos – Money Editor at 9News

Effie Zahos is one of Australia’s most recognised financial commentators, appearing regularly across 9News, A Current Affair, Today and Today Extra as 9News Money Editor. Her role puts everyday money questions, from mortgage rates to cost-of-living pressures, in front of a national broadcast audience.

Before television, she spent years as editor of Money magazine, building the editorial foundation for her current commentary. She is also Director and Money Commentator at InvestSMART, an ambassador for Canstar, and a published author, with her financial advice available in print as well as on screen.

That combination, decades of editorial experience, an active broadcast presence, and a body of published work, is what makes her commentary carry weight beyond any single platform or post.

The common thread across this list is not follower count or platform presence. It is that each creator has built an audience willing to act on what they say, and for the Australians making financial decisions off the back of this content, that trust is the only thing that actually matters.

Why personal wealth in Australia is rising faster than other nations

We are now the second-wealthiest per capita in the world

The voices reshaping how Australians think about money — and why credibility matters more than reach.