1.1 million Canadians have US$1 million

Will your client be the next Canadian millionaire?

Canada has 1.1 million people with US$1 million, reveals the annual wealth report by the Credit Suisse Research Institute. By 2021, that number will increase 50% to 1.68 million people.

Read: What’s an advisor worth to clients? 290% more in assets

The average wealth per Canadian is $270,179 — 22% lower than in the U.S. (All figures are in U.S. dollars.) But wealth is more equally distributed in Canada, with a smaller percentage of Canadians having less than $10,000 (25% of Canadians vs. about 35% of Americans) and a larger percentage having more than $100,000 (about 45% vs. about 31%, respectively).

As in the U.S., more than half of household wealth in Canada is held in financial assets.

Inequality increases

Despite emerging markets contributing 25% of global growth — compared to only 12% in 2000 — global inequality is rising. The wealthiest 10% own 89% of all global assets.

North America and Europe together account for 65% of total household wealth, but only 18% of the adult population. Canada accounts for 4% of the top 1% of global wealth-holders, despite having only 0.6% of the world’s adult population.

Growing inequality could mean increased populism and potentially more volatile markets.

Read: Why emerging markets are slowing, and more: BoC autumn report

Further, wealth per adult holds steady — at $52,800 globally, with large variations across regions — for the first time since 2008. That’s because of weak global wealth growth of 1.4%, combined with wealth creation that was offset by population growth. However, the U.S. and Japan generated wealth, while the U.K. recorded declines, losing $1.5 trillion after the Brexit vote.

Since 2008, gains in household wealth have been driven by increases in financial assets. But interestingly, non-financial assets now take the lead, adding $4.9 trillion to household wealth compared to a rise of $334 billion in financial assets. As a consequence, the share of financial assets in the global portfolio declined for the first time since 2008.

Read the full report here.

Also read: Special issues when calculating capital gains

Staff

The staff of Advisor.ca have been covering news for financial advisors since 1998.