Almost half of Chinese high net worth individuals (HNWIs) plan to move abroad in the next five years, according to a survey conducted by Barclays. The survey contacted over 2,000 HNWIs, and 47% of the Chinese respondents said that they were planning to live outside China.
The main reasons the Chinese HNWIs gave for moving abroad are: better educational and employment opportunities for their children (78%); economic security and a desirable climate (73%); and better health care and social services (18%). Many of them, though, are not planning to go far: the favourite destination for 30% of respondents is Hong Kong, although 23% said that they were considering moving across the Pacific Ocean to Canada.
It doesn’t take a scientific survey to find the main reason behind the thinking of these wealthy Chinese. Millions more Chinese citizens have travelled abroad either on business or as tourists since the country started to open its borders in both directions. In London, for example, it is as common now to see groups of Chinese tourists as it was ten or fifteen years ago to see Japanese tourists.
And, curiously, this two-way opening up of the border is reflected also in this survey. The second most mobile group of HNWIs is from Singapore, with almost a quarter saying that they are planning to move abroad; and 30% of these people intend to settle in China.
With the two largest groups who are considering relocating both coming from the Far East, what these figures also show is that by the end of 2014 Asia will have the largest regional market by number of millionaires. This also reflects a trend which has been seen around the world, which is that a growing proportion of HNWIs have earned their wealth through entrepreneurship, rather than through inheritance, a clear result of the opening up of countries such as China.
Entrepreneurs who have made their money through their own efforts tend to have bigger risk appetites than those who inherit money and they are more willing to move to find the most promising business opportunities. They also appreciate wider educational opportunities, hence the desire for their children to study abroad in the most prestigious institutions.
Even so, according to the survey one fifth of all HNWIs in the UK are planning to move abroad, but this has more to do with the UK’s tax regime. Some would prefer to avoid the 45% tax on large incomes.
Those wealthy citizens who seem most content to stay at home are in the USA and India. Only six per cent of Americans and five per cent of Indians interviewed are considering going abroad.
But the survey also suggests that even those who do move abroad eventually return to their roots. The vast majority of respondents who have lived in various countries during their working life chose to retire in the country where they were born. Economic success may be the big driver for HNWIs for most of their lives; but, as the report says, “emotions and psychology” rule in the later stages of life. When it comes down to it, it seems, there’s no place like home.
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