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| News & Scoreboards |
Asian Americans’ Wealth Burgeons
Kasey Wehrum
05/03/2004
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Thanks to their aggressive investment style and do-it-yourself attitude, U.S.
citizens of Asian and Pacific descent have become one of the fastest growing
segments of the affluent population in this country. A recent survey by Spectrem
Group, a Chicago-based consulting firm, shows that this group now comprises
about 5 percent of the total affluent market, compared with less than 1 percent
in 2002.
Catherine McBreen, a managing director at the Spectrem Group,
describes the Asian/Pacific demographic as “richer and substantially more
aggressive than others with $500,000 or more to invest.”
“Interestingly,” she
adds, “they tend to be more self-directed in their investment approach, shunning
full-service brokers and other financial advisors despite their willingness to
take greater risks.” Their appetite for risk may be a consequence of their
goals: 67 percent of individuals of Asian/Pacific descent said their primary
investment objective was to build wealth rather than preserve it. Only 49
percent of the other affluent Americans Spectrem surveyed had this objective.
Nineteen percent of wealthy Asian/Pacific Americans said their primary
investment goal was to double their wealth in five years; only 5 percent of the
rest of the affluent population embraced this objective.
The bad news for
investment professionals is that fewer than half of the investors of
Asian/Pacific descent surveyed are satisfied with their primary advisors. In
addition, 51 percent of Asian/Pacific investors say that they feel the need to
go to multiple specialists for financial services because one company cannot do
it all. Only 22 percent of the general affluent population feels this
way.
“Financial advisors,” points out McBreen, “need to realize that this
segment isn’t looking for a step-by-step, hand-holding advisor.” What they are
looking for, she says, is an advisor who is an expert in a particular
field.
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