The Mass Migration of the Super-Rich)
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The Mass Migration of the Super-Rich
Published:
Tuesday, 29 May 2012 | 11:32 AM ET
Text Size 
By: Robert Frank
CNBC Reporter & Editor
CNBC Reporter & Editor
 |
Cosmo Condina | The Image Bank | Getty Images
Switzerland is among the countries receiving an influx of high-net-worth individuals.
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Whether
it’s wealthy French or Americans fleeing the prospect of higher taxes
or wealthy Russians and Chinese trying to escape political uncertainty,
millionaires and billionaires around the world are migrating like never
before, according to government statistics and relocation experts.
“There is a sudden awakening among the wealthy that they’re no longer bound to a certain country,” said David Lesperance, a Toronto-based attorney who specializes in relocating the rich. “After the recession and other recent events, they realize they need to get themselves in better fiscal shape. For the wealthy, the idea of moving has changed from something that’s interesting or exotic to something they feel they really need to do.”
The
number of Americans seeking to renounce their citizenship surged to
more than 1,700 last year, more than twice the rate of 2009, according
to U.S. Treasury data compiled by Andrew Mitchel, the international tax attorney. Among them was Eduardo Saverin, the Facebook[FB
21.64
-0.36
(-1.64%)
]
billionaire who famously moved to Singapore before giving up his
citizenship late last year. This year, 460 people expatriated in the
first quarter alone.
-0.36
(-1.64%)
]
billionaire who famously moved to Singapore before giving up his
citizenship late last year. This year, 460 people expatriated in the
first quarter alone. 
In France, the wealthy are eying Switzerland, Britain and Singapore as possible escapes
from President Francois Hollande’s proposed 75 percent tax on income
exceeding 1 million euros. Switzerland had 5,445 people in the forfait
system – which allows foreigners to immigrate through a special tax
treatment -- at the end of 2010; more than 33 percent of those are
French, according to a Bloomberg report.
Some rich French are also seeking to leave what they perceive as a growing hostility toward the rich in France.
Meanwhile,
the newly rich people in several emerging markets – Russia, China or
Brazil – are looking to come to better protect their wealth or families.
The combination of slowing growth, political uncertainty and volatile
markets at home has lured some of the newly rich around the world to
move to Britain or the United States.
Wealthy
Russians are moving to London is such large numbers that local
commentators have coined the term “Londongrad.” Roman Abramovich, the
Russian multi-billionaire who owns the Chelsea Football Club is the
highest-profile rich Russian in Britain, but he is only one of ten
Russian billionaires living there, while an estimated 1,000 Russian
millionaires now call London home.
Attorneys
and real-estate agents in London who deal with the Russian rich say
their clients are attracted to the stability and refined culture of
London, as well as the relative safety. After the tumultuous
presidential elections last year, wealthy Russians are increasingly
nervous about the country’s political stability and their own fortunes,
experts say.
Meanwhile,
Chinese millionaires and billionaires are flocking to the United States
in record numbers. More than two thousand Chinese citizens sought to
immigrate to the United States in 2011 through the so-called “investor
visa.” That’s more than twice the number in 2010. The program allows
foreigners and their families to receive permanent U.S. residency for an
investment of $500,000 or more (or in some cases $1 million or more)
that also creates a minimum number of jobs.
The
impacts of all these new migratory patterns of the wealthy are still
emerging. Some economists and sociologists say the rootlessness of the
new rich could further tear the fabric of countries and communities,
since the wealthy won’t be as grounded in local charities, workers or
businesses. It could also lead to an arms race in tax policy, with
locales like Singapore and St. Kitts offering generous income-tax and
capital-gains rates to attract wealthy spenders and taxpayers.
Yet
others say the rich are simply following the new rule of capital –
money will move where it’s treated best. Technology has allowed the rich
to run their businesses and investments from anywhere in the world. And
while taxes play a role in the decision, relocation experts say
culture, education and climate also play roles among the rich. He said
some of the U.S. rich are looking to Britain and Switzerland as well as
other larger countries in Europe that don’t necessarily have the lowest
tax rates.
“It’s
not just about taxes,” Mr. Lesperance said. “They’re not necessarily
moving to small islands anymore. They want to go where they can
replicate their lifestyle, run their businesses, educate their children
and eat at great restaurants and enjoy the culture. They don’t want to
be on an island where you say, “Well, we’ve eaten at the same three
restaurants already. Now where do we go?’end quote from:
The Mass Migration of the Super-Rich)
Also, the article that I found this embeded in that I quoted earlier this year is here:
Silicon Valley's Boom Creates Shortage of $1 Milli...
Since these times right now we are living in remind me of studying about the late 1930s more than any other time in U.S. and world History I think the middle east, Oil and the world are really in for it on multiple levels. And the migration of the super rich to places of apparent safety is only one of many indicators for the times the world is presently trying to survive.
Possibly along with this realizing that oil (at any price) might be in short supply soon if Saudi Arabia and Iran have at it in a war or if Israel attacks nuclear facilities in Iran in concert with Saudi Arabia since they both have a vested interest in eliminating Iran as a threat to their countries continued existence. So, alternative energies like wind, solar and wave as well as geothermal might become absolutely priceless (beyond any previously conceived value) for those who have them in place in the future. So, alternative energies likely will become not just useful but absolutely necessary during oil shortages where prices of anything made of oil doubles and triples for short or long periods of time during the next 25 years until all the oil of the earth has been used up within 25 years. It is difficult to know at this point what will happen after all oil (at any price is exhausted from the earth at that point).
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