If you’re building your wealth, looking at how the wealthiest have been investing their money could be a good guide for success. The Citi Private Bank’s Global Family Office 2024 survey provides a behind-the-scenes look at the investments of the world’s very well-off, as well as their money managers’ current views on the financial markets.
The survey’s top findings
Respondents are confident and positive about future returns – across the board. A near unanimous 97% expected positive returns in 2025. About half of them forecast between 5% and 10% returns, while a third anticipated 10% to 15%. This outlook may be driven by reduced interest rates, softened inflation, and the fact that the US economy has avoided a recession so far.
They have created greater diversification in their portfolios by moving their cash into bondsThe financial world’s version of an ‘I owe you’, bonds can be issued by companies or governments. You’d invest in bonds to receive an annual interest payment, plus the initial value of the bond back when it ‘expires’., stocksStocks, also known as shares or equities, represent units of ownership in a company., and private equity investments. Almost half of respondents (49%) have increased their exposure to bonds since last year, while 43% increased their stock holdings, and 40% upped their private equity weighting.
52% of respondents’ top concern is interest rates, followed by US-China relations (45%), market overvaluation (45%), and inflation (42%).
They have spread their allocations globally, with 60% weighted to the US – up from 57% last year. That was followed by Europe (16%), and Asia-Pacific excluding China (12%). Allocations to China have almost halved from 8% to 5% since last year.
Finally, they are investing more in AI technologies with 53% having already invested and a further 26% of respondents considering it.
What this could mean for you
Investing can be a great way to grow your money over the long term, and having a diversifiedThe act of spreading your investments over a range of different assets, sectors, and geographical regions. This way, if one of these falls in value, the value of your entire portfolio won’t fall with it. portfolio can help to minimise the risk of losses.
With Moneybox, you can get started investing today with any of our three simple Starting Options – Cautious, Balanced or Adventurous. These are premade portfolios that have been carefully designed by investment experts to let you invest with a risk level you’re comfortable with. Alternatively, you can choose to build your own portfolio by customising your investing allocations, giving you access to more tracker fundsFunds, also called ‘tracker funds’, are financial instruments that have been set up to match or ‘track’ the price of a market index. Investing in a fund lets you get exposure to different financial assets like shares and bonds, without having to buy them directly. and control over where you invest your money.
Explore the investment choices you have with Moneybox today.
Capital at risk. All investing should be long term. The value of your investments can go up and down, and you may get back less than you invest.
Tax treatment depends on individual circumstances and may be subject to change in the future.