Men and women with investable assets of £250,000 and above have expressed concern about their wealth, especially the younger generations.
According to Michael Stimpson, partner at wealth advisory company Saltus, the pandemic has increased people's sense of instability and caused them to feel anxious about whether their long-term financial plans are robust enough.
He said: "There are a number of factors causing these feelings of unease, including lingering post-pandemic uncertainty, which highlights more than ever the importance of having a robust financial plan in place, for both financial and personal wellbeing.”
Between August 19 to August 26, Saltus commissioned market research company Censuswide to ask high-net-worth people about how they felt about the UK economy, their own wealth, and what matters most to them personally.
The results make up the new Saltus Wealth Index, which launched this October.
Censuswide surveyed 1002 UK respondents. The mean age was 44, the male-female split was 66:34. Some 57 per cent lived outside Greater London and the south east, and median net worth stood at £1.5m.
Covid-19 has presented the biggest threat to their wealth, according to the survey's respondents, with almost a third (31 per cent) citing the long-term impacts of the pandemic having the greatest impact, closely followed by inflation (28 per cent).
The Saltus Wealth Index found 80 per cent of people with investable assets of £250,000+ were confident about the future of the UK economy.
However, three-in-five admitted their money ‘makes them anxious’. While Britain's most wealthy tended to feel the most confident about the UK economy, they were also most anxious about their own wealth.
Younger people were also much more likely to feel anxious than older generations.
When asked if they agreed with the statement ‘my money makes me feel anxious’, more than one in four (28 per cent) of respondents aged under-24 said they ‘strongly agree’ and 39 per cent said they ‘somewhat agree’.
In contrast, just 8 per cent of respondents over the age of 65 said they ‘somewhat agree’, and none ‘strongly agreed’ with the proposition.
Those living in Greater London were more than twice as likely to feel ‘very confident’ about the UK economy over the next six months than those living in the West Midlands (41 per cent compared with 18 per cent).
HNWIs in Wales had the least confidence in the UK economy, with only 28 per cent stating they felt ‘very confident’ in its future.
Stimpson added: “The UK faces a series of unprecedented challenges, with recovery from the pandemic, decarbonising the economy and addressing historic inequalities all major priorities."
simoney.kyriakou@ft.com
