Allianz reveals that by 2024, global household financial assets will reach 269 trillion euros.

Allianz Group has released its 16th edition of its Global Wealth Report, revealing that 2024 will be a golden year for household financial assets worldwide, rising 8.7% to a new high of €269 trillion, driven primarily by the US, which accounts for half of global growth.

Mr. Ludovic Serbran, Chief Economist, Allianz Group Revealing the 16th edition of the Global Wealth Report, which analyzes the assets and liabilities of households in nearly 60 countries around the world in detail, 2024 is another year of stable global economic growth and a golden year for household financial assets, increasing by 8.7%, higher than 2023's 8.0%. At the end of 2024, the value of total financial assets worldwide reached 269 trillion euros, a new record high.

However, relative to economic activity, the share of financial assets to the economy stood at 283%, the same as in 2017. Over the past decade, US household financial assets have grown in line with the global average.

But in 2024, growth is clearly "higher" than the world average. In contrast, Western Europe and Japan are "lower" than the world average by more than 2 percentage points and almost 4 percentage points per year, respectively.

The growth of financial assets in the US is particularly impressive. “By 2024 alone, half of the global financial asset growth will come from the US. Over the past decade, this share was 47%, while China accounted for 20% and Western Europe 12%.

Therefore, at least in terms of financial assets, the belief that other countries benefit from the US to the disadvantage of the US is unlikely to be true.

Smart Savings means holding securities.

Securities holdings, particularly stocks, have been a key driver of asset growth over the past two years, with depositors seeing significant gains. In 2023 and 2024, asset values ​​grew by 11.5% and 12.0%, respectively.

Almost “double” faster than the other two asset classes: Insurance/Pensions grew by 6.7% and 6.9%, while Bank Deposits grew by 4.7% and 5.7%.

However, the benefits from rising stock prices vary by country's portfolio structure. North American investors hold 59% of their portfolios, while Western Europeans hold around 35% and Indians only 13%. This means that the effect of rising prices has less impact on overall asset growth, requiring more reliance on "savings".

Kathryn Stoffel, co-author of the report said “You have to work to make money, but it's smarter to let your money work for you, like Americans do. Stock price appreciation is the primary driver of asset growth in the US.”

Inequality remains stagnant

When looking at the overall distribution of wealth within countries, the top 10% of the richest people in the countries studied hold 60.4% of the wealth. The "average" wealth value is approximately 3.08 times higher than the median.

Meanwhile, while the international "gradient" between low- and high-income countries has been evident for some time, domestically, there has been no progress toward greater equality over the past several years, despite the issue of inequality being a long-standing political issue.

In 2004, the top 10% of the countries studied had a share of 59.9%, and the "average to median" ratio was 3.05. These figures are virtually unchanged from the most recent year. Thailand has followed a similar trend, with the top 10%'s share decreasing slightly from 66.5% to 65.3%.

Thailand's total assets recovered slightly.

Meanwhile, Thai household gross financial assets increased by 2.5% to €787.7 billion at the end of 2024, reflecting a slight recovery after a -4.1% contraction the previous year, representing growth in real terms of 2.1%, driven mainly by deposits and insurance and pension assets.

Deposits, which remain the main asset in Thai household portfolios, accounted for 57% of total assets, up 2.7%. Insurance and pensions, although the smallest category, saw the highest growth at 6.5%. Securities, on the other hand, remained stable, falling by -1.0% (after -17.4% the previous year), but remained the second largest asset, accounting for 23% of total assets.

In terms of total liabilities, growth has slowed down continuously, reaching only 0.2%. However, the debt-to-GDP ratio of 88.4% is still concerning, not only because it is higher than the regional average of 59.6%, but also because the total assets-to-GDP ratio is only 149.7%.

In summary, Thai households' net financial assets increased by 6.1% to 322.5 billion euros, ranking 45th among all surveyed countries when considering net assets per capita.

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