Downturn knocks 4,000 off millionaires’ row

FOUR thousand of Ireland’s big earners were knocked off millionaires’ row last year, one of the world’s biggest finance houses revealed yesterday.

At the end of 2008, there were 16,300 people with assets and savings worth more than $1 million (€717,881) – a massive drop of a fifth on a year earlier.

The latest World Wealth Report by financial giant Merrill Lynch and consultancy firm Capgemini found Ireland’s millionaire class has shrunk two years in a row.

“This is certainly the biggest fall in five years,” said Capgemini’s Ed Merchant.

But despite a 4% drop in millionaires in 2007 and last year’s collapsing wealth, Merrill Lynch expects Ireland to begin churning out more big earners over the next five years and even outperform the rest of Europe.

Nick Tucker, the finance firm’s head of global wealth management, said experts are forecasting the number of millionaires to grow by 8% each year over the next five years.

The figure in Europe is forecast to be around 6.5%.

“Intuitively I’m of a mind to say Ireland will be above that, but that is only my opinion,” Mr Tucker said.

The report found the Irish elite suffered worse than other around the world in the downturn, with the number of millionaires across the globe down by a quarter.

But Merrill Lynch said not only are the world’s wealthiest losing money, they have also lost faith in financial advisers and investments with a quarter of investors moving money into low-risk holdings.

“What people have done with their money, they’ve moved it into liquid, more secure assets across the world,” Mr Tucker said.

“Cash and fixed income has gone up by 6%. Globally, money was taken out of equities and put into fixed incomes.”

Merrill Lynch defines millionaires as High Net Worth Individuals – those who have $1m of assets, excluding their main home and collectibles.