全球最新財富報告：富人更富了

The old saying holds true: The rich do get richer.

Even as world financial markets broke down last year, personal wealth around the world grew 5 percent to $109.5 trillion, according to a global wealth report released on Thursday by Boston Consulting Group.

It was the sixth consecutive year of expanding wealth. The fastest growth was among households in developing regions, such as China and the Gulf States and among families who were already rich.

That wealth also is increasingly concentrated among the richest.

The top 1 percent of all households owned 35 percent of the world's wealth last year. Meanwhile, the top 0.001 percent, ultra-rich households holding at least $5 million in assets, commanded $21 trillion -- a fifth of the world's wealth.

The planet also continues to mint new millionaires rapidly. The biggest jumps in 2007 came from emerging countries in Asia and Latin America. Overall, the number of millionaire households grew 11 percent to 10.7 million last year.

BCG notes that, while the rich are still rich, they have been making some adjustments as a result of the financial crisis.

This year, assets are being shifted to more conservative investments, more money is being kept onshore in home markets and some individuals have curtailed new investment.

Yet BCG cautioned the outlook for wealth markets and the banks who serve them, is dimmed by the current financial crisis.

North American personal wealth growth slowed to 3.8 percent last year, compared with 9 percent in 2006, reflecting the mortgage crisis and the onset of the credit crunch last summer.

BCG, which advises banks and wealth managers, forecasts personal wealth will continue growing, but at a slower pace.

俗話說得好：富人的確越來越富。

美國波士頓諮詢集團（BCG）上週四發佈的一項全球財富報告顯示，儘管去年全球金融市場動盪不安，但全世界的個人財富總量卻增長了5%，達到109.5萬億美元。

全世界個人財富總量六年來一直保持增長趨勢，其中，中國、海灣各國等發展中國家和地區，以及原本已經很富有的家庭增速最快。

而且個人財富還呈現出越來越集中於富裕人羣的趨勢。

去年，全球最富有的1%的家庭擁有全世界35%的財富；同時，家產超過500萬美元的超級富豪佔0.001%，他們的財富佔據世界財富總量的五分之一，達到21萬億美元。

此外，世界各地的新百萬富翁也不斷涌現，其中亞洲和拉美地區發展中國家的增幅最大。總體來說，去年，全球資產超百萬的家庭數量增長了11%，達到1070萬。

波士頓諮詢集團指出，儘管富人仍然很富，但面臨目前的金融危機，他們也相應調整了投資策略。

今年，全球的資本更多地流向了較爲保守的投資領域，更多資金被留在了國內市場，部分人則削減了投資項目。

儘管如此，波士頓諮詢集團警告說，由於受目前金融危機影響，全球資本市場以及爲其提供支持的銀行系統的前景尚不明朗。

去年北美地區的個人財富增幅從2006年的9%下降至3.8%，這主要是受到次貸危機和從去年夏天開始的信貸緊縮的影響。

專門爲銀行和理財經理提供意見的波士頓諮詢集團預測，全球個人財富總量仍將繼續增長，但增速會放緩。

Vocabulary:

hold true:適用；有效