Individual Wealth Accumulation Research Articles

Exploring the Potential of Turnkey Asset Management Platforms in Transforming China’s Wealth Management Landscape: A Comparative Analysis with the United States

Research background: China's wealth management landscape is evolving rapidly, driven by increased individual wealth accumulation and a shift towards comprehensive financial advisory services that emphasize personalized solutions and risk management. Research topic and method: This study examines the applicability of Turnkey Asset Management Platforms (TAMPs) in China by comparing their development and impact in the United States. Employing a comparative approach, the research combines literature review, case studies of notable TAMPs, and regulatory analysis to assess the feasibility and potential benefits of TAMP integration in the Chinese market. Research result: The analysis of TAMPs in the US highlights their role in reshaping wealth management by offering end-to-end services, from investment proposal generation to portfolio construction and reporting. TAMPs have proven effective in enhancing financial advisors' efficiency and client engagement. The study identifies key factors indicating TAMP relevance in China, including their potential to bridge advisor-client gaps, enhance investment decision-making, and provide scalable solutions. Research conclusion: This study suggests that TAMPs hold transformative potential for China's wealth management industry, addressing current advisor challenges and catering to diverse investor needs. However, successful implementation would necessitate adapting TAMP models to China's unique regulatory and market conditions. The research underscores the importance of considering TAMPs as a tool for enhancing efficiency, effectiveness, and client-centricity in China's evolving financial landscape.

The Application of Common Prosperity Policy; Discussion Based on Limitarianism

This paper explores the concept of Economic Limitarianism, which proposes that social progress can be achieved by imposing restrictions on individual wealth accumulation. It analyzes the policy of "common prosperity" in the context of China as a potential application of Limitarianism to address wealth inequality. The paper examines the historical parallels between Economic Limitarianism and ancient tithing practices, highlighting the belief that the super-rich should allocate surplus funds to address societal needs. However, recent literature suggests limitations in implementing Limitarianism due to the lack of clear criteria for judgment and varying acceptance of inequality across different social states. The "common prosperity" policy in China, which involves providing state dividends from surplus operating income to support the less well-off, is compared to traditional Limitarianism. It is argued that the "common prosperity" policy, with its focus on state-owned enterprises and redistribution rather than wealth restrictions, can mitigate wealth inequality while minimizing violations of property rights and social dissatisfaction. The paper concludes that blindly applying the "common prosperity" policy in countries like the United States may not be advisable due to different national conditions. However, two potential approaches for promoting Limitarianism in capitalist countries are suggested: increasing the number of state-owned enterprises and increasing government revenues through investments in private enterprises. While acknowledging the significance of the "common prosperity" policy for the development of Limitarianism, its applicability outside of China is considered limited.

Wealth in Couples: Introduction to the Special Issue

The assumption that economic resources are equally shared within households has been found to be untenable for income but is still often upheld for wealth. In this introduction to the special issue “Wealth in Couples”, we argue that within-household inequality in wealth is a pertinent and under-researched area that is ripe for development. To this end, we outline the relevance of wealth for demographic research, making the distinction between individual and household wealth. Drawing on a life-course perspective, we discuss individual wealth accumulation within couples and its links to family-demographic processes, the institutional context, and norms on pooling and sharing. We conclude with a brief summary of the main findings from the special issue and highlight implications for demographic research and for future research in this field.

Financial literacy and crime incidence

Financial literacy is a determinant of individual wealth accumulation and social well-being. In this study, we examine the relationship between financial literacy and crime incidence using financial literacy data and crime data in the U.S. from 2009 to 2018. We posit that citizens’ financial literacy is negatively associated with the crime rate because financially literate citizens are better at managing their wealth and improving their economic condition. They are less likely to have unfulfilled basic needs, and thus are less prone to crimes, especially crimes driven by economic need. We find that the financial literacy of citizens is negatively associated with crime rates. Furthermore, examining on a disaggregated basis, financial literacy is negatively associated with violent crimes and property crimes. Our findings reveal the necessity of mandating financial education programs in workplaces and highlighting the role of financial literacy in corporate governance. This study is the first to empirically address the criminological consequences of low financial literacy and underline the way to improve social security by increasing people’s financial condition

Dyadic employment biographies and within‐couple wealth inequality in Britain and Western Germany

AbstractObjectiveThis study examines how the interplay of both partners' employment biographies is associated with the within‐couple gender wealth gap in later life in Britain and Western Germany, including married couples born between the 1920s and 1960s.BackgroundAlthough it is well‐known that women own less personal wealth than their male partners on average, variation in the gender wealth gap across partners' employment constellations and contexts remains unaddressed. Following the life course paradigm, this study theorizes how individual wealth accumulation, within‐couple redistribution processes, and institutional arrangements shape the within‐couple gender wealth gap in later life.MethodThe analyses rely on retrospective employment and prospective survey data from Britain (UKHLS; Wave 8; 2016–2018) and Germany (SOEP, 2017). Sequence and cluster analyses detect patterns of dyadic employment biographies (ages 20–55) among different‐sex couples in their first marriage and OLS regressions associate them with the within‐couple gender wealth gap.ResultsThe within‐couple gender wealth gap to the disadvantage of women existed in Britain and Western Germany, with considerably larger inequality in Germany. German male breadwinner couples, particularly those with longer periods of female homemaking and part‐time employment, showed higher levels of wealth inequality. Whereas dyadic employment biographies were not clearly associated with the gender wealth gap in Britain, stable arrangements of female full‐time employment reduced the gap in Germany.ConclusionA similar division of labor throughout the life course can result in different levels of the within‐couple gender wealth gap in later life across country contexts, particularly depending on the housing system.

A Circular Economy: Where Will It Take Us?

The avalanche of environmental challenges, from local to global and back, has prompted responses at all levels from personal to inter-governmental. The results of these responses have fallen in the range between useful and counterproductive, with many examples on each side, but the scale of the overall challenge continues to escalate. Moving towards a zero-carbon global economy through absolute reductions in fossil fuel usage is a sure way of mitigating climate change, and a range of environmental, social and economic benefits would follow. The case for a Circular Economy (CE), however, is less clear. Whilst some CE initiatives may lead to the decoupling of economic growth from resource extraction, this does not necessarily equate to reducing the rate of extraction. Thus, the contribution of CE to the achievement of environmental objectives globally cannot be taken for granted. In terms of social impact, the best that can be said is that CE might be neutral. Technologies that promote the ‘sharing economy’ for instance, often suggested as a crucial CE strategy, create opportunities for individual wealth accumulation, but are also a route to the gig economy and the casualisation of labour. CE is arguably a business imperative, but definitive evidence to support the idea of a circular economy that meets social and environmental goals needs development.

Financial accumulation implies ever-increasing wealth inequality

Wealth inequality is an important matter for economic theory and policy. Ongoing debates have been discussing recent rise in wealth inequality in connection with recent development of active financial markets around the world. Existing literature on wealth distribution connects the origins of wealth inequality with a variety of drivers. Our approach develops a minimalist modelling strategy that combines three featuring mechanisms: active financial markets; individual wealth accumulation; and compound interest structure. We provide mathematical proof that accumulated financial investment returns involve ever-increasing wealth concentration and inequality across individual investors through time. This cumulative effect through space and time depends on the financial accumulation process and holds also under efficient financial markets, which generate some fair investment game that individual investors do repeatedly play through time.

Debunking the Myth of the Entrepreneur through Narrative in the Contemporary South Asian Novel

The post-Cold War wave of neoliberalism that has swept South Asia has had to be propped up not just by the repressive apparatuses of the region’s states, but through an array of ideological reinforcements as well. The cultural myth of the entrepreneur has served this function as one of the main ideological legitimizations of neoliberal capitalism, attributing meritocracy to cases of individual wealth accumulation and conveying a sense of a society in which government has gotten out of the way and let the most creative and innovative thrive and thereby preempting alternative narratives of capitalist success, such as those emphasizing nepotism, illegal and/or socially harmful business practices, and/or crony-capitalist practices. The rise of the entrepreneur myth has provoked a cultural response in the form of a number of recent novels that employ alternative narratives of business success to debunk the myth of the entrepreneur and thereby challenge the legitimacy of neoliberal capitalism. This essay argues that The White Tiger highlights the criminalistic side of entrepreneurialness and, while showing how free-market capitalism in India may allow the select few to escape from residual feudal social structures, unmasks the continuing brutalities and deepening inequalities of neoliberal India wallpapered over by triumphalist popular celebrations of the entrepreneur and India’s emergence as a global capitalist powerhouse. Similarly, How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia gives lie to certain core entrepreneurial capitalist shibboleths like market inefficiencies, externalization of costs, and the pretense of a stateless capitalist future, while substituting a narrative resolution of deep human onnection for the entrepreneur’s lonely, atomized economic triumph. Finally, The Golden House gives narrative form to the quixotic ill-fatedness of the dream of escaping one’s roots and joining the ranks of a transnational capitalist plutocratic elite through entrepreneurial success while exploring the recent nativist backlash against neoliberal globalization.

A praxis approach to financial literacy education

ABSTRACTFinancial literacy education (FLE) typically focuses on teaching skills and capabilities that promote individual wealth accumulation—for example, the importance of working, budgeting and saving. In this article, we argue the need to move from an individual wealth accumulation focus in FLE to a praxis approach to FLE. We outline the shortcomings of the conventional approach to FLE and develop a conceptual framework for a praxis approach to FLE. We view praxis as the moral, ethical and caring aspect of teaching. Using the conceptual framework, we argue that a praxis approach to FLE includes full attention to: how financial decision-making affects others and self; acknowledging that some life decisions are not financially rewarding; understanding that improving financial mathematics skills and capabilities may not equate to an increase in income; how SES affects an individual’s ability to save and maintain long-term saving; and the ways in which gender, culture, values, psychological state, socioeconomic class and ethics shape identity and their impact on financial decision-making.

Financial Literacy Education with an Aboriginal Community: Identifying Critical Moments for Enabling Praxis

Conventional financial literacy education (FLE) practices promote individual choice and responsibility for financial circumstances. The untruth connected to conventional FLE is that achieving financial well-being is possible after acquiring financial skills and knowledge and choosing to make effective financial decisions. In this article, I share an exploration of FLE practices with an Aboriginal community that unfolded after a conventional train-the-trainer financial literacy workshop failed to gain traction. Nineteen semi-structured interviews took place with community members to understand their experiences, interest and perceived relevance of FLE. The importance of site-specific FLE was revealed as the tension between individual wealth accumulation practices promoted in conventional FLE collided with Indigenous ways of being, knowing and doing. Identified are critical moments for reflection that may enable praxis in FLE. By enabling praxis an educator moves away from conventional one-size-fits-all approaches to FLE, where participants’ needs are assumed, and towards more tailored approaches.

Homebuyers, Liquidity Constraints and Private Market Solutions – European Best Practices

Even though the cost for owner-occupied homes fell sharply in the last years, homeownership rates in the EU remain sluggish. Sound economic policy would promote homeownership especially as rents are on the rise. Policies that facilitate schemes such as equity release options, housing saving plans and crowdlending seem promising. Low and temporary subsidies could jump-start private market solutions in those areas. Enabling many individuals to buy a home is sound, since individually-owned homes are a major driver of individual wealth accumulation. Moreover, higher homeownership rates can encourage growth.

Financial accumulation implies ever-increasing wealth inequality

Wealth inequality is an important matter for economic theory and policy. Ongoing debates have been discussing recent rise in wealth inequality in connection with recent development of active financial markets around the world. Existing literature on wealth distribution connects the origins of wealth inequality with a variety of drivers. Our approach develops a minimalist modelling strategy that combines three featuring mechanisms: active financial markets; individual wealth accumulation; and compound interest structure. We provide mathematical proof that accumulated financial investment returns involve ever-increasing wealth concentration and inequality across individual investors through time. This cumulative effect through space and time depends on the financial accumulation process and holds also under efficient financial markets, which generate some fair investment game that individual investors do repeatedly play through time.

Religious identity and real estate wealth accumulation: evidence from Canada

The real estate wealth disparities associated with religious identity have rarely been investigated in the literature. Such investigation is important, since the benefits of investment in an owner-occupied residence expand beyond individual wealth accumulation. Homeowners have a greater incentive to invest in their neighbourhoods and are more engaged with their local communities. These individual incentives engender social benefits. Using the Canadian National Household Survey of 2011, this paper examines how religious identity associates with the patterns of real estate wealth accumulation in Canada. Three interrelated outcomes of homeownership, value of the dwelling and the likelihood of carrying a mortgage are considered. The differences among a number of religious groups are non-negligible and impervious to the inclusion of controls. In accord with the US patterns, conservative Protestants are found at a disadvantage in real estate wealth accumulation. Jews, the highest earning group, are found to have a lower likelihood of homeownership, compared with most other groups. But, conditional on owning, Jews have more valuable homes. Muslims, the lowest earning group, are found the least likely to own. But, conditional on homeownership, Muslims are less likely than all other groups to carry a mortgage. Sikhs are found to statistically significantly differ from Hindus, in their homeownership rates and the value of their dwellings. Various explanations are explored.

Other ways of being: challenging dominant financial literacy discourses in Aboriginal Context

Financial literacy education (FLE) continues to gain momentum on a global scale. FLE is often described as essential learning for all citizens, despite the bulk of initiatives outside the compulsory school classrooms focused on educating economically disadvantaged individuals. Informed by Indigenous ways of knowing, being and doing a critical discourse analysis of FLE facilitators resources used in train-the-trainer workshops in/for a Canadian Aboriginal community was conducted to identify dominant discourses. An uncomfortable space was uncovered as the ubiquitous focus on individual wealth accumulation contradicted Indigenous ways of knowing, being and doing, underscoring the challenges of embedding Indigenous epistemologies in highly institutionalised charitable organisations’ attempts to help Indigenous (and non-Indigenous) peoples in poverty. Although this research is based on a Canadian program, the explosion of FLE as a “solution” to collective problems such as poverty lends itself to other—including Australian—contexts.

Individual Wealth Accumulation: Why Does Dining Together as a Family Matter?

This study uses data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics to examine whether self-regulation, proxied by regularly dining together with family, is associated with better financial preparedness and greater wealth accumulation across time among households. Findings reveal that individuals who had sufficient self-regulation to regularly eat meals together with their family, increased wealth at a faster rate than others between 1994 and 2004. Moreover, those who exhibited self-regulation by frequently spending mealtime with their family showed greater preference for investment portfolio diversification. Consistent with other studies, results indicate that wealth accumulation increased with age, income, and educational attainment.

Saving Behavior and Wealth Accumulation in a Pure Life-Cycle Model with Income Uncertainty

Several models of economic behavior currently compete for an explanation of individual wealth accumulation and savings patterns. In this paper we focus in particular upon the role of income uncertainty, and the role played by a retirement period, during which time expected earnings are zero. We find that income uncertainty can alter savings patterns over the lifecycle significantly, with the greatest influence on the wealth of young individuals. However, its influence on the aggregate stock of wealth is less than earlier theoretical work indicates.

Saving behavior and wealth accumulation in a pure lifecycle model with income uncertainty

Several models of economic behavior currently compete for an explanation of individual wealth accumulation and savings patterns. In this paper we focus in particular upon the role of income uncertainty, and the role played by a retirement period, during which time-expected earnings are zero. We find that income uncertainty can alter savings patterns over the lifecycle significantly, with the greatest influence on the wealth of young individuals. However, its influence on the aggregate stock of wealth is less than earlier theoretical work indicates.