The affluent have experienced the doubling of their investments last year in exotic equities from Peru, Namibia, Venezuela, China and Vietnam (or at least borne the gloating of friends who claimed they rode those waves).  Primed to repeat and expand on the successes of international equities last year, 2007 will find the affluent continuing to go global.Spectrem Group research finds that over 1/3rd of High Net Worth investors (38%), are planning to increase their international investments in the next 12 months.Risk Takers (who describe themselves as Aggressive or Most Aggressive in their tolerance for risk) are much more likely to use international investments in the next 12 months (55%), when compared with the No Risk Takers (who describe themselves as Moderate or Conservative in their risk taking) (32%).

Advisors interested in accelerated asset growth are aware of the predicted global sea changes which indicate that international investments are the place to find explosive growth over the next ten years.In their annual prognosis, The World 2007, Financial Times conservatively states, “Political insecurity plagues the world’s leading economies, but economic and business confidence is resilient and expectations abound for another good year of growth.”The chief economist for ANZ, a major Australian financial institution, has anointed Asia as the world’s fastest growing region to 2015, with a projected GDP growth of 6% per annum. Just to show you that those Aussies aren’t too biased, Australia/New Zealand only comes in 5th. 

Russia takes the silver medal with just under 6% GDP growth, Eastern Europe earns bronze with about 4.5%, and even Eastern Europe and Latin America beat out North America, with higher GDP growth.If it’s any consolation, North America beat Western Europe, to come in second to last in projected GDP growth, out a field of 7 global regions. The same report forecasts that by 2015, just 8 short years from now, Asia’s economies will account for 45% of world GDP (PPP), significantly more than the United States and Europe combined. 

Also that the U.S. will drop to 2nd place behind China for GDP dominance, with India taking away Japan’s bronze medal, and rising to third.What does rapidly soaring international GDP, and sea changes in global economies mean for affluent investors? Quite simply, it means opportunity for blistering investment growth, hand in hand with great risk--which may be why almost half of affluent investors also choose to partake of the international pie using less risky vehicles, such as foreign focused mutual funds, or some exchange traded funds (ETF). 

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