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The Asians are financially now the king of the world. They have already advanced in so many fields it seems only money was their problem. But now that too is fixed. It will be only a matter of time before the Europeans start seeking Asian immigration, am just saying.

Asian millionaires overtake Europeans in rich list

The net wealth of Asian millionaires has eclipsed that of rich Europeans for the first time, largely because of the relative health of stock markets in Hong Kong, India and China last year, according to a new survey.

The annual Merrill Lynch Wealth Management /Capgemini analysis of investors with $1m or more in assets found that as of late last year, there were 3m millionaires in both the Asia-Pacific and Europe. The survey quantified the wealth held in Asia at $9,700bn, compared with $9,500bn in Europe.

Nick Tucker, head of Merrill Lynch Wealth Management’s operations for the UK and Ireland, said: “It’s not a bubble. Asia has caught up with Europe in terms of its high-net worth population and their wealth.”

The survey defines millionaires as people with net financial wealth of more than $1m, excluding their primary residence.

The rise of Asian millionaires is being tracked by the industry that manages the fortunes of rich individuals, with banks moving senior staff to Singapore and Hong Kong to chase new clients.

After taking a hit in 2008 during the financial crisis, the wealth of the world’s millionaires recovered last year with the upswing in stock markets, rising 19 per cent to $39,000bn.

North Americans are still the best-off. At the end of last year, the continent was home to 3.1m millionaires worth $10,700bn.

The US, Japan and Germany produce about half of all millionaires, who were numbered at 10m in 2009. China was ranked fourth, boasting 477,000 individuals with $1m or more in their accounts. India is catching up, having seen the number of millionaires rise more than 50 per cent to 126,756 in 2009.

Though the UK economy shrank, British millionaires swelled to 448,100, up 24 per cent from 2008. Russian millionaires also saw their ranks rise to 117,700.

The Middle East struggled, with the United Arab Emirates losing 19 per cent of its millionaires in 2009 as the Dubai property crisis took its toll.

Investments by the wealthy in fixed-income instruments crept up to 31 per cent from 29 per cent in 2008 and allocations to equities also increased slightly to 29 per cent from 25 per cent in the previous year.

Cash holdings dropped, meanwhile, as investors grew dissatisfied with the poor rates on high street banks’ savings accounts.

Demand for art, coins, antiques and wines picked up again toward the tail end of last year, as the wealthy sought out collectables with “tangible, long-term” value, the study said.

Americans Losing Trust in Banks

A new Harris survey reveals that more and more Americans say they don’t believe a word of what banks and credit card companies are telling them. The issue is a trust one, and right now, financial consumers are fed up financial institutions — so much so that it will take years, maybe decades, to regain that trust.

We’ll get to the Harris poll in a moment, but the irony is that banks don’t seem to realize how unpopular they are with consumers. There’s an outfit in Chicago called the Bank Administration Institute that produces a bank consumer sentiment survey every six months.

In August 2009, bankers told the BAI that consumers had a favorable opinion of them. Six months later, in 2010 — bankers told BAI researchers that customers had increased their favorable views of banks.

But the BAI also talked to bank customers — and in the February index, bank consumers’ sentiments toward banks fell by a whopping 19%.

Who would have though that after a steady stream of home foreclosures, credit card cancellations, rejected loans and rampant checking account overdraw charges, that bank consumers just aren’t really feeling the love? What’s even worse, who would have thought that bank executives would have believed otherwise?

Speaking of believing, the Harris Poll offers further proof that bank customers just don’t trust their financial institutions. According to Harris, in its 2010 survey of 2,755 U.S. adults, only about 5% of survey respondents say they ‘completely believe” statements made by financial institutions.

Only 4% of respondents said that statements made by banks were completely believable, while just 2% of participants said that they believed anything a mortgage company told them. Credit card companies rate just as low — only 2% of Harris participants said they believe anything a credit card company says.

Banks do better in the “somewhat believable” category — 57% say that banks are believable some of the time. Credit card companies only rate 34% in this category. Mortgage companies rate 47% in the “somewhat believable” category.

According to a statement by Harris that accompanied the poll, the issue is trust, and banks and other financial services firms are losing that “believability” battle. “The issue here is one of trust,” says Harris. “It takes a long time for any industry to build up the levels of trust that help them weather crises when they occur. And since this crisis is one that negatively impacts people’s wallets, trust will erode even more quickly and take much longer to rebuild. That is what these financial companies have to undertake right now.”

And not a moment sooner, if banks want to hang on to their customers.

Source : MainStreet.com

Buffett , Bill Gates the top ranked billionaires of the world has   joined hands and have appealed to fellow Americans  to give half of their wealth to charity.

My first reaction  LOL!!!

According to Forbes Magazine,  Bill gates has USD 53 billion and Buffett total money comes around  USD 47 billion. Gentleman, why dont you start by giving half your share. I am very sure that using the money given by you  two alone can solve  75% of America financial crisis.

It seems that Bill Gates, his wife Melinda gates and Buffett  have  joined hands to commit their share to philanthropy.

“Now, Bill and Melinda Gates and I are asking hundreds of rich Americans to pledge at least 50 per cent of their wealth to charity,” Buffett has written in a letter titled ‘My Philanthropic Pledge’.

Well known for his wise investment decisions, the 79-year-old Buffett is the chairman of conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway that has invested in diverse companies.

“More than 99 per cent of my wealth will go to philanthropy during my lifetime or at death. Measured by dollars, this commitment is large. In a comparative sense, though, many individuals give more to others every day,” the billionaire investor said.

In 2006, Buffett had pledged to give all the stocks he owns in Berkshire Hathaway to philanthropic foundations.

Buffett said he has already distributed about 20 per cent of his Berkshire shares and would continue to “annually distribute about 4 per cent the shares I retain”.

“At the latest, the proceeds from all of my Berkshire shares will be expended for philanthropic purposes by 10 years after my estate is settled.

“Nothing will go to endowments; I want the money spent on current needs,” the letter noted.

This year, Gates and Buffett were ranked as the world’s second and third richest people, respectively, by the Forbes, which pegged Gates’ wealth at USD 53 billion and Buffett’s at USD 47 billion.

Buffett said the pledge to donate wealth would not affect this and his children’s lives. “They (children) have already received significant sums for their personal use and will receive more in the future….I will continue to live in a manner that gives me everything that I could possibly want in life,” he wrote in the letter.

Spirit Airlines pilots go on strike!

The pilots of Spirit Airlines walked off their jobs on Saturday morning. They are on strike protesting demanding better pay. The strike was called on after negotiations that went on into the wee hours failed to produce a new contract.

“Spirit pilots are willing to withdraw their services to get the contract they deserve,” said Captain John Prater, president of the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA), in announcing the job action. “As pilots, our livelihood is in the air — not on the picket line — but the inability of Spirit management to negotiate a contract that adequately compensates our professional members has created this dispute.”

Talks have been going on for four years, ALPA said, and “all Spirit pilots, especially first officers, have been working at below-market rates for years, and under substandard work rules.”

The Miramar, Fla.-based company said it had offered 30% pay increases totaling $70 million over five years while pilots would have retained a four-day-off break between every flight. The pilots would also have received a $3,000 signing bonus and an 8% 401-K match.

“We are frustrated and disappointed that our pilots have turned down [the offer] while disrupting thousands of our customers and jeopardizing the livelihoods of our over 2,000 employees,” Ben Baldanza, the chief executive, said in a written release.

All Spirit Airlines flights were cancelled Saturday and customers will get credit for the full amount of the flight, as well an extra $100 toward a future flight, the company said.

G.M. Recalls 1.5 Million Vehicles

G.M. Recalls 1.5 Million Vehicles, yes thats right GM just jumped into the bandwagon of companies recalling their product due to production defects. This is getting too common these days and oddly the numbers are always huge. Do they even test if their products are working these days ??

Well, this time General Motors said it is recalling 1.5 million cars and trucks from the 2006 to 2009 model years because their heated washer-fluid system could short circuit and cause a fire.

G.M. said that it was telling dealers to permanently disable the heated washer-fluid system, and that each affected owner would receive $100 to compensate for the loss of the feature.

About two-thirds of the vehicles were recalled two years ago for the same problem, but G.M. says it has received reports of overheating in modules that had new wiring installed under that recall. G.M. later stopped offering the heated washer-fluid system because the supplier that made it, Microheat, filed for bankruptcy and was liquidated as a result of the 2008 recall.

“This was a unique technology available from only one supplier, and that supplier has stopped manufacturing, which left no opportunity to collaborate on an improved design,” Jeff Boyer, G.M.’s executive director of safety, said in a statement. “We want to be clear that the voluntary payment to customers is for the loss of the feature, not the recall.”

The recall covers 15 models: the 2006 to 2009 Buick Lucerne, Cadillac DTS and Hummer H2; the 2007 to 2009 Cadillac Escalade, Chevrolet Avalanche, Chevrolet Silverado, Chevrolet Suburban, Chevrolet Tahoe, GMC Acadia, GMC Sierra, GMC Yukon and Saturn Outlook; the 2008 to 2009 Buick Enclave and Cadillac CTS; and the 2009 Chevrolet Traverse.

G.M. said customers would start getting letters explaining the recall this month but could contact their dealer at any time to schedule the repair.

G.M. said it had received reports of five fires but none involved injuries or crashes. All but 163,115 of the affected vehicles are in the United States.

The recall comes a day after Chrysler said it was recalling about 700,000 vehicles to fix brake or wiring problems and at a time of increased attention on vehicle defects because Toyota’s problems with unintended acceleration.

Who says Car sales gone down?? If any one still think car sales  has gone down, then they seriously need to reconsider here in India.

According to the reports, Car sales in India recorded the strongest in the month of April reaching at an annual high of 39.5 percent,indicating consumer demand in India despite rising consumer prices.

Buyers are usually subdued in April after bunched purchases at the close of the financial year in March to take advantage of tax breaks on depreciation.

Domestic car sales were 143,976 in April, up from 103,227 in the same month last year, SIAM (Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers) data showed,led by Maruti Suzuki,which sold 80,034 units.

James Avery to open his 54 store in San Antonio area this June. The store will be his eight in San Antonio area.

“We are excited to open this new location and hope that it resonates with the residents of South San Antonio,” said company vice president Paul Avery. “We’ve had a presence in San Antonio for many years and feel very much at home in this area. With this new store, we hope that it is more convenient for our South San Antonio customers to shop with us.”

Following this , a new  Jewelery store will be opened at Franklin this August. The Franklin store will feature mostly handcrafted jewelry, with designs in sterling silver, 14-karat gold and gemstones.