When it comes to maximizing money, the rich have access to many more resources than anyone else, not to mention the disposable cash to play with in the first place. That doesn’t mean that they are financially literate by birth but they usually grow up in a very favorable family environment for acquiring financial literacy,…
National poverty targeting and employment programs
The conquest of poverty is a core target of the World Bank. Even as it often is viewed—or maligned—as an instrument of capitalism and capitalist interests, the World Bank’s focus on poverty alleviation and on achieving the United Nations’ sustainable development goals means that the multilateral institution has a strong role to play wherever countries…
Hidden pathways to wealth for the Lebanese middle class
Certain roads to wealth for the middle class are less traveled in some lands but well known in others. Describing life insurance as an obscure path to savings would honestly be preposterous in most developed economies. Accounting for $2.7 trillion in premiums, or about 3.5 percent of global GDP, life insurance represents well over half…
Keeping lebanese wealth alive
The quest of trying to depict the 2018 outlook on investment opportunities from the Lebanese corner reminds in some respects of the almost 20-year old hit comedy on the American mob, Analyze This. As with the Robert de Niro and Billy Crystal pic, any move of international financial markets and any development on the political…
Curses of poverty and affluence and the search for financial cures
Many believe that there is no such thing as too much money. At a closer look, however, the extreme abundance or absence of wealth both appear to be prime causes of anguish, albeit in incomparable proportions. Even moderate and temporary cases of poverty lead to all manner of problems, from stress and sleeplessness to ulcers…
Talking about wealth
Wealth is a contentious issue when seen through the lens of social improvement. Viewed from the position of social equality, it is a recipe for dissatisfaction and, sometimes, disaster. How does a private banker reconcile obligations to clients with social responsibility and ambitions for national improvement? Executive sat down with Jean Riachi, chairman of FFA…
All the makings of
It is common to associate wealth management with private banks, family offices, brokers, asset managers, and other financial intermediaries. But the structuring and transmission of wealth also touches upon many that are outside of the financial trade. Interactions between essential sectors in an economy and smaller surrounding activities are normal. Some globally significant industries, such…
Private returns
International reports suggest that the Middle East is currently the world’s second fastest growing region in private wealth, trailing only Asia. According to a Global Wealth 2017 report published in June by Boston Consulting Group (BCG), an international management consulting firm, the private wealth segment picked up momentum globally in 2016, but with visible regional…
Money magnets
This article is part of an Executive special report on wealth management and private banking. Read more stories published here, or pick up September’s issue at newsstands in Lebanon. “Get on a plane from Middle Eastern Airlines (MEA) from Geneva to Beirut, and see how many bankers you have on that plane going and…
Wealth in Lebanon
This article is part of an Executive special report on wealth management and private banking. Read more stories as they’re published here, or pick up September’s issue at newsstands in Lebanon. The numbers are clear. There is something deeply wrong with Lebanese capitalism. Yes, there is considerable wealth that is readily visible to all as…
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