Forbes Billionaires 2022 List was released on April 5. Elon Musk, the founder of SpaceX and CEO of Tesla, surpassed Bezos to top Forbes for the first time with a net worth of $219 billion. Top of the rich list.
This list uses stock prices and exchange rates as of March 11, 2022 to calculate net worth. Next to Musk is Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, who has a net worth of $171 billion. This is the first time in four years that Bezos has lost his position as the world's richest man. Bill Gates and Buffett are fifth and sixth, respectively.
Affected by the turmoil in the global stock market last year, the number of people on the 2022 Forbes Global Billionaires List dropped by 87 from last year to 2,668.
t's been a down year for billionaires, according to Forbes. Many of the wealthiest people have seen their wealth shrink this year due to the coronavirus pandemic, war and the stock market rout.
The list shows that there will be 2,668 billionaires in the world in 2022, down from a record 2,755 last year. The combined wealth of those on the list this year is $12.7 trillion, down from $13.1 trillion last year.
In terms of countries, the United States is still the country with the most billionaires in the world, with a total of 736 people, China ranks second with 607 people, and India ranks third with 166 people.
Among them, Zhong Suisui, chairman of Nongfu Spring, ranked 17th in the world with a net worth of US$65.7 billion; 38-year-old ByteDance founder Zhang Yiming ranked 25th with a fortune of US$50 billion. Jack Ma ranked 67th with a net worth of $22.8 billion. It is worth noting that Jiang Rensheng, the founder of Chinese vaccine company Zhifei Biology, and his family are ranked 91st in the world with a net worth of US$17.7 billion.
Rich people prefer to switch identities
Epidemic highlights the importance of second identity
Looking at the list again, Tesla CEO Elon Musk ranks first on the rich list with total assets of $219 billion, Sergey Brin of Google Group ranks seventh with total assets of $107 billion, and the founder of Binance People and CEO Changpeng Zhao is the richest man in the cryptocurrency space with a total assets of $65 billion, ranking 20th on the Forbes list.
Focus!
None of their origins are from the United States. Elon Musk was born in South Africa. He obtained Canadian citizenship in 1989 and then American citizenship. It can be said that he has triple citizenship of South Africa, Canada and the United States at the same time. Sergey Brin, one of the co-founders of Google Group, was born in Russia (the former Soviet Union) and immigrated to the United States with his family in 1979, and is now one of the wealthiest American immigrants. Changpeng Zhao was originally from China, but immigrated to Canada with his family in 1987 and became a Canadian Chinese.
In fact, there is such an open secret hidden in the major wealth rankings: the rich prefer to change their identities...
Jacky Xu, founder of Trendy Group, which owns the fashion brand Ou Shili, has switched to a new tax status as the company expands;
In 2014, Russian billionaire Pavel Durov obtained St. Kitts and Nevis status;
As the first angel investor in Bitcoin, Roger Ver ran the company in exchange for the status of a low-tax country;
The former richest man in Norway, John Fredriksen, ranked 156th in the 2020 Forbes Global Billionaires List, and moved to the EU country Cyprus in 2006;
Indian real estate tycoon Surenda Hiranandan, ranked 101 in the 2020 Forbes India list, obtained EU status for tax planning;
Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska, ranked 617 on the 2019 Forbes Global Billionaires List, chose to become a citizen of an EU country...
And it is not new to have a second identity among China's richest people.
Li Ka-shing once said in an interview that his company's business involves 57 countries, and which country's passport is convenient for, whichever country's passport is used.
Zhang Yong, the owner of Haidilao, immigrated to Singapore with his family.
Zhang Lan, the founder of South Beauty, applied for a St. Kitts passport for the company's listing.
According to the latest data released by Knight Frank, as of 2020, there are 521,653 ultra-high net worth individuals (people with a net worth of more than US$30 million) worldwide. Nearly a quarter of these ultra-high-net-worth individuals are planning to seek a second status, or 24% globally.
The 2021 Hurun Global Rich List also mentioned that the number of billion-dollar entrepreneurs who obtained second status through immigration is on the rise, accounting for 14% of the list, up from 11% last year.
Through the exposure of this epidemic, war, etc., more people realize the importance of the second identity.
Because more and more countries are implementing entry control over the new crown epidemic and war, those with overseas status have gained more freedom of choice. With the global economic downturn, having an overseas status can also give you more freedom to invest.
Wall Street financial tycoon Jim Rogers said: In the next 10 years, only one identity is very dangerous, and having a second identity will give you a second chance to survive.
In today's global economic environment, it is an irresistible trend for high net worth individuals to have a second identity. It can not only protect one more identity, but also effectively carry out asset preservation and reduce unnecessary loss of property.
What are the benefits of a second identity?
Under normal circumstances, the second status refers to a green card and a passport. Holding a green card means that the cardholder has permanent residency in the issuing country. At the same time, holding a green card can exempt the entry visa for a certain period of time. The identity corresponding to "passport" is "nationality (foreign nationality)". Applying for a "passport" of a country means that the applicant officially possesses the nationality of that country and becomes one of the citizens of that country.
The biggest difference between a green card and a passport is political rights (the right to vote and stand for election) and obligations. Holding a green card in a country means that the cardholder can freely enter and leave the issuing country without a visa, has the right to permanent residence, work and study in the issuing country, and can enjoy social benefits such as public medical care and education.
freedom of travel
According to the "2022 Q1 Global Mobility Report" released by Henley & Partners, some citizenship-by-investment countries with ultra-high global liquidity status are particularly prominent.
St. Kitts and Nevis ranked 25th with visa-free access to 164 countries and territories, and remains the most valuable passport in the Caribbean;
St. Lucia ranks 31st, with visa-free access to 146 countries and regions;
Turkey ranks 50th with visa-free access to 110 countries and regions.
The liquidity and convenience of the second identity are sought after by many investors. With multiple identities, you can enter other 150+ countries/regions without a visa, which has become one of the most powerful competitive advantages of identity investment in the post-epidemic era.
Children's education
Acquiring a second identity with great educational advantages is an advantage for children's educational planning, whether it is to go abroad for further studies or to study in first-class schools in China.
By changing one status, children who study abroad can enjoy the same educational resources and social benefits as foreign students, and they will also have an incomparable advantage in studying in China. Participate in the joint entrance examination for overseas Chinese students, and get a low score in a domestic double first-class university.
Asset allocation
The inflation brought about by the epidemic has gradually emerged, and for ordinary people, inflation will continue to dilute the money in our hands.
Allocation of assets across regions and countries can avoid risks in a single country; allocation across asset classes can effectively avoid risks brought by a single market...
Therefore, diversifying and dispersing the global asset allocation portfolio can fundamentally improve the ability of assets to resist risks, avoid the intrusion of emergencies, and buffer market shocks even when a black swan arrives.
Tax planning
In the context of big data, while the era of transaction and asset transparency is coming to us, tax planning and asset allocation have become a new topic.
Tax planning is not about not paying taxes, but within the scope permitted by law, through cross-border tax planning, to effectively save taxes, and successful asset allocation and tax planning must come first.
Countries tighten immigration policies
On March 28, the European Commission issued a recommendation urging member states to cancel programs related to the sale of citizenship to foreign investors, commonly known as the "golden passport" program. The European Commission has also urged member states to stop selling Schengen visas to Russian and Belarusian citizens.
Looking back at history, immigration policies are changing rapidly, and hesitating and hesitating to miss the best opportunity:
On November 1, 2020, the Cyprus passport program was officially closed.
From January 2022, Portugal will terminate the immigration policy for house purchases in Lisbon and Porto.
In February 2022, the UK announced the termination of the Investor Visa Tier 1 investment immigration program.
In March 2022, the UK announced the official closure of the Chief Commercial Representative visa on April 11, 2022.
It can be seen from the above that the situation of the EU's tightening of immigration policies is already very clear, and it is the general trend to tighten step by step. Therefore, for friends who intend to take a second identity, they may face the situation of increasing the amount, increasing the difficulty, or even shutting down directly in the future. Therefore, the best way is to act as soon as possible to obtain the identity as soon as possible, so that the potential risk will have the lowest impact on the individual. .
The epidemic since 2020 has made everyone, including high-net-worth individuals, aware of the important role of "second identity" in times of crisis. In addition, the popular European immigration projects can be described as rich and frugal. The investment amount varies from country to country. Investors can choose flexibly according to their own capital situation and immigration appeals.
Under the raging epidemic, one more identity means one more choice at a critical moment. Overseas identity has become a rigid need for emergency hedging!
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