Why are the wealthy parking their funds in real estate? They don't have a crystal ball so its not because they know its going to appreciate. It's a terrible investment by almost all accounts. It's historically expensive, undiversified, large transaction costs, high maintenance, taxed continuously, politically visible, etc. And they don't even bother to use it.
My understanding is that there are limits to where they can store their wealth with relative safety. A Russian oligarch can't just open up a Robinhood account and park hundreds of millions of dollars in a low cost ETF. Their wealth is in constant risk of confiscation by the state. That's much less true in the US. I don't think Mark Cuban would just sit on hundreds of millions worth of real estate in Vancouver. Vacation homes and private islands are different, but I think its mostly a developing market oligarch phenomenon.
I wonder if crypto could alleviate some of the strain caused by work-arounds to unequal banking systems.
My understanding is that there are limits to where they can store their wealth with relative safety. A Russian oligarch can't just open up a Robinhood account and park hundreds of millions of dollars in a low cost ETF. Their wealth is in constant risk of confiscation by the state. That's much less true in the US. I don't think Mark Cuban would just sit on hundreds of millions worth of real estate in Vancouver. Vacation homes and private islands are different, but I think its mostly a developing market oligarch phenomenon.
I wonder if crypto could alleviate some of the strain caused by work-arounds to unequal banking systems.