Wealth Legacy Tour in the UK: Discovering the Wealth Management Practices of Centuries-Old Families

(10 days, 8 nights)

【Project background】

As a rapidly growing market for private wealth, China has accumulated a significant number of high-net-worth individuals (HNWIs) after more than 30 years of economic growth. Many businesses and families are now facing a critical period of succession and wealth transfer. These individuals have increasingly sophisticated needs for wealth management and investment, with a growing emphasis on wealth preservation and inheritance. More and more HNWIs are systematically considering how to effectively and beneficially pass on both material and spiritual wealth to the next generation. The mere functions of capital preservation and appreciation are no longer sufficient; there is an increasing demand for branded, diversified, and international wealth management services.

However, in a domestic environment where regulations are becoming increasingly stringent, how can HNWIs identify risks, effectively manage family and personal wealth, and develop sound wealth management strategies? In the ever-changing global economic landscape, how should one determine investment directions and achieve global asset allocation? These are pressing questions faced by HNWIs today and the primary reasons we have chosen the UK as our benchmark.

The United Kingdom, as an established financial empire, is known as a "comprehensive wealth management center" of the world due to its robust regulatory framework, diversified capital markets, and specialized financial services. British military strategist Tofler once made an interesting remark about wealth: "Wealth is acquired through great effort, guarded with constant anxiety, and lost with extreme distress." This vividly captures the three main objectives of wealth management for HNWIs: wealth appreciation, wealth preservation, and wealth transfer. Originating from the medieval English legal concept of "Uses" and evolving over 800 years, the family trust has become an excellent property transfer and management tool that ensures these three objectives are perfectly met. This system is widely applied in developed countries, where many well-known European and American families utilize family trusts and family foundations to achieve enduring family wealth.

Simultaneously, the UK is also the birthplace of elite education, known for its "gentleman spirit" characterized by strong responsibility, which has formed the foundation of the British Empire's strength and earned worldwide respect. Numerous British private schools, known globally for their long history, elite culture, and gentlemanly values, have become top choices for educational investment among global HNWIs. Furthermore, the UK's significant advantages in language, time zone, education, and taxation make it one of the most popular countries among Chinese investors and a vital gateway for China into Europe. In 2014, approximately 1,500 Chinese HNWIs applied for immigration to the UK, a figure that doubled from the previous year.

Given these factors, we will organize a tour for Chinese HNWIs to the UK, with in-depth visits to the established financial center of London, the traditional offshore financial center of Guernsey, and Edinburgh, the wealth management hub of Europe. This tour will bring together wealth management experts from private banks, real estate investment firms, educational investment institutions, family offices, and family trust entities in the UK, combining theory with practice. It will provide a comprehensive, multi-disciplinary, and high-level global private wealth dialogue platform for HNWIs, condensing wisdom, sharing cutting-edge information, and delivering higher-quality private wealth management services to more high-net-worth individuals.