Financial Crisis

No names, no photos. This was Mr K’s sole condition to grant me this exclusive interview. He is not willing to take any chances. He can’t afford to, not after an incident where his S500 got jacked during which the carjackers panicked and fired a shot, merely inches away from putting a bullet into his brain.

When most people say/think financial crisis, all that comes to mind is the negativity, one which we all fear.

Afterall, the definition of crisis =
1) a time of extreme trouble or danger
2) an emotional stressful event or traumatic change in a person's life
3) an unstable condition, involving an impending abrupt or decisive change

Based upon our fears, we start to behave differently eg spending less, save more, becoming more stressed out, worrying etc...

But Mr K gave me a whole new perspective, where he thinks differently and reacts in a more positive manner. How?

Instead of defining the word crisis in English, he uses a Chinese interpretation instead which brings us to the word 'Ngai Kei' 危机. 'Ngai Kei' is actually a combination of two words where 'Ngai'危 means danger, and 'Kei' 机 means opportunity.

Therefore to him, Crisis = "Without the danger, there cannot arise the opportunity".

Instead of worrying about how his net value is dropping today, he is already looking beyond the horizon, planning on how to capitalize the most out of this recession. Afterall, recession is merely a part of a cyclic process in the business world.

High Net Worth Individuals in Malaysia: How Have their Lives Changed?

The car industry is often seen as a barometer of the world economy, and it has stormed into a deep recession with sales and profits tumbling in almost every other country. The same situation is occuring in Malaysia, where we see a consistent contraction in car volume sales in the past 2 years. But what about luxury cars? Have the wealthy changed their spending behaviour as well?



Both BMW and Mercedes seem pretty optimistic for this year. A check on luxury car sales figures (source: Malaysia Automotive Association) shows us that sales have been either stable or growing for the past 3 years, and sales for the 1st half of this year has so far been pretty close to figures achieved for the 1st half of last year. So why has nothing changed despite the estimate of 20% decline in wealth for the HNWIs as reported by Merill Lynch/ Capgemini?

Shafie, a sales consultant at a BMW authorized dealer has this to say, "They can't afford not to upgrade their car when the time is due, be it during a boom or a recession. I can tell most of our customers purchase their cars not for the driving experience, but rather as an essential business investment. The bulk of our customers are local businessmen owning several companies. The average Malaysian businessman needs to make a statement with his car and his Rolex watch; he is doing well in his business, hence hand him the contract". He added, "I guess that is why we see quite a high number of cases where luxury cars are repossessed and auctioned off.".


Observation: Though it may seem like a superficial practice at first, what these businessmen are practicing is in a way, quite similar to a well chanted mantra in our industry; Advertising pays in a downturn.

High Net Worth Individuals in Malaysia: Who Are They?

...and how exactly do I find them?

According to the World Wealth Report by Merrill Lynch/ Capgemini, HNWIs are defined as those having investable assets of US$1 million or more. That is a LOT of money in Malaysia, considering our exchange rate vs the dollar.

And a question arose...

Is a high net worth individual in Malaysia equal to another high net worth individual from another part of the world?

Apparently not.



The chart above by the Asian Banker paints a different picture, not just for Malaysians but across several Asian countries. Interestingly, one only needs to be half as wealthy in Malaysia vs in an OECD country to be segmented as a HNWI. Pretty much tells us the cost of living and quality of life in Malaysia.

NEXT: How have their lives changed?