Global wealth held by high-net-worth individuals rose 8.7% in 2025 to a record $98.3 trillion, the largest single-year jump since 2018, according to the 30th edition of Capgemini Research Institute's World Wealth Report, published June 4, 2026. The population of people worth $1 million or more in investable assets grew 7.9% to 25.3 million worldwide, with the United States adding the most new millionaires of any country.
What changed
Capgemini's report attributes the jump mainly to equity markets, with HNWI portfolios shifting further into stocks: equity allocations reached 25% of the typical high-net-worth portfolio as of January 2026, up three percentage points from a year earlier, as strong corporate earnings and technology-sector gains pulled allocations away from cash and fixed income. Ultra-high-net-worth individuals, generally those worth $30 million or more, grew even faster: their population rose 9.4% and their wealth 9.7%, both outpacing the broader HNWI segment, per InvestmentNews's coverage of the report.
Who is affected
A report about global wealth levels is not, on its own, a tax event. But a multi-year run-up concentrated in equities means many affluent households are sitting on larger unrealized gains than they were entering 2025, often in a small number of positions that have simply compounded. Separate Capgemini data cited in trade coverage put U.S. millionaire growth at roughly 736,000 people in 2025 alone. For that group, the practical question is less "how much is my portfolio worth" and more "how much of a future sale would go to tax, and can that be managed."
The after-tax math
Example: a household began 2025 with a $2 million equity portfolio and a $1.2 million cost basis. If that portfolio grew in line with the 8.7% wealth-weighted increase Capgemini reported, it would be worth roughly $2.17 million by year-end, with the embedded gain widening from $800,000 to about $970,000. At a 20% federal long-term capital gains rate plus the 3.8% net investment income tax, selling the entire position in one year would trigger roughly $230,000 in federal tax - before any state tax - even though the household never touched the portfolio.
| Approach | Effect on the embedded gain |
|---|---|
| Sell all at once | Full gain realized in one tax year, at that year's marginal rate |
| Spread sales across several years | Gain realized gradually, potentially at a lower bracket in some years |
| Tax-loss harvest elsewhere in the portfolio | Losses offset some or all of the realized gain |
| Hold until death | Heirs generally receive a step-up in basis, eliminating the built-in gain for estate purposes |
Moves to discuss with your advisor
- Check position concentration. A single stock or fund that grew faster than the rest of a portfolio can quietly become an outsized share of net worth and an outsized tax bill if sold.
- Use direct indexing or separately managed accounts where available. These structures can realize losses on individual names inside an index while deferring gains, something a mutual fund or ETF wrapper generally cannot do for an individual investor.
- Revisit asset location. Fast-appreciating growth assets held in a taxable account face different treatment than the same assets inside a retirement account, and the report's equity-heavy allocation trend makes that placement decision more consequential than in a slower market.
What to watch
Capgemini's report is descriptive, not predictive, but a fifth consecutive year of rising equity allocations among wealthy households raises the stakes of a market pullback: portfolios concentrated in a narrow set of winners tend to fall harder and faster than diversified ones. Advisors quoted in trade press expect 2026 to bring more client interest in tax-aware rebalancing tools as a way to trim concentrated positions without triggering an outsized tax bill in a single year.
Sources
- First reported World Wealth Report 2026 Press Release — Capgemini Research Institute
- US leads global millionaire surge as HNWI wealth hits record $98.3T — InvestmentNews
- U.S. Added 736,000 Millionaires in 2025, Capgemini Reports — 401(k) Specialist
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