THE very wealthy are getting wealthier, even after adjusting for their rapidly rising cost of living. Access to private markets might be helping them cement this lead.

Data from Forbes this month showed that the world’s billionaires are worth a record-breaking US$14.2 trillion – up US$2 trillion from the 2023 stocktake, and US$1.1 trillion above the previous record set in 2021.

The Financial Times went a step further to compare the increase in wealth with Forbes’ “cost of living extremely well” index.