Fact/Fiction 5: Rich Asian clients make bipolar money decisions. They live very frugally but go all out to bid for rare expensive art or rare items because of the prestige factor.
Vintage cars and private jets anyone? A scene from «Crazy Rich Asians», courtesy of WB.
Our take: fact. According to our conversations with private bankers, the patriarch of one of the family offices in Hong Kong still shops for clothes on Tao Bao, as does his wife. They belong to the generation that grew up with communism in China. For them, big-ticket buys are almost always about real estate and they spend money on flash buildings usually super prime real estate.
While in Malaysia, one of our editors had arranged to be hosted at a house of a family friend. The elderly gentleman (the host) appeared in a white singlet filled with holes, and drove a run-down Nissan to pick us. Only upon arriving at his home did we discover a grand mansion with a landscaped garden and vintage cars. He explained that he did not want to be «targeted by robbers».
The younger generation is another story. One editor once got invited to a tai tai’s (meaning rich lady) garage sale in Hong Kong, only to discover she had 100 Birkins to sell.
