What we’re reading (7/14)
“JPMorgan Has Big Wealth-Management Growth Plans” (Business Insider). “Private banking and wealth management are a key part of JPMorgan's future. In the past year, the bank has hired about 100 advisors for its private-bank division, which oversees more than $836 billion in client assets and caters to individuals worth at least $10 million. JPMorgan plans to hire as many as 1,500 new advisors over the next five years, doubling its current private-bank advisor head count, Private Bank CEO David Frame told Insider.”
“The Boomer Wealth Boom” (City Journal). “Over time, the rate at which Americans have saved for retirement has increased impressively. A 2016 study of gains in retirement savings over a 27-year period by Andrew Biggs of the American Enterprise Institute found that retirement savings of those aged 55 to 69 grew by 126 percent after inflation, to $448,292. The gains haven’t all been concentrated among the rich, either. As Biggs points out, even the retirement savings of middle-income Americans increased by 70 percent after inflation in that time. With these gains has come a sharp decline in poverty among seniors.”
“America’s Elite Law Firms Are Booming” (The Economist). “According to the American Lawyer, an industry journal, total revenues at the 100 biggest firms rose by 7% last year, to $111bn…average profit margins increased, from 40% to 43%. Profits per equity partner rose by over 13%, to an all-time high of nearly $2.2m. These went up at all but six of the top 100 firms. At the most lucrative ones, such as Davis Polk, Kirkland & Ellis or Sullivan & Cromwell, they surpassed $5m. Each equity partner at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, the richest of the lot, raked in $7.5m, up from $6.3m in 2019[.]”
“Lumber Wipes Out 2021 Gain With Demand Ebbing After Record Boom” (Bloomberg). “Lumber, which at one point was among the world’s best-performing commodities as the pandemic sent construction demand soaring and stoked fears of inflation, has officially wiped out all of its staggering gains for the year.”
“NYC Restaurant's French Fries Set Guinness World Record for Most Expensive” (NBC News). “Serendipity3, the iconic Upper East Side restaurant, set a Guinness World Records title for making the “Most Expensive French Fries'' -- just in time to celebrate National French Fry Day…Serendipity3’s Creative Director and Chef Joe Calderone and Corporate Executive Chef Frederick Schoen-Kiewert are the masterminds behind the ‘Creme de la Creme Pommes Frites,’ which cost a whopping $200.”
