September 24, 2007
A Silent Emigration of Americans
Bob Adams, CEO of New Global Initiatives, writing in Barron’s “Other Voices” column:
“The largest group actually having made the decision to relocate [abroad] is in the households where the adults are 25 to 34 years old. Blame it on outdated 20th-century thinking, but I assumed this age group would be too busy establishing families and career paths to pull up stakes and move out of the country. Wrong. When it comes to a serious interest in buying a property outside the U.S., that youthful age group dominates. A lot of Americans are at various stages of considering relocation or buying property overseas, but the 25-34 age group is the one putting down the bucks to do it.”
Yes, bright young Americans understand the importance of diversifying away from dollar-denominated income and assets.
September 24th, 2007 at 11:35 am
That, and the fact that many young Americans see a great deal of potential upside for their careers in emerging markets.
September 24th, 2007 at 12:07 pm
Chris: Yes, and that connects directly to the bit I excerpted from today’s most read stories: “China, India and Russia together will account for half of global growth this year, according to the International Monetary Fund.”
September 24th, 2007 at 9:21 pm
At that age, they have a unique combination - they’re experienced enough to start to view life though their own prism (and not the prisms given to them by parents or schools), and they haven’t yet planted enough stakes for pulling them up to be that inconvenient.
Much younger, and they have no understanding of the world, only what mental models were given them; much older, and they have stakes in the ground, generating too much opportunity cost to move.
September 24th, 2007 at 9:34 pm
Go East young man, go East!
September 25th, 2007 at 12:48 am
They just want to travel as much as they can and as far as they can before they figure out where they want to “settle down.”