It’s not often that statistics surprise me, so when they do, it’s a jolting experience. Last week, a few of you sent me this article that presents some very interesting data.

Last year, a record 82,000 millionaires moved to another country, according to a new study.

According to New World Wealth, a market research firm based in Johannesburg, South Africa, the number of millionaires moving to another country jumped 28 percent in 2016 from the previous year, reaching the highest level the firm has found in its four years of measuring. Millionaire migration has grown 60 percent since 2013, the firm’s findings show, and there are no signs that it is slowing.

New World Wealth’s data includes only millionaires who have physically moved to a country for a period of at least six months…Add to those numbers the wealthy who have changed or added citizenships, those who spend part of their time in various countries or own homes in multiple nations, and the numbers grow much larger.

A 60% increase in millionaires moving out of their own countries in just four years? That’s insane! I knew the numbers were high and growing, but I honestly had no idea they were this bad. And since all of these conditions are worsening, these numbers will keep growing.

Here’s a question: Does this migration of money indicate a good sign for things to come, or a bad sign? Does it mean things are going well and getting better, or things are not going well and getting worse? I think you know the answer.

The question is whether or not you should do this, since it’s unlikely that you’re a millionaire.

I will probably do a future post on this, but to summarize, if you’re very poor and your country or economy collapses, you probably won’t notice a big difference, since you’re already poor and your life already sucks.

If you are one of the super-rich, like you’re worth $50 million or $100 million or more, you’re probably going to be okay too. On paper you’ll lose money, and you won’t be happy about that, but your day-to-day lifestyle isn’t going to change one bit.

The people who get whacked in the face is everyone in-between these two extremes, namely the middle class, and especially the upper middle class; those who make higher than average incomes and have some investments and savings but who aren’t multibazillionaires. These are the guys who, in an economic crash, collapse, or government crackdown, lose their homes, cars, retirement savings, and have their lifestyles either destroyed or dramatically downgraded very quickly.

While I don’t know for sure, I strongly suspect that the vast majority of these millionaires leaving their countries are the low-end millionaires; those with a net worth of less than $10 million. These are the guys who are very exposed. Bill Gates doesn’t worry about an economic collapse, but I promise you the guy down the street who’s busted his ass for decades and is now worth around $3 million is very concerned about it. He has a lot to lose. The poor and the super-rich do not.

Where are all these millionaires going?

Australia is now the world’s top destination for millionaires, beating the United States for the second straight year, according to New World Wealth. An estimated 11,000 millionaires moved to Australia in 2016, compared with the 10,000 who moved to the United States.

Canada ranked third, with 8,000, followed by the United Arab Emirates and New Zealand.

Australia. Interesting. I’ll be honest; if Australia wasn’t so god damn expensive, it would be in the running for the top three countries I would move to. Australia has a lot of extreme left-wing politics that irritate me, and their infrastructure is embarrassingly bad for a first-world nation, but the people are very cool, the land is beautiful, everyone speaks English, and it’s very close to Asia. Australia, drop your damn prices, then I’ll move there!

The UAE being on this list is also interesting, and New Zealand is nicely represented. Good.

As for countries that millionaires are fleeing, France tops the list, with 12,000 moving out during 2016. China ranked second, with 9,000, followed by Brazil, India and Turkey.

None of this surprises me.

1. France, because of its Islamic invasion mixed with its insane taxes, check.

2. China, because of its government crackdown on rich people and its growing real estate bubble, check.

3. Brazil, because of its worsening chaos, check.

4. India, oh poor, sad India, the saddest and biggest wasted opportunity of the 21st century, because of its absolutely psychotic and suicidal economic policies, check.

5. Turkey, because of its recent attempted coup and other political turmoil, check.

Know why the USA isn’t on this list? Because citizens there have to pay taxes to the US even if you move away and never go back (unless you renounce your citizenship, and even then they want you to continue to pay for a few more years). At the moment, it’s a nice deal to move to the US if you’re not a US citizen, but if you are…

It will be very interesting to see what happens with America’s millionaires and international money flow over the next 20 years.

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