Screw Charity, Millionaires Spending More on Bling

Spooked by the financial crisis, millionaires have pulled their money out of stocks and put it where their passions are—think yachts, art, private jets, and expensive jewelry—while simultaneously cutting back on their donations to charity, according to a new report from Merrill Lynch and Capgemini. Most millionaires now have 30% of their assets in luxury goods, up from 27% in 2008; charitable donations have coincidentally fallen 3.6%.

“It was such a severe crisis, the investor psyche has really shifted,” the top researcher tells Bloomberg. “That’s why we are seeing a trend toward putting money into tangible assets.” American and Japanese millionaires spent mostly on luxury collectibles, while art was more popular in Europe and Latin America and jewels and watches popular in the Middle East and Asia. (More investment stories.)