{"id":7671,"date":"2026-06-17T03:31:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-17T03:31:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/?p=7671"},"modified":"2026-06-17T03:31:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-17T03:31:09","slug":"no-country-for-rich-men-6-out-of-10-wealthy-americans-want-to-pull-a-clooney-and-pack-their-bags","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/?p=7671","title":{"rendered":"No country for rich men: 6 out of 10 wealthy Americans want to pull a Clooney and pack their bags"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

George Clooney sent a holiday season warning to the U.S. economy in December 2025: your wealthy citizens aren\u2019t so impressed by all that American Dream stuff anymore. In France, where he and his family had just gotten citizenship, \u201cthey kind of don\u2019t give a s\u2014 about fame,\u201d he told\u00a0Esquire<\/em>. He added that he wanted his kids away from \u201cthe culture of Hollywood \u2026 walking around worried about paparazzi\u201d or \u201cbeing compared to somebody else\u2019s famous kids.\u201d?<\/p>\n

He\u2019s not alone.<\/p>\n

\n

Six in 10 affluent Americans say they would consider leaving the United States within the next five years \u2014 a striking signal of eroding confidence at the very top of the income ladder.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the headline finding from a new survey of 1,733 Americans with household incomes above $200,000, conducted in May 2026 by Apex Capital Partners, a wealth management firm that specializes in second citizenship and overseas investment programs. The results paint a picture of a wealthy class increasingly eyeing the exits, not out of hardship, but out of strategic calculation.<\/p>\n

The finding arrives as the U.S. recorded net negative migration in 2025\u2014more people leaving than arriving\u2014for the first time in roughly 90 years, a trend that aligned exactly with Clooney\u2019s foreign adventures. The Apex survey suggests the wealthy aren\u2019t observers of that shift. They\u2019re driving it.<\/p>\n

Cost, not just culture wars<\/strong><\/h2>\n

For years, the narrative around Americans moving abroad centered on political disillusionment. But the data tells a more nuanced story. When asked why they\u2019d consider leaving, respondents ranked cost of living and taxes first, cited by 68% of those open to emigrating\u2014ahead of political climate, which came in at 54%. Healthcare access (39%), public safety (29%), and education (21%) rounded out the top five.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn all honesty, it was a bit surprising to me,\u201d Nuri Katz, founder of Apex Capital Partners, told Fortune<\/em>. Most of his Americans clients used to be motivated by politics but now, \u201cwe are seeing clients from both sides of the aisle. People on the left are afraid of Trump. People on the right who support Trump are afraid of the reaction\u2014a stark move to the left, a socialist coming into power, and we see the popularity of socialist politicians now as well, so both sides are incredibly nervous.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n
\"\"<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

\u201cAffluent Americans are increasingly treating immigration as a strategic financial move to safeguard their assets and families against political instability and rising expenses,\u201d said Katz.<\/p>\n

The economic anxiety runs deeper than destination-shopping. Forty-two percent of respondents rated the current U.S. economy as weak or very weak, while just 31% called it strong or very strong, only 27% were neutral.<\/p>\n

That pessimism is notably concentrated at the top: a Gallup poll last November found roughly 20% of all Americans expressed a desire to permanently relocate abroad. Among households earning over $200,000, the Apex survey puts that figure at three times higher\u2014suggesting economic unease is sharpest among those with the most assets to protect, and the most means to act.<\/p>\n

\n

Most entrepreneurs and wealthy people are very concentrated in U.S. dollar assets, Katz explained, citing their 401(k)s, real estate and stock portfolios. \u201cPeople are coming to the understanding that the dollar isn\u2019t going to be the reserve currency forever, and it might end sooner than later.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The survey also captures the mood of a country at war. Three in four respondents said the ongoing Iran War concerns them about America\u2019s future. Nearly 44% called it\u00a0significantly\u00a0concerning, the single largest response, while another 31% said they were\u00a0moderately\u00a0concerned. Only about 10% said they weren\u2019t concerned at all.<\/p>\n

Katz said he\u2019s seen a sea change since the pandemic. \u201cBefore COVID, the percentage of Americans within our industry applying for second residences or citizenships was minimal. Now it\u2019s growing by hundreds of percentages a year. You see the sentiment and it\u2019s turning\u2014the sentiment starts somewhere and then it turns into action over time, and we\u2019re seeing that action now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Where they\u2019d go<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Europe is the runaway favorite destination. Among those considering a move, 42% pointed to Europe, followed by Canada (18%) and the Caribbean (16%). South America and Asia trailed well behind, at 10% each.<\/p>\n

The appeal of Europe and the Caribbean isn\u2019t purely lifestyle-driven. Both regions are home to well-established Golden Visa and Citizenship by Investment (CIP) programs\u2014pathways that allow high-net-worth individuals to obtain residency or citizenship in exchange for qualifying investments.<\/p>\n

Katz sounded a cautionary note about Europe. \u201cI think people are going to be realizing that Europe isn\u2019t the solution and they\u2019re going to be looking elsewhere,\u201d he said, calling the EU a \u201cdysfunctional organization\u201d and pointing out that many European economies are \u201cin a state of flux\u201d with falling quality of life as social welfare systems built for the 20th century seem unsustainable in the modern economy. <\/p>\n

The European golden visa landscape has also shifted considerably. Portugal, once the most popular entry point for American applicants, shuttered its residential real estate pathway in 2024,\u00a0as Fortune<\/em> reported, reshaping where wealthy applicants can turn\u2014and fueling demand for Caribbean alternatives that can confer a second passport in as little as three to six months.\u00a0Apex, notably, is in the business of facilitating exactly those transactions.<\/p>\n

It isn\u2019t just people contemplating a shift\u2014it\u2019s capital. Nearly 63% of respondents said they have considered diversifying assets outside the United States. For a cohort that earns over $200,000 a year, that\u2019s a meaningful signal for advisors, fund managers, and policymakers watching where domestic wealth flows.<\/p>\n

Katz has worked in what he calls the \u201cinvestor immigration\u201d sector for 30 years and works with clients from all over the world, and this is something new, he told Fortune<\/em>. \u201cWe\u2019ve been feeling this rise in demand from the United States and we decided to study it and in all honesty, I was surprised, I don\u2019t want to say shocked, at the sentiment among wealthy people.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s a blessing for my company but a problem for the U.S.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

#country #rich #men #wealthy #Americans #pull #Clooney #pack #bags<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

George Clooney sent a holiday season warning to the U.S. economy in December 2025: your wealthy citizens aren\u2019t so impressed by all that American Dream stuff anymore. In France, where… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7672,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1264,5274,9938,2590,1158,1823,9353,6360,39,81,2185],"class_list":["post-7671","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-finance-news","tag-americans","tag-bags","tag-clooney","tag-country","tag-immigration","tag-men","tag-pack","tag-pull","tag-rich","tag-wealth","tag-wealthy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7671","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7671"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7671\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7672"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7671"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7671"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7671"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}