Rich Vietnamese prefer to "keep money" over risky investments

As the number of wealthy people increases, the demand for professional personal financial advice in Vietnam is also increasing.

Rich people like to keep gold and real estate.

A 2025 survey shows that on average, Vietnamese people allocate up to 31% of their assets to real estate and 14% to gold, showing a preference for tangible assets and a tendency to "keep money" rather than optimize yields.

“The investment psychology of many Vietnamese, including the wealthy, is strongly influenced by the culture of valuing tangible assets. Real estate and gold have long been considered the preferred 'places to keep money'. In the past 5 years, this trend has remained almost unchanged, as most investors only choose 2-3 traditional channels (land, gold, bank savings), instead of diversifying their portfolios. Vietnamese people's psychology chooses to focus on assets that can be seen and held. This shows that Vietnamese people value preserving capital more than taking risks to seek high profits,” said an analyst from SHS Securities Company.

The preference of the Vietnamese super-rich for real estate has been going on for many years. Knight Frank estimates that nearly two-thirds of the total asset value of the super-rich is in real estate. On average, a super-rich individual in Asia and Vietnam owns 3.3 residential properties, higher than the world average (2.9). Real estate is considered a valuable shelter when inflation rises.

At the same time, Vietnamese people also accumulate huge amounts of gold (estimated at about 400 tons) to guard against economic fluctuations - a habit that stems from a history of high inflation and macroeconomic fluctuations in previous decades.

Asset management is more than just adding value.

- Mr. Nguyen Vu Long, General Director of VNDirect Securities Joint Stock Company

In Vietnam, we have seen customers owning real estate worth hundreds of billions of VND, but falling into a state of illiquidity, unable to borrow a small amount to pay short-term debts. That shows that asset management is not only about increasing value, but more importantly, managing risks, especially debt-related risks, helping customers protect their financial security.

Currently, the asset management industry in Vietnam still lacks a legal framework, standards and adequate awareness from both customers and businesses. However, I believe that the next 3-5 years will be a golden period for asset management in Vietnam to develop and become professional.

According to analysts from SHS Securities Company, this investment bias of the rich (mainly keeping money in real estate) results in their investment portfolios often being unbalanced, having low liquidity and depending on the real estate cycle.

Currently, in the context of growing stock market and decreasing deposit interest rates, many people have partially shifted their savings to stocks, investment funds, etc., but the priority is still real estate and gold.

In fact, not only the super-rich, but also most Vietnamese investors choose gold and real estate when they have idle money, with the mentality that "people give birth, land does not". This pushes real estate prices to continuously increase, although in reality, many investors have become victims of virtual fever, "stuck in land" for decades, unable to sell their goods.

Answering the question of why so far there have not been many financial institutions that have strongly developed comprehensive financial consulting services, but most of them only sell individual financial products, Dr. Dinh The Hien, Director of the Institute of Informatics and Applied Economics, emphasized that the Vietnamese personal financial market will hardly be able to break through if it continues to prioritize real estate, without switching to developing other financial products. The real estate market itself currently lacks transparency, many investors follow rumors because of the desire for high profits. Banks both finance credit for real estate purchases and lend to investors, and bear the risk when this market accounts for too large a proportion.

According to Dr. Dinh The Hien, in the next 5-10 years, when real estate risks are dispersed and the Land Law (amended) comes into practice, there will be an opportunity for comprehensive financial consulting to develop properly.

Change your habits: Let the experts manage your personal assets

Experts point out that Vietnamese people, including the super-rich, do not have the habit of entrusting their assets to others for advice and management. This is the reason they pour money into "classic" investment channels such as real estate and gold.

Dr. Can Van Luc, an economic expert, said that most Vietnamese investors prioritize traditional investment channels (savings, gold, real estate); only 0.4 - 0.5% of the population invests through open-end funds, while this figure is 57% in the US, 30% in Singapore...

In addition, according to Dr. Dinh The Hien, the wealthy focus on gold and real estate because financial products on the market are limited. For example, the stock market, although established for more than 20 years, still lacks diversity in products and fund certificates; the insurance industry has only stopped at a few basic funds.

However, along with the increasing number of rich people, according to experts, the demand for professional personal financial advice in Vietnam will increase. Vietnam's average income per capita has increased steadily by about 6%/year for nearly 40 years. From now until 2045, along with high economic growth, the average income of people will increase by 7-9%/year. Therefore, the proportion of rich customers is increasing rapidly. The number of individuals with a net worth of at least 1 million USD increased by 70% in the period 2017-2022. According to the World Bank, it is forecasted that by 2030, about 50% of Vietnam's population will be in the middle class.

Currently, the difficulties with the personal financial consulting profession in Vietnam are not only due to investors' habits, but also due to the lack of legal framework, financial consulting services are still rudimentary, personal financial consulting activities are still mainly sales-oriented, causing customers to lack trust...

Mr. Nguyen Vu Long, General Director of VNDirect Securities Joint Stock Company, said that VNDirect is managing securities assets of more than 10 billion USD with 500 consulting staff. Mr. Long noted that asset management is not only about increasing value, but more importantly, managing risks, especially risks related to debt. If we are not careful, we can fall into a debt spiral and no matter how large the assets on paper are, they will become meaningless. Debt traps are also the root cause of many financial crises in the world.

The 3rd Vietnam Wealth Advisor Summit (VWAS) 2025

Time: 13:00, Thursday, September 25, 2025
Location: Pullman Hotel, 40 Cat Linh, Hanoi

VWAS 2025 - Annual Forum organized by Finance - Investment Newspaper and Vietnam Financial Advisors Community (VWA) under the auspices of the Ministry of Finance .

The forum includes the following activities:

• The main workshop with 2 presentation and discussion sessions on the topics "Support for market resilience", "Finding breakthroughs for asset classes", with the participation of leading domestic and international managers, economic and financial experts.

• Honoring 8 typical financial products/services in 2025 including:
1. Outstanding priority customer service
2. Typical financial brokerage services
3. Typical investment asset management services
4. Typical technology and digital transformation products
5. Creative personal finance solutions
6. Real estate developers have comprehensive financial solutions
7. Typical real estate consultant
8. Insurance products that best meet financial protection needs

The Vietnam Financial Advisors Summit 2025 is organized live and online on the Finance & Business Youtube Channel with more than 500,000 followers, the Vietnam Financial Advisors Community Facebook Group with nearly 300,000 members and on the platforms of the Finance - Investment Newspaper.

Contact sponsors:
Mr. Nguyen Hong - M: 0903684558, E: [email protected]
Mr. Tuan Khanh – 0913016139, E: [email protected]

Contact to nominate typical financial products/services in 2025:
Ms. Nguyen Thi Huyen - M: 0988086991, E: [email protected]
Ms. Nguyen Thanh Hong - M: 0942386611, E: [email protected]

Source: https://baodautu.vn/gioi-nha-giau-viet-thich-giu-tien-hon-dau-tu-mao-hiem-d373191.html