Why Our Luxury Fund Holds Banks and Gold Miners

When people think of luxury investing, they think of Louis Vuitton handbags, Ferrari sports cars and Cartier bracelets. And rightly so! These iconic brands are at the heart of the luxury goods industry.

But luxury is much bigger than that. It’s an entire ecosystem, and if you want to invest in it intelligently, I believe it’s important to understand the full picture. That includes who buys luxury, what goes into making it and who manages the money behind it.

That’s why our Global Luxury Goods Fund (USLUX) holds names like UBS alongside LVMH, and gold royalty companies alongside Richemont. I’ve received questions about this before, and I think they deserve an answer.

The Wealth Engine Behind Every Luxury Purchase

Let’s start with the demand side of luxury. Between 2021 and today, the global population of ultra-high-net-worth individuals (UHNWIs)—those worth more than $30 million—grew from approximately 551,000 to 713,000, according to a recent wealth report by Knight Frank. That’s over 162,000 UHNWIs in just five years, or roughly 89 people crossing the $30 million mark every single day.

It’s not just the ultra-wealthy expanding their ranks. In a 2025 report, UBS highlighted a growing segment they call EMILLIs—Everyday MILLIonaires with investable assets between $1 million and $5 million. Their numbers have more than quadrupled since 2000, reaching around 52 million globally, and they now control approximately $107 trillion in total wealth.

These are the people driving luxury demand. According to wealth data provider Altrata, the ultra-wealthy alone spent an estimated $290 billion on luxury goods and services in 2024, accounting for 21% of all individual luxury spending. The broader high-net-worth population pushes that figure much higher.

So the question is: Where do all these wealthy individuals store their money?

Where Millionaires Bank

The answer, overwhelmingly, is at institutions like JPMorgan and UBS.

JPMorgan’s asset management division oversees more than $4 trillion in client assets. Their Private Bank serves UHNWIs—founders, executives and the like—typically requiring $5 million or more in investable assets just to walk through the door.

In September 2025, JPMorgan added dedicated Private Client bankers to 53 branches in affluent areas of New York, Connecticut, Florida and Texas, expanding a segment created after its acquisition of First Republic Bank. The purchase itself was a multi-billion-dollar bet on the HNWI growth story.

UBS, meanwhile, manages roughly $6 trillion in invested assets globally and is the world’s largest wealth manager. Following its acquisition of Credit Suisse, UBS is now the go-to institution for wealthy clients on virtually every continent, with particular strength in Switzerland, Asia-Pacific and the Americas.

These banks hold the money of luxury consumers, but they also grow alongside them. When the HNWI population expands, institutions like UBS and JPMorgan see higher assets under management and more lending activity.

They are, in fact, a leveraged play on the same wealth creation that drives demand for Cartier, Hermes, Ferrari and others.

Gold: The Original Luxury Good

Gold and luxury have been inseparable for thousands of years. But the investment case for gold is backed by hard data.

Jewelry fabrication is the single largest source of annual gold demand, accounting for roughly half of all gold consumed worldwide, according to the World Gold Council (WGC). In just the first quarter of 2026, spending on gold jewelry reached $47 billion—a record for the first quarter—even as unit volumes fell due to record-high gold prices. India and China alone account for more than half of global jewelry demand, or what I call the Gold Trade.

Believe it or not, jewelry was the best-performing category in the U.S. luxury market in late 2025, outpacing handbags and clothing, according to the Wall Street Journal. Richemont posted more than 10% year-over-year sales growth in the Americas for seven consecutive quarters, driven by Cartier and Van Cleef & Arpels. Tiffany, now owned by LVMH, reported record global sales of fine jewelry.

Let’s not forget that the yellow metal itself is a luxury asset. A Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) report published in June 2025 found that accredited investors—those with a net worth exceeding $1 million—held precious metals as investments at nearly double the rate of non-accredited investors, 11.0% versus 5.9%. HSBC’s 2025 Affluent Investor Snapshot showed affluent investors more than doubling their gold allocations from 5% to 11% of portfolios, with 41% planning to own gold within the next 12 months.

For these reasons, USLUX holds a select group of gold-related names, including royalty and streaming companies like Franco-Nevada and Royal Gold.

As I’ve explained many times before, these aren’t traditional miners digging holes in the ground. Royalty companies finance mining operations in exchange for a percentage of future production, generating revenue without the operating risk. Their revenues rise with gold prices, which in turn are driven by the same wealth creation and luxury demand that powers our broader thesis.

Connecting the Dots

I believe the luxury economy has three layers: the brands that sell luxury (LVMH, Richemont, Ferrari), the financial institutions that serve the luxury consumer (UBS, JPMorgan) and the commodity supply chain that feeds luxury manufacturing (gold miners and royalty companies).

All three rise and fall with the same fundamental driver: the growth of global wealth. If Knight Frank is correct that 89 new individuals are crossing the $30 million threshold every single day, the tailwinds for luxury appear to be strong, at least to me.

With USLUX, investors get access to the full luxury ecosystem, not just the obvious names. Indeed, the banks and gold companies in our portfolio are integral pieces of the puzzle.

The Global Luxury Goods Fund provides investors access to companies around the world involved in the design, manufacturer and sale of luxury products and services. To learn more, click here!