Redrawing the Map

Another aspect of contemporary American financial geography is the fact that for the past few years the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area has become the nation’s wealthiest region, replacing Silicon Valley. The average federal worker earns nearly 80% more than the average private sector worker, despite what you might have learned in school implying the opposite was true.

Replacing a center of innovation with one of redistribution would seem to confirm the view of critics that rhetoric about helping others often just means feathering the nest of government. Despite the needs of a place like Wilcox County, Ala. (median household income: $22,126), America’s wealth gets stuck in places like Washington suburb Falls Church, Va. (median household income: $121,250).

In this sense, the U.S. has joined Europe, where wealth historically has concentrated in grandiose capitals like London, Paris and Vienna in contrast to the American tradition of wealth centers residing outside of capitals: L.A., New York and Miami rather than Sacramento, Albany and Tallahassee.

Washington used to be a sleepy Southern city with a capital; today it is the heart of a “vast land mass” encompassing 717 square miles of high-end zip codes—a third of the area’s zip codes are in the top 5% nationally—according to a Washington Post analysis.

For those advisors not lucky enough to have a senator as a client, my prediction is that places like Texas and even “over-advised” Florida will remain places of growth as increasing numbers of ordinary Americans seek to keep as much of their wealth as possible safe from the taxman.

But wherever you are or want to be, your clients—perhaps more than ever before—reside in a State of Confusion—and could use all the financial help you can provide.