What do the super-wealthy want in Miami? See what they like — and don’t

Billionaires have dreams, too — and not only of lower taxes.

Patrick Dwyer and Gregory Pool, managing directors with NewEdge Wealth Aligned Miami, a wealth advisory firm in Brickell, know what they are.

The two talk to their super-wealthy and more modestly wealthy clients nearly every day, helping them manage their money, to learn what’s on their minds and advise them of future trends.

Billionaires have anxieties as well, and not just over high taxes. They worry about AI and what kinds of jobs their kids can get when finished with college.

“The rate of change [in society] is rapid,” says Pool, including in South Florida.

Dwyer and Pool shared with the Miami Herald what they’re hearing from their clients. Why are wealthy people moving here? Is there a difference between Miami, Palm Beach and Boca Raton? What do the wealthy newcomers think of the place and the people?

“The very wealthy are super comfortable” in South Florida,” Dwyer says. “You can come rebuild your life really fast in a city like this.”

Since late last year, a new cluster of uber-wealthy people have flocked to the Miami area.

Google co-founders Larry Page bought three properties in Coconut Grove for around $188 million, and Sergey Brin spent $51 million on a home on Allison Island in Miami Beach.

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg broke Miami-Dade’s record for most expensive home sale by acquiring a $170 million partially completed waterfront mansion in Indian Creek Village, aka the Billionaire Bunker.

The new arrivals have generally amassed their fortune elsewhere, then moved to Florida.

This trend built on one started during the pandemic, driven largely by the tech sector. Younger people, investors and entrepreneurs moved to the Miami area from wealthier regions of the United States, mainly the Northeast and West Coast.

And not just to take it easy.

Kenneth Griffin, Citadel founder and CEO, moved his firm’s headquarters to Brickell.

Brin, the Google co-founder, recently stopped by a tech hack-a-thon in Wynwood, exciting Miami tech entrepreneurs.

Dwyer and Pool’s clients include eight families each with net worth of more than $1 billion and tech founders who are millionaires and have private stock worth another hundreds of millions. The lowest salary one of their clients makes is $250,000 per year.

Watch the video at the top of this report to see what they say about their clients and what the wealthy want in South Florida.