Vietnam Is Creating Wealth. Can It Make It Last? | Lu Zhou of Vanquour Wealth Management

One of the most interesting questions in finance is not how wealth is created, but how it survives. A generation can build extraordinary wealth, yet preserving it across decades requires something very different from the skills that created it in the first place. That distinction became one of the strongest themes in my conversation with Lu Zhou, CEO of Vanquour Wealth Management, at the Vietnam Financial Forum 2026.

Lu came to Vietnam from New York with a perspective shaped by decades in American finance and by her own journey from Beijing to Wall Street. She has watched Chinese investors create enormous amounts of wealth over a relatively short period of time and then ask a very different question once that wealth existed: how does new money become old money?

The answer, in her experience, is rarely glamorous. It involves governance, legal structures, professional advice, diversified investments, tax planning, and disciplined systems that protect wealth from being destroyed by poor decisions or a lack of preparation. What looks like effortless generational wealth from the outside is usually supported by a great deal of invisible structure.

That idea is highly relevant to Vietnam. Much of the current conversation is understandably focused on wealth creation. Manufacturing is expanding, foreign direct investment continues to arrive, technology companies are growing, and Vietnam is building its ambitions around an international financial center. Lu believes the country has the potential to become a much more significant capital hub, perhaps drawing lessons from places such as Singapore, Hong Kong, Dubai, and Abu Dhabi.

But creating wealth is only the first chapter. A mature financial system also needs to help people protect, manage, invest, and transfer that wealth. That requires a trusted legal framework, deeper capital markets, skilled professionals, and a wider range of financial products. Investors need confidence that the system is reliable and that they have options for diversification.

Lu placed legal trust at the top of the list. A financial center can have beautiful infrastructure and generous incentives, but capital becomes hesitant when investors are uncertain about how laws will be applied or whether assets can be protected. Confidence in the legal system becomes one of the foundations of confidence in the market itself.

The next layer is the depth of the capital market. American investors are accustomed to having access to an enormous variety of funds, securities, investment vehicles, and products. That variety allows individuals and institutions to spread risk rather than concentrating their wealth in only a few places. Vietnam is still developing that depth, which is part of why Lu sees the financial center as such an important next step.

Talent is another critical part of the equation. Vietnam can build a financial district relatively quickly, but a true financial center depends on the people inside it. Wealth managers, advisers, accountants, lawyers, analysts, compliance specialists, and investment professionals take much longer to develop.

Lu believes Vietnam will need to attract international talent while simultaneously using that talent to strengthen local capability. The goal should not be to import expertise indefinitely. Foreign professionals can help establish systems, train Vietnamese teams, and transfer knowledge so that the sector becomes increasingly self-sufficient.

Attracting those people requires more than salary. Visa processes need to be straightforward. Professionals need confidence that they can build lives in the country rather than constantly worrying about residency. Families need access to good schools, healthcare, housing, and a comfortable quality of life. Most importantly, ambitious people need to believe that they are joining something with a future.

Lu described this as selling the hopes and dreams of what Vietnam is becoming. That idea reminded me of my own years in China. Many international professionals arrived during its rapid growth period because they sensed they were participating in something larger than an ordinary job. The country was changing quickly, and being there meant being close to that change.

Vietnam increasingly creates a similar feeling. Lu believes the country has some advantages China did not have at the same stage. Vietnam is smaller, more nimble, and faces a different geopolitical environment. It can learn from China’s growth without attempting to copy it entirely. The goal should be to develop a distinctly Vietnamese model.

This also applies to personal wealth. Lu’s career exposed her to both rapidly created Chinese wealth and longstanding American family wealth. Chinese investors often came to the United States wanting to understand how wealthy American families preserved assets over generations. Family offices became one of the models they studied.

A family office is much more than someone managing an investment portfolio. At its best, it coordinates the financial life of a family across generations. Investments, estate planning, taxes, governance, philanthropy, succession, and education all become part of the same system.

That structure matters because wealth can disappear surprisingly quickly. A successful founder may understand how to build a company but have little experience managing diversified assets. The next generation may inherit money without understanding the discipline required to preserve it. Without governance, even substantial fortunes can become fragmented or wasted.

Lu’s question about how new money becomes old money therefore speaks to something deeper than status. It describes the transition from simply possessing wealth to building systems capable of outliving the person who created it.

Vietnam may be approaching this stage nationally as well. As more Vietnamese entrepreneurs create significant wealth, the demand for professional wealth management, succession planning, family governance, and investment education will grow. The country will need systems that help successful families think beyond the current generation.

Women are likely to play an increasingly important role in this transition. Lu noted that wealth management in the United States remains heavily dominated by men, despite enormous amounts of wealth beginning to transfer toward women over the coming decades. She wants to see more female advisers entering the profession because women may bring different perspectives to family wealth, inheritance, caregiving, and long-term planning.

This feels especially relevant in Vietnam, where women often play a significant role in managing household finances. The cultural foundation already exists. Greater access to professional finance could create significant opportunities for Vietnamese women as investors, advisers, and wealth managers.

Lu also emphasized financial literacy for children. Her advice was refreshingly practical: start early and allow children to learn by doing. Confidence around money develops through experience, not simply lectures.

This is particularly important for girls. Lu believes many girls grow up assuming that investing is more naturally suited to boys or that they are somehow less capable with numbers and finance. That mindset can cause them to begin investing later, which means losing years of potential compounding. The solution is not to wait until adulthood.

Children can begin learning basic concepts of saving, budgeting, investing, risk, and delayed gratification while the financial stakes are still small. Mistakes become educational rather than catastrophic. Schools can help create interest, but Lu believes personal finance will always remain partly personal. Different families have different goals, attitudes toward risk, and financial circumstances.

Technology makes this easier than it has ever been. Young people now have access to enormous amounts of financial information online. They can learn about investing, markets, business, and personal finance without waiting for a formal course. The challenge is encouraging them to use that access intelligently.

Financial systems also need to make participation possible. People cannot learn to invest if they have no practical way to participate. One of the strengths of the American market is that ordinary investors can access a wide variety of products through relatively simple platforms.

Lu believes Vietnam’s continued development should eventually include greater accessibility for everyday investors, not only institutions and wealthy families. That connects directly with the broader question of confidence.

Governments sometimes hesitate to open financial markets too quickly because they worry about capital leaving, instability, or exposing inexperienced investors to risk. Lu’s view is that confidence grows alongside prosperity. As institutions strengthen and the economy matures, countries become increasingly comfortable allowing capital greater freedom.

Vietnam already appears to be moving in that direction. Manufacturing has arrived. Foreign investment continues to increase. Korean, Japanese, Chinese, and American companies are expanding their presence. Data centers, semiconductors, technology, and finance are drawing greater international attention.

As Lu put it, the music has already started. The next challenge is keeping it going long enough for the country to build something durable.

That may ultimately be the most important lesson from her experience with generational wealth. Growth is exciting, but endurance is harder. Vietnam is already learning how to create wealth. The next chapter will be learning how to protect it, distribute opportunity around it, and build institutions strong enough to carry that prosperity from one generation to the next.