A lot—at least for Portugal I can guarantee it—but your question seems to focus more on economical power than other principles, which is not wrong to assume as well.

One of the reasons why the rich were sent out to the colonies was because they belonged to the nobility and had ties to the court. It was more so a matter of trust rather than economical power. It would be a lie to say the latter did not matter at that point because obviously only people of a certain status could finance the aspects of life in another country, even when having full patronage from the metropolis.

Another important factor was that these guys were also used to controlling land and doing heavy business, which were two very useful tools as well. Some of them went from controlling a small piece of land in their home country into becoming the governor of an overseas province and acting in the place of the King while also having to run the commerce industry there.

One of the most interesting aspects of this idea is that when European countries set out to explore the world, they began organizing into a centralized monarchy and for some countries this meant creating some "proto-" form of Law and its not uncommon that theses ideas get brought up when you major in Law in some European countries. This moment also coincides with a lot of nobility titles being created and a lot of old powerful noble families becoming official members of the court in some way.