Objective
While some might call them rich, the investment industry prefers to call them high-net-worth (HNW) clients. Historically that has meant a person with net investable liquid assets of at least $1-million. But how and where do these HNW’s invest their money? Our client, a leading financial advisory firm wanted to optimize the sales efforts to better understand the perceptions of HNW’s, UHNW’s and their advisors as to how their key focus areas differ in terms of investment and preferences for financial products.
Methodology
Phronesis leveraged its highly detailed network of wealthy individuals and financial advisors, and administered over 2,000 quantitative surveys. Our experience in wealth management research helped us identify the leading wealth managers and financial advisors, along with the HNW’s/UNHW’s in order to attain a holistic view of their approach to investing. We also engaged with some of the key financial consultants for the leading financial products such as private equity, venture capital, high yield debt, infrastructure, real estate, agriculture, commodities, currencies and hedge funds.
Outcome
It was clear from the research that HNW’s/UHNW’s takes a much different approach to investing, as they can access far more investment opportunities which not only allows them to invest in alternative investments, but also in art, vintage wine and other collectibles. It was also noted that high-net-worth investors who are entrepreneurial often invest not only money but also their time, for instance by taking board seats in startups. The results of the study provided a thorough understanding of wealthy individuals in terms of their needs and preferences towards financial products, their consideration around investments based on investment priorities, their past experience with different providers as well as their forward looking behavioral patterns.
