The Challenge for High Net Worth Clients
Allocating Assets
One of the challenges facing all High Net Worth Clients (HNW’s) is understanding how they best use their money to support their futures and maintain the wealth they have built, often hard earned through building businesses and selling them.
Typically to have built the wealth they would have been getting double digit net returns in their business and then suddenly this stops. Replaced by a large cash sum.
Speaking with a number of our HNW clients this is where the situation changes: It seems a maintained lifestyle is generally desired but no longer is there a form of regular income from the business. This creates the dilemma and prompts the questions:
1. How do I use my new found capital to maintain my life style – without diminishing the capital?
2. How do I ensure I am putting my money into safe investments?
3. What is the correct balance between various investments?
This is evermore true today with the near zero interest rates on bank accounts and funds in the doldrum – but still opportunity always exist.
We have tried to answer the 3 questions on multiple occasions. It seems to us, and this is neither intended nor offered as advice – please speak to your professional advisors - that ultimately it comes down to age, risk profile and capacity for loss.
Firstly age. It seems a natural occurrence is the older the person acquiring the new found Capital, the more their focus is on income and protections. i.e. ensuring the funds won’t diminish and are available for inheritance and secondly that the income gives them the lifestyle plus more for travel.
Those younger continue to look for the growth in Capital and are aware they have done it once and can therefore make it again – perhaps allowing them to take a broadly riskier approach. Age is on their side.
Capacity for loss also needs to be taken into account as those retired or retiring, will not be returning to the working arena. That said some risk must also be taken to avoid running out of money and seeing your ones net value reduce in real terms.
Of course this is not true in all situations but a broad based learning we have found.
In answering the following questions, we first and foremost have to suggest that HNWs need to follow the mantra of professional Fund Management Firms and view their Capital as their personal Investment Portfolio and allocate sums to differing investment types on that basis. What might this look like?
Clearly the first 3 in the table are more commonly known to all investors, all are likely to deliver negative returns in the next 12 – 18months consensus suggests.
The final asset class of ‘Alternative Investments’ is still more specialised in terms of entering the market and protecting your Capital. It can all be undertaken privately, by the investor, but requires a build up of time and knowledge.
Better still in our view is to access it via a Regulated Alternative Asset Management Companies. Berkeley House Capital is one such boutique Company.
Clearly the risk profile changes with each category and that makes the question of protection even more relevant, particularly when we have seen in the press very high profile investment managers close their funds losing investors money. It seems this again points to the benefits of utilising the services of boutique regulated alternative asset managers, effectively providing increased assurance that investments, whilst not removing all the risk, are managed correctly.
If you are a Wealth Manager, IFA, Family Office or Finance Professional and would like to know more about our investment products and/or services, send us and email to arrange a convenient time to discuss.
If you would like to discuss any aspect of this note please feel free to email: charlotte@berkeleyhousecapital.co.uk and one of the team will be very happy to arrange call with you.
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