The broader significance of wealthy individuals should not be underestimated. As leaders, innovators, facilitators and pioneers, the wealthy often represent the most dynamic sections of society, while as investors they tend to be the most prescient, passionate and incisive individuals you can meet.
The Barclays Wealth Insights reports, developed in partnership with the Economist Intelligence Unit, provide a comprehensive picture of what it means to be wealthy in the 21st century.
Based on global research with over 600 mass affluent, high net worth and ultra-high net worth individuals and the views of a panel of wealth experts, drawn from academia, industry and financial circles, each Insights report paints a picture of the private world of this influential group, by analysing their shifting demographic profile, priorities and preferences.
And by uncovering the complex social and psychological dynamics – including gender, family and social interactions – that define the behaviour and outlook of the wealthy, our reports provide a compelling snapshot of the deeper trends that shape the future of society at large.
Report
The third volume of Barclays Wealth Insights, focuses on how wealthy individuals consider ‘Risk, Return and Reward’ throughout their lives and the role that each plays in their approach to investment and planning their legacy.
Barclays Wealth, 02 November 2007
Any discussion of risk needs to bear in mind that there are many anomalies in the way people generally think about risk. Studies suggest, for example, that losses loom larger in people’s minds than gains; that people are not good at understanding what happens when you add risks together; and that people tend to be systematically overconfident in their financial abilities.
Perceptions of risk also vary according to culture. For example, Professor Teodoro Cocca, Chair for Wealth and Asset Management at the Johannes Kepler University of Linz in Austria, notes that Swiss investors are heavily weighted towards Swiss equities, which they tend to see as lower risk than US government bonds, even though, in principle, they should be higher risk. In this case, as with many other examples that depend on cultural differences, it is the perception of risk that is different.
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