Survey: Ultra wealthy investors overwhelmingly fear “going back”

Wealthy investors live in fear of losing all their money. That’s the conclusion of a SEI Private Wealth Management and Scorpio Partnership study released Monday that polled investors with $18 million or more in the bank, presented by Forbes.  That statistic suggests that those investors would prefer a conservative, risk-averse approach to investing. Yet, the study — which surveyed about 300 ultra wealthy investors — also reports that those investors also expect their portfolio to grow 15.8 percent in the coming year.

The survey also found that high net worth investors spend more time thinking about their finances than the broader swath of retail investors. The majority, 80 percent, of the 1,000 investors who participated in a survey with a bigger range of investment portfolio sizes said they spend less than nine hours per week thinking about their financial goals, whereas the average ultra wealthy investor surveyed reported spending 15 hours per week, according to the results. And those with $18 million-plus portfolios who are under 40 years old reported on average that they spend about 25 hours a week thinking about that week’s financial goals.