The Responsible Wealth report, which surveyed 250 individuals with average assets of $3.5m residing in the US, Russia, Germany and the UK, found a mismatch between the attitudes of wealthy investors to their broad social responsibilities and the priorities of their financial advisers.
While ensuring “financial security” for flesh and blood is, unsurprisingly, the most important objective for wealthy individuals, the study also revealed that HNWIs regard engaging in activities that “give something back to society” on an almost-equal footing to their familial duties.
Environmental responsibility, ethical investment, engagement in civil society and charitable activity were all ranked highly in the survey. However, according to a poll of 60 UK-based lawyers and accountants conducted in November 2011, advisers often overestimate the importance to HNWIs of securing their families’ financial future and underestimate their desire to contribute to society.
“This paradox between self-interest and the interests of society presents a fundamental challenge for the traditional wealth management industry,” the study found.
“[Advisers’] tendency is to tailor for the individual client and only engage with social responsibility from the perspective of the self and family first. And yet, not only do wealth creators put more emphasis on wider altruism than their traditional advisers acknowledge, their consideration for family and their fellow man extends much further than that.
“When asked what they would do to achieve their full potential as a wealth creator, it is in the realm of wider social engagement that they feel they have most room to grow.”
A copy of the report is available on the Kaiser Partner website.
Research for the study was conducted independently by Scorpio Partnership, a wealth management insight and business development firm.
