An Introduction into being a High Net Worth Individual

If you are a high net worth individual, which means having investments worth at least $1 million besides the family home, you may have gotten that way because you inherited wealth from your parents, but it is far more likely that you are pretty good at what you do and have worked very hard for 25 - 30 years or longer to get there.

Statistically, you are likely to be over 45 years old and about to enter the most important and lucrative years of your career. One thing in your favour is that your timing is impeccable. The beginning of your adult working life coincided with one of the most prosperous cycles in Australian history and you have prospered with it by maximising the opportunities offered to you. There have probably never been a greater number of high net worth individuals in Australia at any time in its history, yet you are a member of a small minority - less than 400,000 of Australia's 17 million people (about 2.5 %) are classified as high net worth individuals.

You?d imagine that as a member of this elite group, you?d be beating off top financial and investment advisers with a stick. You?d think you would be able to pick and choose the very best quality of financial and investment advice to help you make the most of what you have worked so hard for. Surprisingly, that is not necessarily so.

Consider this: The major share fund managers recommended by many professional advisers are meant to have the expertise to buy, sell and hold shares with much greater success than the average investor. In actual fact, the vast majority do not. Between 2001 - 2004, for instance, only one in 10 managed share funds managed to outperform the Australian All Ordinaries Index, while 90% did not. And that was before management frees were deducted!

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