If you want to get rich, you might as well see how high net worth individuals invest. Specifically, it's good to see the asset allocation breakdown of the very rich. Then, you can follow what rich people do with their money to boost your chances of getting rich as well.
In a previous postwe learnedthatthe wealthier one gets,the largerthe business component in the individual's net worth composition.
Becoming an entrepreneur is one of the best ways to get rich because you can earn income and own business equity. However, becoming an entrepreneur is also one of the easiest ways to go broke. Most business do not last beyond the ten-year mark.
High Net Worth Individuals Are Mostly Business Owners
Once you hit a net worth of $100 million, the business component reaches roughly 50% of net worth. Although most of uswill neverreach such levels of wealth, it's obviousyoushould start a business ifyou hopeto get really rich one day.
Check out the top one percent's net worth by age here.
But what about zeroing in on the public investment portion of a high net worth investor's wealth. A high net worth investor is defined as someone with $3 million or more in investable assets, not including the value of their primary residence. A ultra high net worth investor has $30 million or more of investable assets.
What are some insights we can gather from their asset allocation that may be most relevant to readers here? After all, everyone can invest in stocks and bonds, but not everyone has the capability or the drive to build a business.
The good news is that U.S. Trust, the Private Wealth Management arm of Bank of America put out a High Net Worth investor survey consisting of 892 high net worth and ultra high net worth adults across the United States we can analyze.
With a bull market in stocks, real estate, cryptocurrencies, and other risk assets, it may very well be easier than ever to obtain a top one percent net worth!
Average Asset Allocation For High Net Worth Investors
According to the pie-chart below, the average asset allocation for respondents with over $3 million in investable assets is 55% stocks, 21% bonds, 15% cash, 6% alternatives, and 4% other.
In comparison, I've got roughly 30% of my net worth in stocks, 50% in real estate, 10% in alternatives, and 10% in bonds after a ramp in interest rates.
I'm slowing shifting more of my physical real estate into private real estate crowdfunding. I want to earn more income 100% passively and take advantage of heartland real estate. So far I've invested $810,000 in real estate crowdfunding.
What's more interesting is how the High Net Worth asset allocation is broken down by generations and between men and women.
Four Generations Of High Net Worth Respondents:
Millennials: Ages 21 – 37 (Born 1981 – 1997)
Generation X: Ages 38 – 53 (Born 1965 – 1980)
Baby Boomers: Ages 54 – 72 (Born 1946 – 1964)
Silent Generation: Ages 73+ (Born before 1946)
Some key points from the second chart about asset allocation:
- Men are only slightly more aggressive than Women with their stock allocation
- Every age group except the Boomers increased their stock allocation in 2018, which could be a contrarian indicator
- Millennials and Gen X were the most aggressive in increasing their stock allocation and decreasing their cash allocation
- Millennials still have way too much cash at 21%. With higher inflation and many banks offering only 0.1% – 0.4% in money market accounts, they're losing out on a lot of earnings potential. If you want a high yield online savings account, sign up with CIT Bank instead. Their Savings Connect accounts offer 15x more earnings power than the national average.
- The Silent Generation has the most aggressive stock allocation of them all
After a great 2017, it's understandable that most generations increased their stock allocation. If you're a Millennial, you've mostly seen good times since 2010. Even though you may have graduated college during the recession, you had no money to invest for the first two years anyway.
Now that Millennials are entering stronger earning years. They are better educated about the benefits of long-term investing. Therefore, trend towards higher stock allocation should continue.
Further, millennials are buying homes in droves! As a result, investing in real estate syndications is becoming more popular.
Biggest Asset Allocation Surprise
For me,the biggest surprise really is how those ages 73+ have a 61% allocation towards stocks.73+-year-oldshave seen it all, yet they are still undeterred.
This is very insightful becauseit seems experience has taught them that staying the course long term is the way to godespitethe stock marketbeingat close to record highs today. To them, long-term investing has been proven correct.
It would be one thing if the 73+ year olds represented the average 73+ year old American with less than $200,000 in retirement savings. Having a more aggressive stock allocation might be more necessary to generate higher returns. But these are high net worth individuals with at least $3 million in investable assets, so they are not hurting for money.
But please note we're not talking aboutthe70% – 100% aggressive allocation in stocksthatmost financial advisors recommend for younger folks. We're talking about a classic 60/40 allocation. It has proven to perform quite well andtobe less volatile during downturns. See the historical risk/return performance below.
Related: Recommended Net Worth Allocation By Age And Work Experience
Historical Portfolio Composition Returns
Here are some various return profiles for various portfolio compositions.
Related: Various Portfolio Compositions In Retirement To Consider
I would happily accept an average return of 8.7% for the rest of my life. That would mean my investments would double every 8.3 years. However, I have doubts that at this point in the cycle.
Can we really return 8.7% a year for the next 10 years? Remember, there was an entire lost decade of stocks after the dotcom bubble burst in 2000. Maybe artificial intelligence will continue to boost productivity and help stocks generate solid returns in the future.
It's safe to assume the largest percentage of ultra-high net worth individuals are from the oldest generation. Hence, if you have over $30M in investable assets, you're already so far ahead of the game. Even a 50% correction still leaves you with plenty of assets remaining.
Further,ifyou're over 73 years old, you're probably not going to be able to spend all your $30M+ before you die. Hence, perhaps the Silent Generationistaking a very casual attitude towards money.
It realizeslife is way moremeaningful thanmoney since they've had so muchmoneyfor so long. At thisstage of life, itmay be moreabout family, friends, and leaving a legacy.
Stay The Course And Keep On Investing
This surveyshould givepeople the confidenceto investin stocks for the long term.Your portfolio doesn'thave to be wildly overweight stocks. But you should probably hover between a 51% – 100% weighting depending on your age and your financial goals.
I'm happy with a 55% weighting in stocks and a 10% weighting in alternatives at this point in the cycle. Experiencing market volatility is no fun as your net worth grows. Less volatility is why I enjoy investing in alternative investments.
My long-term goal is to earn a 5% – 6% annual return with low volatility. The way I plan to achieve these steady results is through broad diversification and investments in private real estate syndication. Treasury bonds and CDs temporarily yielding over 5% are helpful as well.
I truly believe investing in real estate is one of the best ways to build wealth for most Americans. As a high net worth individual myself, I have roughly 50% of my net worth in real estate. It was about 40% until I bought a forever home during the start of the pandemic.
The key is to invest in a risk-appropriate manner so you can sleep well at night. Put your investments into the background so you can live your best life every day. Below are my recommendations to build more wealth.
Diversify Into Venture Capital
Check out theFundrise Innovation Fund if you want to invest in promising startups. The fund invests in private growth companies in AI, property tech, data infrastructure, and fintech.
What's great about the fund is that the investment minimum is only $10 and you get to see the portfolio composition before making an investment. Personally, I'm extremely enthusiastic about artificial intelligence and want to gain as much private AI company exposure as possible.
You can also listen to my hour-long conversation with Ben Miller, CEO of Fundrise, about venture capital and why he's investing in private growth companies now.
Track Your Finances Diligently
Sign up forEmpower, the web’s #1 free wealth management tool to get a better handle on your finances.
In addition to better money oversight, run your investments through their award-winning Investment Checkup tool. It will show you exactly how much you are paying in fees. I was paying $1,700 a year in fees I had no idea I was paying.
After you link all your accounts, use theirRetirement Planning calculator. It pulls your real data to give you as pure an estimation of your financial future as possible. Definitely run your numbers to see how you’re doing.Give it a try, it's free to open an account!
I’ve been using Personal Capital since 2012. Since then, I have seen my net worth skyrocket thanks to better money management.
Invest In Real Estate Wisely
Once you've purchased your primary residence you are considered neutral real estate. Since you have to live somewhere, you will simply ride the real estate cycle. To be long real estate you must own investment property in addition to your primary resident.
Every high net worth individual I know invests heavily in real estate. Real estate is a favorite asset class among the wealthy because it is more stable, provides utility, and produces income. The one-two combination of higher rents and capital values is a power wealth-builder.
If you're interested in a hands off approach to real estate investing, considerreal estate crowdfunding. Once I had my son in 2017, I decided to sell my PITA rental house. Then I reinvested $550,000 of the proceeds into real estate crowdfunding.
My favorite two real estate crowdfunding platforms are:
Fundrise: A way for accredited and non-accredited investors to diversify into real estate through private eFunds. Fundrise has been around since 2012 and now manages over $3.5 billion for over 500,000 investors. The funds primarily invest in residential and industrial real estate in the heartland, where valuations are lower and yields are higher.
CrowdStreet: A way for accredited investors to invest in individual real estate opportunities mostly in 18-hour cities. 18-hour cities are secondary cities with lower valuations and higher rental yields. 18-hour cities potentially have higher growth too due to strong demographic trends. If you have plenty of capital, building your own select real estate portfolio with CrowdStreet makes sense.
Both platforms are free to sign up and explore.I've personally invested $954,000 in private real estate since the end of 2016. As a result, I am receiving a tremendous amount of passive real estate distributions today.
High net worth individuals aggressively invest in real assets like real estate, art, precious metals and more. Once you build lots of wealth, your goal is to preserve it for as long as possible.
