Advisers Study Psychology of the Wealthy

Financial advisers are delving a little deeper when it comes to their wealthy clients, The Wall Street Journal reports. Increasingly, much as other industries, including retailing, real estate and pharmaceuticals already do, they are using psychological profiles to find out what makes them tick.

A cultural anthropologist recently wrote a report on the subject for JPMorgan Asset Management, for instance, that classifies the wealthy into five different types. There are the "thrillionaires," who enjoy spending; the "coolionaires," who enjoy splurging on esthetically pleasing things; the "reallionaires," who are willing to put down large sums of money on important items, but scrimp on other things; the "wellionaires," who spend freely on things that improve their looks, health or outlook; and, finally, the "willionaires," who enjoy making contributions to improve the world.

If a client is a "thrillionaire," an adviser might pitch a investment as "innovative and customized," said Susan Hirshman, a managing director at JPMorgan.

"Other industries put our industry to shame in terms of the amount of market research they do," noted Patricia J. Abram, a senior managing principal with CEG Worldwide, a financial services research firm.

The staff of Money Management Executive ("MME") has prepared these capsule summaries based on reports published by the news sources to which they are attributed. Those news sources are not associated with MME, and have not prepared, sponsored, endorsed, or approved these summaries.