Advice

Interview with Carey Wealth Reporting in Zurich

“Wealth Reporting – hugely important for wealthy clients, but rarely done well“

We had the opportunity to sit down with Patrick Bos and Kevin Halouska of Carey Wealth Reporting A.G. in Zurich. We talked about a broad range of issues related to wealth reporting since this is one of the topics that surfaces time and again, particularly when clients lose money or miss opportunities as a result of inefficient or incomplete (consolidated) reporting. Unfortunately consolidated reporting is still very often unclear and arcane.... more

Dealing with Fear and Panic in the Markets

Don´t Let Today’s Volatility Enrich Your Private Banker

Since 2008 markets have seen a lot of up and down movements. In our report "Insufficient Client Focus – A Survey of European Private Banks’" we showed already in 2009 just how pro-cyclical and short-termist the advice of many (but not all) private banks was at the time. Today, we have a similar situation: bankers advise their clients to switch their assets into safe havens such as gold, Swiss Francs or Asian currencies and cash. But only a few months ago... more

MyPrivateBanking Research Brief

Private Banking Clients Should Avoid Internet IPOs

Private investors should be skeptical about investing in the new wave of initial public offerings (IPOs) for internet companies’ stocks. This is the main conclusion of new research by MyPrivateBanking, for which we compared the main players, mechanisms and results of the late 1990s/early 2000s dot-com bubble with the newly developing wave of Internet IPOs... more

New Guide from MyPrivateBanking Research

ETFs – Get the Most Out of Them without Taking All the Risks

Passive investing and Exchange Traded Funds are all the rage. However, as always when new products are becoming popular very quickly risks and unwanted side-effects are increasing as well.... more

Advice: How to Pay Your Wealth Manager

The Right Kind of Fee Arrangement for Your Private Banking

MyPrivateBanking has done a great deal of research on fee arrangements and comes to the conclusion that the fees private banking clients pay to their wealth managers or private bankers are often too high.... more

Advice: Wealth Management in Times of Crisis

What Private Investors Can Learn From the Greek Disaster

For the last few weeks we have been witnessing a Greek tragedy as it became obvious that the government of Greece was having increasing difficulty refinancing its mounting debt. The spread on Greek Euro bonds (which is the difference on interest between a Greek and, say, a German government bond) has been soaring. The Greek state has more than euro 300 bn of debt outstanding. Even with the most draconian of budget cuts it will be hard, in the long run, to save Greece from insolvency. ... more

Advice: Currency Exchange

Change for the Better

Most investors face the necessity of buying securities with foreign currency and the need to exchange their domestic currency from time to time. We have heard from several investors that this can become a very expensive exercise if one is not aware of potential pitfalls.... more

Background: A New Wave of Regulation

FATCA: Why Obama’s Lose-Lose Game Will Hurt the US

Last Thursday President Obama signed the so-called FATCA into law. FATCA stands for Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act. In a nutshell, FATCA requires not only foreign banks but also other financial institutions (mutual funds, hedge funds, insurance companies and many others) to disclose... more

Advice: Results of Private Banking Report

Dealing with Costs - Recommendations for Private Banking Clients and Advisers

In our mystery shopping study we analyzed the investment proposals we received from the top-20 European wealth managers and private banks in respect to their asset allocation and cost structure. Both areas showed significant weaknesses and we have compiled a list of... more

Advice: Reduction of Wealth Management Costs

Specialised Providers Negotiate Fees and Kickbacks on Behalf of Clients

The majority of private banking clients underestimate the cost saving potential of their mandates. Not all costs are obvious to the clients and more often than not they don´t utilize the room for negotiations with their wealth managers to reduce the fees. However, new service providers are emerging to assist the client in gaining more cost transparency and realize the savings potential. They negotiate on the client´s behalf with the wealth managers... more

Advice: Meeting a Potential Client

Top Ten Things a Private Banker Should Ask

Only a structured questionnaire ensures a comprehensive profile of a private banking client. Unfortunately, we have found that only a minority of wealth managers and private bankers... more

Advice: Results of Private Banking Survey

How to Improve Your Investment Proposal

At the height of the financial crisis, early in 2009 MyPrivateBanking conducted a mystery shopping study among the top-20 European wealth managers and private banks. The investment proposals of many of these providers revealed significant weaknesses in the process of ... more

Advice: How to Invest in Mutual Funds

Ten Tips for Active Fund Investment

Many investors are wondering whether or not it makes sense to invest in active funds at all. Here are our top-10 guidelines for fund investment. The main take-away is: only when a fund manager can prove a long-term outstanding performance does it make sense to invest in an actively managed fund.... more

Advice: Should You Really Become a Private Banking Client?

Private Banks Lowering Entry Hurdles

The CEO of Julius Baer declared that the bank would now accept clients with invest-able assets as low as 800,000 Swiss Francs (instead the previous minimum of 1 million). Likewise, the private banking service of the Spanish BBVA said that it would lower the minimum requirement for becoming a client from 2 million Euros to about 1.5 million Euros.... more

Wealth: Survey on Top European Private Banks

How to Improve Your Inquiry

During our visits of 20 of the most important private banks in Europe we learned a lot more about the customer interface and inquiry of private banks. Our recommendations for clients and banks... more

Advice: Fixed Income Strategies

Park Your Money in Short-Term Bonds Only

As the Wall Street Journal has reported, many private investors have recently moved their assets into bonds.But is it a good idea to move your assets to bonds or bond funds instead?... more

Advice: Cut the Costs of Wealth Management (Part 4)

How Much Should You Pay Your Wealth Manager ?

The amount you should pay for your wealth management is determined by your ability to analyze the various cost factors and your willingness to pressurize your wealth manager. Research shows that your total costs of wealth management in most cases should not exceed ... more

Advice: Costs of Wealth Management

Kickbacks – The Way to Pay Your Wealth Manager and Private Banker Twice

As a private banking client, you not only pay a substantial direct fee for your wealth management, but also indirectly for various hidden costs of products and... more

New Wealth Guide

First Steps to Wine as an Investment

It is definitely possible to make money through investing in top wines; however, it is certainly not as easy as is often suggested. Well known financial market-rules and risks do apply to wines also, sometimes even more so. ... more

Advice: Cut Your Costs of Wealth Managment (Part 3)

Watch Out for the Hidden Costs

In the third part of our series we focus on the hidden costs clients of wealth managers have to pay. By understanding their significance and structure, clients have big additional lever to cut their costs of wealth management. Because no matter what pricing model you choose, they have all one thing in common: You only see the direct costs ... more

Advice: How to Select Your Wealth Manager

First-Aid Question Kit to Ask Potential Private Banker

Our readers frequently ask for advice on how to select a private banker. Many private banking clients are insecure about the method to identify the critical information they need... more

Advice: When to Say No to Your Adviser

Market Timing – Rarely a Good Strategy

In our latest Private Banking Study we found one quite surprising result: Many of the surveyed financial advisers recommended our test client to time the market. Their logic was that ... more

Advice: The Right Asset Mix (Part 3)

Take This Test to Determine Your Financial Personality

In the previous articles of our series we have talked about investment goals, risk tolerance and uncertainty. We have shown how these factors come together to form your investor personality. But you may ask yourself: How do I practically find out about my investor personality? ... more

Advice: The Right Asset Mix (Part 2)

What Is Your Financial Personality?

In part 1 of this series we talked about the three main factors that determine your outlook on investments: Your investment goals, risk tolerance and the ability to cope with uncertainty. If you take these three factors together you can determine a person’s overall financial personality.... more

Advice: Cut Your Costs of Wealth Management (Part 1)

Why Small Numbers Have A Big Impact On Your Wealth

In the first part of our series on how much clients should pay for their wealth management we look at the often underestimated significance of slight changes in costs on the overall performance. The costs that wealth managers show their existing or potential clients have always one thing in common: They look small.... more

Advice: Cut Your Costs of Wealth Management (Part 2)

Understanding Cost Drivers and Pricing Models in Wealth Management and Private Banking

In the second part of our series on how to cut the costs of wealth management and private banking we analyse the various cost drivers and pricing models of wealth management and private banking. ... more

Advice: The Right Asset Mix (Part 1)

Financial Personality Is The Key To Investment Success

What is the single most important factor that drives your financial success? You may think it is the right pick of stocks or the right timing (to invest when markets are rising and to pull the money out when markets are sinking). Wrong! ... more

Advice: How To Optimize Your Portfolio

Making the Right Asset Allocation

Asset allocation can make or break your financial future! MyPrivateBanking.com presents a new guide on the topic of “Making the Right Asset Allocation”. ... more

Advice: Watch Your Wealth Manager

How to Keep Your Private Banker from Disastrous Mood Swings

It seems like a recipe for disaster right out of the text book on behavioural finance: In a bull market your private banker recommends a lot of risky products but once the market has tanked, he is the most conservative adviser in the world.... more

Advice: New Guide on Costs Analysis

How to Cut a Big Portion of Your Wealth Management Cost

With rather simple measures clients of wealth managers can reduce their costs of private banking significantly. This is a main result of the new MyPrivateBanking.com guide... more