Who's Wealthy in Britain Today?

A recent report by WealthInsight is a tantalising snapshot of the shape and size of wealth in 2012, and the perfect route map for private client advisers building books.

Every Monday for the next three weeks, I’ll be publishing extracts from a report on British HNWs. Researched by WealthInsight, it’s a tantalising snapshot of the shape and size of wealth in 2012, and the perfect route map for private client advisers building books.

First, job titles. Traditionally, C-level execs, chairmen and founders were the marks of UHNW wealth, but as the chart below identifies, they suffered from 2007 to 2011 as wealth shrunk between 10% and 25%. In contrast, WealthInsight identifies ‘other board positions’ as the most lucrative job titles now.

UHNW job titles and growth in wealth

Next, sectors. As Philip Harris at RBC says, ‘People are pleased when you know their business: they open up and have a debate, whereas if it is a case of “What do you do?” “I’m in private equity.” “That’s interesting,” then nothing will come of it.’

Ergo, it’s key to understand the intricacies of three sectors before approaching UHNWs. Which to focus on is a matter of your expertise as well as where the action is, but WealthInsight reports that financial services contains the most UHNWs with 14.6% of the total pool, retail comes second with 9.4% and media weighs in third with 9%.

Distribution of UHNWs by industry

Lastly, it’s all well and good knowing where the heavyweights are but if there are a thousand advisers hovering around them then the chances of success are diminished. Therefore, it’s more important to know where the new fortunes are being made, and WealthInsight reports that the largest two sectors — financial services and retail — have suffered most of late, whereas the third largest — media — has seen significant increases.