Surveys
Beyond Investments, Health Remains Top UHNW Concern – Julius Baer Study

Health replaced regulation as a top-three priority last year after the pandemic caused families to focus on having access to jurisdictions with robust healthcare systems, the bank said.
Health remained a top priority for ultra-high net worth families
this year, having displaced regulation in the top-three biggest
concerns in 2021 because of the pandemic, an annual study of
views by Julius
Baer shows.
In 2022, the top-three discussion topics “beyond investments” for
families were unchanged from the previous year – family wealth
(23 per cent), family governance (28 per cent), and health (17
per cent). The “other” category accounted for a total of 38 per
cent.
For the 2022 edition, the Zurich-listed bank asked more than
1,000 internal and external experts. The results appeared in its
Family Barometer 2022.
Wealth-related topics include succession planning, wealth
structuring and responsible wealth management such as
sustainability. Within this category, which is once again the
highest-ranked topic beyond wealth in this year’s Family
Barometer, attitudes have moved. Until recently, sustainability
considerations were often confined to specific investments or
philanthropy. The experts surveyed report that families are
“starting to take a more holistic approach towards sustainability
and want their values reflected more widely across investment
portfolios,” the authors of the report said.
Cross-border
Experts consulted for this year’s report suggest that the need
for cross-border planning extends into every aspect of family
life. About one in two UHNW families have relations and/or
physical assets in more than three continents.
In other findings, when asked what investment topic they expect
to grow the most in importance in the next three to five years,
“direct private investments” came joint top (15 per cent);
“geopolitical diversification of assets” achieved the same result
(15 per cent); “sustainable/responsible/impact investing” came
next at 13 per cent; “digital assets” accounted for a score of 9
per cent and “investment in real estate” came in at 7 per
cent.
Turning to investment topics, the experts reported a sharp
increase in enquiries from families who want their assets to be
more geographically diversified. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was
a “stark reminder of the risk of geographic
concentration,” Julius Baer said.
Seeking advice
Elsewhere, the report noted that more families seek outside help
to complement their existing advice networks. Legal matters,
wealth management, and family governance were among the most
common reasons for families to seek external advice.
“Despite the enduring popularity of referrals and personal
introductions, the experts surveyed reported that more than half
of families would likely get better results if they took a more
structured approach when selecting outside expertise,” the report
said. “Discussions with the survey participants suggest that the
results from word-of-mouth searches can be hit or miss. While it
isn’t uncommon to find relevant, high-quality external advisors
by networking, there is a risk that families end up looking too
close to home. A more rigorous, comprehensive search could be the
difference between making a costly mistake and finding an
appropriate expert solution that helps a family navigate their
future safely.”
The study found that four out of 10 UHNW individuals have family
members in three or more continents; 23 per cent of UHNW families
put top priority on succession planning, philanthropy and wealth
structuring, and 70 per cent of families lose a lot of their
wealth by the second generation and 90 per lose it by the third
generation.