WHERE THE WEALTHY ARE PUTTING THEIR MONEY

Apple Inc. is the most loved stock by wealthy investors followed by Berkshire Hathaway Inc., according to the latest survey of Tiger 21, an influential network of high-net-worth investors based in North America, but private equity continues to gain more traction.

“Our members are long-term investors. They are attracted to investments that appear to have long stretches ahead of predictable success,” said Michael Sonnenfeldt, founder and chairman of Tiger 21, in a statement.

“In the case of Apple and Berkshire Hathaway, regardless of which stock comes in on top, their consistent presence on our list shows that our members have a fundamental belief in those companies for the long term.”

Tiger 21 has 290 members who together manage approximately US$30-billion in investable assets.

The network’s next three favourite stocks are all exchange-traded funds: SPDR S&P 500 ETF, Health Care SPDR ETF and iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF.

Overall, public equities were named by 35% of members as a favourite investment, down from 41% a year ago, while private equity was the preferred investment of 19% of those surveyed, up from 17%.

“Private equity continues to be a growing focus for our members and for good reason,” Mr. Sonnenfeldt said. “Members feel that investing in private equity is something they understand because so many members created their wealth in private companies. Also, members like the superior access to information in private companies, so they are often among the first to learn about problems so they can pitch in and help solve them.”

The most common public-equity investment was individual stocks at 43%, while ETFs were at 25%, mutual funds/long-only funds at 17% and hedge funds at 14%.

The most popular equity sectors were financials at 27% followed by consumer discretionary and energy, both at 16%.

http://business.financialpost.com/2014/12/15/where-the-wealthy-are-putting-their-money/