By Jill Fraser

Think mega wealthy, seriously cashed up, an embarrassment of riches and the elite and exclusive world of private banking, add to that investment strategies for tens, hundreds, thousands of millions of dollars.

Are you visualising brilliantly conceived systems of complex, sophisticated asset allocation schemes?

From the outside looking in there is a distinct notion of “us and them” and the presumption that a cavernous divide exists between where the high net worth stash their cash and the options available to the rest of us.

An equally common assumption is that the mindset of the ultra wealthy is in some way different to the average investor.

But according to those with whom the rich entrust their financial decisions the reality is that mega investors are generally vastly more down to earth, conservative and ‘mainstream’ regarding the spread and management of their invested dollars than the romanticised perception.

Resoundingly, private bankers and financial planners agree that the bulk of their high net worth clients have worked hard to make their money so risk minimisation is paramount.

Doug Webber, associate director of Macquarie Private Wealth Management says, from time to time clients do look for alternative opportunities such as shares in unlisted companies but with their core wealth they’re actually more conservative than the rest of us. “Most people with large amounts of money don’t do things terribly differently to anyone else. They just attach more noughts to their transactions,” he says.

Contrary to the perception in the marketplace that the wealthy are open to risk taking, Pamela Salaverry, head of business development for NAB Private Wealth says many are quite risk averse. “Some could have been a lot wealthier had they diversified into the sharemarket. But no, they just stuck with property and cash,” she declares.

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