Help, I m Rich!: Your Compass to a Value-Adding Private Banking Experience

Chapter 20 Psychology and Your Private Banker

Although most private bankers are not qualified psychologists, they nonetheless add value in this respect. They can do that in their capacity as:

• Mentor
• Trainer
• Succession planning facilitator
• Philanthropy adviser
• Family adviser

The private banking industry has acquired, more than ever, an understanding that family wealth management includes the harmonization of wealth and life in order to really accomplish the purposes of their clients. Private bankers have come to realize that the quality of their service offering improves when they apply basic psychological insights to their traditional areas of expertise: investments, credit, life insurance, and wealth structuring. They also increasingly consider it their mission to holistically address one of the biggest wealth-related concerns: the preservation of wealth over generations. One way to achieve wealth preservation over time is through adequate structuring. However, that is far from sufficient. The shirtsleeves-proverb is not trying to tell us that lack of structuring is causing family wealth to dissipate. A much bigger threat to family wealth is psychological in nature. This explains why private bankers can no longer afford to ignore the field of psychology.

However, private bankers are not psychologists. So what could possibly be their value-adding role in this respect?

Roles of Your Private Banker

With regard to the psychology of wealth, you may expect your private ...