© THE FINANCIAL TIMES LIMITED 2015

MONDAY 21 SEPTEMBER 2015

Classrooms are becoming adiverse mix of affluentindividuals as attitudes toinvestment mature, writesHugo Greenhalgh

For most students, preparing for business school means worrying aboutthe fees or choosing the right laptop. Itdoes not involve wondering where thebodyguard will sit. But then most coursesdo not cater for billionaires and theiroffspring. Welcome to the world ofprivate wealth management.AdKil, director of executive PhD

programmes at Nyenrode BusinessUniversiteit, has first-hand experience ofthis world. “Our course can not only havethe younger members of the family on it,but also the main successors as well, soprivacy is important” he says.“[Sometimes] guards are outside theclassroom.”Wealth management courses have been

around in various guises for graduateslooking to enter the asset managementindustry for years. But now businessschools are actively seeking thosewealthy scions of dynasties in the makingwho want to learn how to manage thefamily firm or money — and getting aresponse.Institutes worldwide, from Nyenrode in

the Netherlands to the University ofChicago Booth School of Business in theUS,offer a variant on these courses.Nyenrode’s course attracts both the

wealthy and those seeking to work forthe rich. “The participants are family

offices and then also members of thebigger family firms,” says Prof Kil.“It can be a very interesting mix: the

professionals can learn a lot from thefamily members and the families canlearn how consultants think.” ChicagoBooth solely targets the wealthy and,while family office executives may attendwith principal family members, thecourse is closed to all other financialservices professionals.In the UK, Cass Business School at City

University London offers a five-dayprivate wealth management courseexplicitly designed for those with a netpersonal wealth in excess of $50m.Learning how to manage your money

in the light of micro- and macroeconomictrends is crucial, says one spokesman forthe course. There are also opportunitiesto “connect with a group of peers whoface the same issues in managingsubstantial assets”.Another example in the US is The

Wharton School of the University ofPennsylvania,which has run its privatewealth management programme inassociation with the Institute for PrivateInvestors since 1999.More than 800 family members have

been through the course, says RichardMarston, a professor of finance whoteaches the course. “One family memberis sent on the course,” he says, “and thenit’s several the next time. We see a lot ofrepeat families.”Prof Marston describes his course as

“wealth management unwrapped”.Modules range from learning how to hirean adviser to the different types of assetclasses available worldwide.“We presume they have little

knowledge of running a company — orperhaps they are from the second orthird generation who have careersoutside finance,” he says, though recentintakes have been more investmentsavvy.“Over time it has become a more

sophisticated group. We’ve been throughseveral economic crises now, and 2008-09 traumatised many of these families[some of whom] made very bad mistakesat that time. They are much warier ofsimple approaches to investment than inthe past.”James Sefton, professor of economics at

Imperial College Business School, wouldagree. Imperial offers an MSc inInvestment and Wealth Management,where he has seen several students comefrom wealthy families who were “going toreturn to their portfolios”.However, for those looking to manage

the money of the wealthy, the industryhas changed, Prof Sefton says. “Wealthmanagement [is perhaps traditionallynot] the most academic or technicallyorientated career but it is changing.Youwould not get a top job unless you hadthe [technical] skills.”Prof Kil is also keen to stress the

hands-on nature of his course. “What wedon’t want are tourists,” he says. “[Thecourse] is putting the knowledge youhave into practice.”As the generation that founded

companies after the second world warlooks to pass them on, demand isgrowing. Prof Kil says he could doublethe size of the course if he wished, but heprefers not to.“It is not for everyone and not for start-

ups. We want to keep it elite.”

The route to better wealth management

BUSINESS EDUCATION