Lack of HNW in the Area

[Anonymous]

Having moved to the area from the bay area, I thought there would be some angel capital and wealth management scene in the area. But it turns out that the "rich" here basically have a house half paid down and a couple of million in savings invested in vanguard index funds. I had just recently registered a RIA and manage a couple of million in AUM (friends/family) in separate accounts with a 7 year track record of 20%+ returns but it is impossible to convince people in the area that that they should invest in anything outside of a vanguard index fund. Maybe it is just the inherent conservatism of feds and the fact that most wealth is locked up in 401k accounts.

For background, I have 5 years of experience in growth private equity, 3 years in a hedge fund, am a CFA charterholder and have been investing since I was 21. I am considering moving to Palm Beach or La Jolla.

[Anonymous]

ok

[Anonymous]

Cool story. Turns out we are not your people.

[Anonymous]

You did not research this before you moved??

[Anonymous]

bye felicia

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You did not research this before you moved??

no, this was a side business I was building as a hobby. I was just surprised at the lack of HNW in the 10-20 million range who usually get more interested in more "total return" strategies.

[Anonymous]

I prefer to handpick my own individual stocks, but tell me about this 20%+ return.

And yes, there is no culture of angel investing here. You should have known this about DC before you moved!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
I prefer to handpick my own individual stocks, but tell me about this 20%+ return.

And yes, there is no culture of angel investing here. You should have known this about DC before you moved!

I had presumed with all the contractor money swooshing around, there would be more 8 figure potential clients. But I guess the "wealth" is spread pretty evenly.

[Anonymous]

So, are you really "surprised," or you counted on being able to build your side business into something larger when you moved here?

And why did you move here? You're thinking about going back because of a side job?

Nice attempt at fishing for some clients here, though!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Having moved to the area from the bay area, I thought there would be some angel capital and wealth management scene in the area. But it turns out that the "rich" here basically have a house half paid down and a couple of million in savings invested in vanguard index funds. I had just recently registered a RIA and manage a couple of million in AUM (friends/family) in separate accounts with a 7 year track record of 20%+ returns but it is impossible to convince people in the area that that they should invest in anything outside of a vanguard index fund. Maybe it is just the inherent conservatism of feds and the fact that most wealth is locked up in 401k accounts.

For background, I have 5 years of experience in growth private equity, 3 years in a hedge fund, am a CFA charterholder and have been investing since I was 21. I am considering moving to Palm Beach or La Jolla.

A 7 year record of 20% returns is pretty poor.

Perhaps you could open a restaurant?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I prefer to handpick my own individual stocks, but tell me about this 20%+ return.

And yes, there is no culture of angel investing here. You should have known this about DC before you moved!

I had presumed with all the contractor money swooshing around, there would be more 8 figure potential clients. But I guess the "wealth" is spread pretty evenly.

That money goes into personnel and production for the contract. If every contract created $20 million in profit for an individual, that company would likely stop earning contracts. Federal contracts are competitive, you know ...

[Anonymous]

So you are someone who doesn't do a lot of research and gets returns that are comparable to the index funds you look down on? cool story.

[Anonymous]

Hmm, hedge funds - sounds familiar. Oh, yes, those investments that lag behind index funds, as Warren Buffet expected:

https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2017-09-27/buffett-s-hedge-fund-bet-was-a-virtual-sure-thing

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So, are you really "surprised," or you counted on being able to build your side business into something larger when you moved here?

And why did you move here? You're thinking about going back because of a side job?

Nice attempt at fishing for some clients here, though!

My initial strategy was to rotate through different wealthy areas in the country to build up a client base which would then become a full time thing, so moving to a different area every 3-4 years while making decent income as a mid-level investment professional in AM/HF/PE.

This rotation will probably just be quicker than I expected.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Having moved to the area from the bay area, I thought there would be some angel capital and wealth management scene in the area. But it turns out that the "rich" here basically have a house half paid down and a couple of million in savings invested in vanguard index funds. I had just recently registered a RIA and manage a couple of million in AUM (friends/family) in separate accounts with a 7 year track record of 20%+ returns but it is impossible to convince people in the area that that they should invest in anything outside of a vanguard index fund. Maybe it is just the inherent conservatism of feds and the fact that most wealth is locked up in 401k accounts.

For background, I have 5 years of experience in growth private equity, 3 years in a hedge fund, am a CFA charterholder and have been investing since I was 21. I am considering moving to Palm Beach or La Jolla.

A 7 year record of 20% returns is pretty poor.

Perhaps you could open a restaurant?

that is obviously annualized