PHILADELPHIA, June 8, 2009 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Asset protection for the long term has always been a priority for private investors but is now one of their major concerns in the current stock market turmoil. For the past 10 years, the Private Wealth Management Program, offered by the Aresty Institute of Executive Education at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and the Institute for Private Investors (IPI), has helped families with substantial assets meet the complex challenge of managing wealth.
"Families with a high level of wealth are concerned about their portfolios as well as the status of the nonprofits and foundations they often support," says academic director and Wharton Professor of Finance Richard Marston. "The Private Wealth Management Program -- especially in the middle of a financial crisis -- provides an essential foundation of knowledge necessary to oversee investments. Wharton was the first academic institution in the world to offer such a comprehensive program."
According to Charlotte Beyer, IPI's founder and CEO, investors today want to be more involved as a partner with their financial advisors and managers due to marked changes in the world over the past 10 years. "Investors don't want to abdicate responsibility for their own wealth management," Beyer says. "In Wharton's Private Wealth Management program, they learn how to sit at the table with highly trained experts rather than passively receive reports."
Talmadge O'Neill, who sold his company Mezi Media in 2007, says that although he came into the program with an MBA degree, he felt a responsibility to gain a better understanding of portfolio management issues such as asset allocation, risk allocation, and rebalancing. "The program gave me an appreciation for the complexities that money can create in families as well as a toolkit for better assessing my own investments. I now have a much better idea of how to measure my portfolio's performance, and my advisors can go into greater detail with me."
An entrepreneur who recently experienced a major liquidity event, Mary Jean Tully, chair and CEO of The Cruise Professionals, knew nothing about finance prior to participating in the program. She had always hired someone else to take care of her investments and trusted whatever they said. "I needed to have a much better in-depth understanding of how to apply those investments to my lifestyle and manage my future wealth. I worked very hard to attain what I have and I wanted it to work for what was best for me," Tully says. "I better understand now the concept of asset allocation, know the relevant questions to ask of my advisor and portfolio managers, and know where I can find the answers if they are not providing them."
In the program, Tully met like-minded individuals going through many of the same challenges. "I was able to discuss those issues in private surroundings. It was efficient, interactive, and the knowledge of the professors was unbelievable. I learned so much more than I thought I would. It far exceeded my expectations."
The five-day Private Wealth Management Program runs twice a year at Wharton's campus in Philadelphia. In addition to wealth management education, it also provides a unique opportunity to meet and work with other members of high-net-worth families from around the world. Wharton's faculty covers modern portfolio theory, asset allocation, decision making, assessing risk, and family governance. They use a case study to address a range of investment issues that directly impact all families with significant wealth.
The program also targets current financial concerns of IPI members. The most recent session, which ran May 3-8, 2009, covered topics such as: "The Financial Crisis: How We Got Here and What We Should Do," taught by Wharton Associate Professor of Insurance and Risk Management Kent Smetters; "Real Estate in the Current Economy," taught by Wharton Associate Professor of Real Estate Todd Sinai; "Venture Capital and Private Equity," taught by Marston; and "Hedge Funds," taught by Wharton Adjunct Associate Professor of Finance Christopher Geczy.
More than 500 people have completed the program since it began in 1999. Open exclusively to family investors, participants come from diverse backgrounds, including business owners and second, third, or fourth generations in families with substantial assets. To allow for open and in-depth interaction, each session is limited to 35 participants.
"Rarely do private investors have an opportunity to spend a week with other people in similar situations, learning from extraordinary professors who have refined and adapted their lectures for current events," Beyer says. "They eat meals together, work on case studies together in the evenings, and then make a group presentation at the end of the week. The group dynamic is an unexpected bonus for everyone who comes."
Applications for the next session of Wharton's Private Wealth Management Program are currently being accepted. The next session runs August 16-21, 2009 in Philadelphia. For more information, go to: Private Wealth Management Program for Investors.
About Executive Education at the Wharton School
The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania -- founded in 1881 as the first collegiate business school -- is recognized globally for intellectual leadership and ongoing innovation across every major discipline of business education. The most comprehensive source of business knowledge in the world, Wharton bridges research and practice through its broad engagement with the global business community. The school has more than 4,700 undergraduate, MBA, executive MBA, and doctoral students; more than 12,000 annual participants in executive education programs; and an alumni network of more than 84,000 graduates. For more information, visit: www.wharton.upenn.edu.
Informed by in-depth, groundbreaking academic research and extensive industry experience, Wharton Executive Education programs can span anywhere from a few days to six weeks or longer. Each executive education program offers a supportive and challenging context where participants gain the skills necessary for their next level of executive development. Participants who come to Wharton from a diverse range of industries engage with faculty who are the most cited, most published faculty of all top-tier business schools. With a profound influence upon global business, Wharton faculty are the sought-after, trusted advisors of corporations and governments worldwide.
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About IPI
IPI is a private membership organization offering non-commercial investor education and an online community to 1,200 ultra-high-net-worth investors from 18 countries and 40 U.S. states. IPI does not recommend or endorse any investment strategies, managers, or consulting services. Membership dues and educational fees are IPI's only source of revenue.