To sell to the rich, first study them?

How are the rich different (aside from having more money)? That's the question that Private Bankers have been studying for quite a long time. U.S. Trust published their annual survey reports years ago, and here is Northern Trust's most recent entry.

Now Wells Fargo wants to get into the act as well. This link leads to their press release about their survey, but you'll have to call or e-mail if you want to see the actual report.

I was intrigued by the fact that in their "wealth life cycle analysis," Wells came up with categories essentially identical to Merrill Anderson's Wealth Management Article Library:

The study uniquely categorized HNW individuals into four distinct groups based on their stage in the wealth lifecycle. These stages are Building, Managing, Preserving and Transferring.

Great minds think alike.