Spear's Wealth Management Survey

Last updated

Spear's
EditorEdwin Smith
CategoriesLifestyle
Frequencybimonthly
Founder William Cash
Founded2006
CompanyProgressive Media International
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
Website www.spearswms.com

Spear's (formerly known as Spear's WMS or Spear's Wealth Management Survey), founded in 2006 by William Cash, is a bimonthly British magazine for high-net-worth individuals and those in the financial service industries. It has been called "the Bible of the banking fraternity" [1] by GQ and "a European rival to Forbes " [1] by The Evening Standard. Nick Cohen called it "The best portrait I have seen of a world beyond our means and comprehension", in The Spectator . [2] Its subscribers include over 30,000 of Europe's decision-makers and wealthy. William Cash, editor-at-large of Spear's, has twice won Editor of the Year at the PPA Awards (2007 and 2008). Spear's is now published by Progressive Digital Media. The launch in 2006 included publicity from The Independent , [3] The Guardian , [4] the Luxist [5] and The Times . [6]

Contents

Spear's Indices are surveys of key people in the high net worth world. [7] Spear's Salon is Spear's blogging forum which hosts a number of regular contributors. [8] Spear's 500 are rankings of consultants and service providers in several wealth and luxury related industries. [9] They also publish the Spear's 500 Travel. [10]

Under Alec Marsh's editorship the magazine has run a series of interviews with high-profile figures including Prince Albert II of Monaco, [11] the former Irish president Mary Robinson, [12] the former Cabinet minister Rory Stewart [13] and Nigel Farage, [14] in which he talked about being hated and his return to politics before the launch of the Brexit party in 2019. In 2017, David Miliband, president of the International Rescue Committee, told Spear's that the world's rich needed to give more money to charity and good causes in an exclusive interview [15] widely followed elsewhere. [16] In June 2020, Alec Marsh stepped down as editor, becoming editor-at-large, [17] and was succeeded by his deputy editor Edwin Smith. [18]

History

William Cash, a magazine writer who has also been a foreign correspondent for The Times and The Daily Telegraph , was Annabel's Magazine's contract publisher in 2005, when they published the pilot edition of Spear's as a supplement. At that time there was competition for advertisements from "fashion houses and luxury brands" upon which the magazine depended. Cash launched Spear's Wealth Management Survey in April 2006 with a targeted audience of "the 30,000 wealthiest, most successful and influential people in the UK: from Rich Listers to royalty; hedge fund managers to serial entrepreneurs; oligarchs to internet moguls; cabinet ministers to Sir Alex Ferguson." [3]

In February 2003, Cash married Ilaria Bulgari, whose father was the vice-chairman of Bulgari, the third largest jewellery company in the world. [19] They divorced in 2007 and Cash sold the magazine for about £1.2 million to Luxury Publishing. [20] Then in 2009 he bought a 67% holding back, with Nectar Capital holding the other shares. [20] [21] Cash is the owner of Upton Cressett Hall, a 16th-century Tudor manor in Shropshire. [22] [23]

In 2015 Spear's became available at 250 outlets in London, as well as on subscription. [24]

Freelance writer Alec Marsh, a former Daily Telegraph journalist [25] and Daily Mail gossip columnist, [26] was appointed editor of Spear's in January 2017. Marsh, who is also the author of the Drabble and Harris adventure novels, [27] [28] took over from Christopher Silvester, who was editor in 2016. Silvester took over from longtime former Spear's editor, Josh Spero, who left to join the Financial Times at the end of 2015.

Spear's Salon

Topics covered in Spear's WMS include 'Asset Management' with articles on investments in bonds versus equities, quantitative easing, impact of Mark Carney's appointment on the HNW individuals, Risks and Rewards of Rare Earths Investments; 'Art & Collecting' with articles on the art market boom, gallery etiquette and collectors who only want top names; 'The Good Life' with articles on owning your own island, airports becoming more luxurious, Aston Martin, Lamborghini and Porsche competitions; 'Property' with articles on the repossession of a £5.25 million property in One Hyde Park, social investment and the housing crisis and leaseholds in London; 'Legal' and 'Taxation" with articles on challenging the notion that companies must minimise the tax they pay, that tax avoidance is not a fiduciary duty, how US laws impact tax evasion by use of Swiss banks and G20 take action against tax-avoiding multinationals. [8] They also deal with topics such as how to manage profits on the sale of hobby thoroughbreds without incurring a tax liability, and bulletproof cars. [5]

Spear's Indices

Spear's publishes their Indices in each issue in which they rank and rate the top individuals in each wealth management sector. Indexes include: London's top UHNW wealth managers, Spear's Family Lawyers, Spear's Hotel Index, Spear's Security Index, Education Index, UHNW Wealth Management and Family Office Index, Legal Index, Accountancy Index, Philanthropy Index, Reputation Management Index, Property Index, Artan Collecting Index, International Financial Centres Index (IFCs), Security Index, Private Equity Index, Business Angels Index and Hotels Index. [21] [7] In the November/December 2019 edition Spear's published its first Luxury Index featuring 100 of the leading individuals in luxury today, from hoteliers to horologists, to tailors, interior designers ad jewellers. [29]

Spear's 500

Spear's publishes this annual rankings in two categories. "Band One" is the rankings of top private client professionals focused on wealth management, law and advisory services. "Band 2" is the rankings of private client services primarily focused around lifestyle, alternative investment and luxury. [9]

Spear's 500 Travel

Spear's 500 Travel is a rankings of luxury hotels, resorts, holiday rentals and tour operators in the world, including private aviation and yachts. [10]

Related Research Articles

An index fund is a mutual fund or exchange-traded fund (ETF) designed to follow certain preset rules so that it can replicate the performance ("track") of a specified basket of underlying investments. While index providers often emphasize that they are for-profit organizations, index providers have the ability to act as "reluctant regulators" when determining which companies are suitable for an index. Those rules may include tracking prominent indexes like the S&P 500 or the Dow Jones Industrial Average or implementation rules, such as tax-management, tracking error minimization, large block trading or patient/flexible trading strategies that allow for greater tracking error but lower market impact costs. Index funds may also have rules that screen for social and sustainable criteria.

<i>Financial Times</i> London-based daily newspaper

The Financial Times (FT) is a British daily business newspaper printed in broadsheet and also published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Nikkei, with core editorial offices across Britain, the United States and continental Europe. In July 2015, Pearson sold the publication to Nikkei for £844 million after owning it since 1957. In 2019, it reported one million paying subscriptions, three-quarters of which were digital subscriptions. The newspaper has a prominent focus on financial journalism and economic analysis rather than generalist reporting, drawing both criticism and acclaim. It sponsors an annual book award and publishes a "Person of the Year" feature.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Progressive tax</span> Form of tax

A progressive tax is a tax in which the tax rate increases as the taxable amount increases. The term progressive refers to the way the tax rate progresses from low to high, with the result that a taxpayer's average tax rate is less than the person's marginal tax rate. The term can be applied to individual taxes or to a tax system as a whole. Progressive taxes are imposed in an attempt to reduce the tax incidence of people with a lower ability to pay, as such taxes shift the incidence increasingly to those with a higher ability-to-pay. The opposite of a progressive tax is a regressive tax, such as a sales tax, where the poor pay a larger proportion of their income compared to the rich.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Millionaire</span> Individual whose wealth is more than one million units of currency

A millionaire is an individual whose net worth or wealth is equal to or exceeds one million units of currency. Depending on the currency, a certain level of prestige is associated with being a millionaire. Many national currencies have, or have had at various times, a low unit value, in many cases due to past inflation. It is obviously much easier and less significant to be a millionaire in those currencies, thus a millionaire in Hong Kong or Taiwan, for example, may be merely averagely wealthy, or perhaps less wealthy than average. A millionaire in Zimbabwe in 2007 could have been extremely poor. Because of this, the term 'millionaire' generally refers to those whose assets total at least one million units of a high-value currency, such as the United States dollar, euro, or pound sterling.

An exchange-traded fund (ETF) is a type of investment fund that is also an exchange-traded product, i.e., it is traded on stock exchanges. ETFs own financial assets such as stocks, bonds, currencies, futures contracts, and/or commodities such as gold bars. The list of assets that each ETF owns, as well as their weightings, is posted on the website of the issuer daily, or quarterly in the case of active non-transparent ETFs. Many ETFs provide some level of diversification compared to owning an individual stock.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Global city</span> City important to the world economy

A global city, also known as a power city, world city, alpha city, or world center, is a city that serves as a primary node in the global economic network. The concept originates from geography and urban studies, based on the thesis that globalization has created a hierarchy of strategic geographic locations with varying degrees of influence over finance, trade, and culture worldwide. The global city represents the most complex and significant hub within the international system, characterized by links binding it to other cities that have direct, tangible effects on global socioeconomic affairs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bulgari</span> Italian luxury fashion house

Bulgari is an Italian luxury fashion house founded in 1884 and known for its jewellery, watches, fragrances, accessories, and leather goods.

High-net-worth individual (HNWI) is a term used by some segments of the financial services industry to designate persons whose investible wealth exceeds a given amount. Typically, these individuals are defined as holding financial assets with a value greater than US$1 million. "Very-HNWI" (VHNWI) can refer to someone with a net worth of at least US$5 million. As of December 2022, there were estimated to be just over 15 million HNWIs in the world according to the World's Wealthiest Cities Report 2023 by Henley & Partners. The United States had the highest number of HNWIs of any country, whilst New York is the wealthiest city with 340,000 HNWIs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wealth management</span> Investment management and financial planning service

Wealth management (WM) or wealth management advisory (WMA) is an investment advisory service that provides financial management and wealth advisory services to a wide array of clients ranging from affluent to high-net-worth (HNW) and ultra-high-net-worth (UHNW) individuals and families. It is a discipline which incorporates structuring and planning wealth to assist in growing, preserving, and protecting wealth, whilst passing it onto the family in a tax-efficient manner and in accordance with their wishes. Wealth management brings together tax planning, wealth protection, estate planning, succession planning, and family governance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Family office</span> Family controlled investment group

A family office is a privately held company that handles investment management and wealth management for a wealthy family, generally one with at least $50–100 million in investable assets, with the goal being to effectively grow and transfer wealth across generations. The company's financial capital is the family's own wealth.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Global Financial Centres Index</span> Ranking of the competitiveness of financial centres

The Global Financial Centres Index (GFCI) is a ranking of the competitiveness of financial centres based on over 29,000 financial centre assessments from an online questionnaire together with over 100 indices from organisations such as the World Bank, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), and the Economist Intelligence Unit. The first index was published in March 2007. It has been jointly published twice per year by Z/Yen Group in London and the China Development Institute in Shenzhen since 2015, and is widely quoted as a top source for ranking financial centres.

<i>The Banker</i> Monthly trade magazine covering international finance

The Banker is an English-language monthly international financial affairs publication owned by The Financial Times Ltd. and edited in London, United Kingdom. The magazine was first published in January 1926 through founding Editor, Brendan Bracken of the Financial News, who went on to become the chairman of the Financial Times from 1945-1958.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stanley Fink, Baron Fink</span>

Stanley Fink, Baron Fink,, is a British hedge fund manager and parliamentarian, who was formerly CEO of Man Group plc.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">S&P Dow Jones Indices</span> Joint venture that produces stock market indices

S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC is a joint venture between S&P Global, the CME Group, and News Corp that was announced in 2011 and later launched in 2012. It produces, maintains, licenses, and markets stock market indices as benchmarks and as the basis of investable products, such as exchange-traded funds (ETFs), mutual funds, and structured products. The company currently has employees in 15 cities worldwide, including New York, London, Frankfurt, Singapore, Hong Kong, Sydney, Beijing, and Dubai.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stock market index</span> Financial metric which investors use to determine market performance

In finance, a stock index, or stock market index, is an index that measures the performance of a stock market, or of a subset of a stock market. It helps investors compare current stock price levels with past prices to calculate market performance.

Plutonomy is the science of production and distribution of wealth.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rafael Serrano</span>

Rafael Serrano Quevedo is a Spanish businessman and investor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bulgari Hotel and Residences</span> Luxury hotel in Knightsbridge, London

The Bulgari Hotel and Residences is a luxury hotel in Knightsbridge, London. When it opened in 2012, it was the most expensive hotel in London, and the penthouse apartment sold for $157 million.

William Rupert Paul Cash is a journalist and author.

<i>Bloomberg Billionaires Index</i> Ranking of the worlds 500 richest people

The Bloomberg Billionaires Index, launched in March 2012, is a daily ranking of the world's 500 richest people based on their net worth. It features a profile of each billionaire, and includes a tool that allows users to compare the fortunes of multiple billionaires. The index is updated every day at the close of trading in New York.

References

  1. 1 2 "About us". Spears. Retrieved 10 September 2013.
  2. ↑ "Servants of the super-rich". Spectator. Retrieved 16 May 2015.
  3. 1 2 Cash, William (30 July 2007). "The invitation-only subscription magazine for the super-rich". The Independent. Archived from the original on 16 January 2009. Retrieved 11 September 2013.
  4. ↑ Alice O'Keeffe (8 January 2006). "Read all about it ... but only if you're a multi-billionaire". The Guardian. The Observer. UK. Retrieved 10 September 2013.
  5. 1 2 Woollard, Deidre (8 January 2006). "Spear's Wealth Management Survey, A New Magazine For The Ultra-Rich" . Retrieved 10 September 2013.
  6. ↑ Rivkin, Annabel (12 December 2006). "How I make the rich richer". The Times. London. Retrieved 10 September 2013.
  7. 1 2 "Spear's Indices". Spear. Retrieved 1 November 2019.
  8. 1 2 "Spear". Spear's Salon. Spear. Retrieved 10 September 2013.
  9. 1 2 "Spear's 500". Spear. Retrieved 1 November 2019.
  10. 1 2 "Spear's 500 Travel". Spear. Retrieved 1 November 2019.
  11. ↑ "World exclusive interview: Prince Albert II of Monaco".
  12. ↑ "Mary Robinson on Mandela, Trump and the nuclear threat – the Spear's interview".
  13. ↑ "Rory Stewart: 'We are secretly too pessimistic about Britain' – the Spear's interview".
  14. ↑ "The Spear's interview: Nigel Farage on Brexit, Boris and being hated".
  15. ↑ "HNWS need to give more, says David Miliband".
  16. ↑ "'I'm an ex-politician': David Miliband dampens talk of return". TheGuardian.com . 4 May 2017.
  17. ↑ "Introducing issue 75 of Spear's magazine".
  18. ↑ "Edwin Smith, Spear's editor and head of the Spear's research unit".
  19. ↑ "Ilaria Bulgary; the Spacious Hyde Park Apartment of the Bulgari Heiress Mixes Traditional Style with the Avantgarde - Just like Ilaria Herself". London, England: The Evening Standard. 11 April 2003. Retrieved 10 September 2013.
  20. 1 2 Luft, Oliver (7 August 2009). "Spear's magazine in management buyout". Press Gazette. Retrieved 10 August 2019.
  21. 1 2 Cash, William (24 August 2009). "So why did I buy back my magazine? It's all about risk" . The Independent. Archived from the original on 24 May 2022. Retrieved 11 September 2013.
  22. ↑ "William Cash the Shropshire lad goes tilting at windmills". London, UK: Evening Standard. 11 July 2013. Retrieved 10 September 2013.
  23. ↑ William Cash (11 February 2013). "Has Shropshire Defeated Its Windfarm Menace?". Spears. Retrieved 10 September 2013.
  24. ↑ Ponsford, Dominic (7 December 2015). "Magazine for the super-rich Spear's launches on newsstand in London with £5 cover price". Press Gazette. Retrieved 10 August 2019.
  25. ↑ "General 1".
  26. ↑ "Dispatches". TheGuardian.com . 16 July 2007.
  27. ↑ "Alec Marsh".
  28. ↑ "In brief: Love & Deception: Philby in Beirut; the Tale of the Tailor and the Three Dead Kings; Ghosts of the West – reviews". TheGuardian.com . 3 October 2021.
  29. ↑ "Spear's Luxury Index 2019".
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.