Business Spectator – So how are the wealthy dealing with the psychological scarring from this downturn?

Psychologists and therapists are one way to go, but an increasingly popular option for high-net-worth individuals in the United States is “wealth peering” – a sort of group therapy for the rich that has been compared with Alcoholics Anonymous.

There are several organisations running wealth peering in the US, including Tiger 21, CCC Alliance and Family Office Exchange. Laird Pendleton, co-founder of CCC Alliance, told Dow Jones recently that the level of interest from prospective members during the past two months has been two to three times greater than usual.

Tiger 21, which describes itself as the premier wealth peering organisation in America, has 170 members who meet in 10 to 12 person groups. Membership fees are $44,000 a year and members must have at least $US10 million to gain admission. Tiger 21 has seven offices across the US and plans for six more next year. The organisation even claims to have fielded inquiries from Australia in recent months.

The peer-to-peer groups usually meet once a month and are also able to attend special presentations on investing, lifestyle, family and economics. More recently Tiger 21 has started holding bi-weekly conference calls for members, to discuss issues such as the state of the hedge fund market, the best places to park cash in the falling market and the potential impact of threats to hedge funds.

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