Wealth Blog

• Tweet
• 
• Email

• Tweet
• 
• Email

When it comes to investing, the rich prefer to take their own advice, with more than half spending at least six hours per week on their investments, even if they do have a financial adviser.

A Spectrem Group survey showed that 71 percent of individuals with a net worth of at least $25 million enjoy working on their investments. Though they view their advisers as a primary source of financial information, 59 percent also peruse the financial press and 38 percent get information from websites.

The U.S. population of rich with at least $25 million is small; according to Spectrem, only 107,000 individuals possessed that kind of wealth at the end of 2011. The majority of individuals in that group is still working and self-made rather than inheritors; 27 percent own a business. The mean age is 60, which makes them younger as a whole than those with between $5 million and $25 million, who have a mean age of 67.

Many average investors can't spend the amount of time they'd like on their portfolios, but excessive fiddling can actually do more harm than good. Reacting to the daily ups and downs of the market and economic news can lead you to lose sight of the long term. Most advisers recommend taking a look at your portfolio once a year to get a better indication of how a stock or particular sector has performed over time. Chasing returns will likely leave you with less money in the long run.

Keep up with your wealth and mortgages and follow me on Twitter.

Get more news, money-saving tips and expert advice by signing up for a free Bankrate newsletter.