DUSTY WALLET

How to turn an NHL ticket into a tax-deductible expense.

WE’LL GAMBLE... Here and there, but recognize that income has become more important than high returns to investors, particularly as boomers switch into stable investments from riskier plays. A study for Principal Global Investors has found, for example, that retail investor interest in income-focused funds rose to 62% in 2014 from 48% in 2012. “Beta is unpredictable and investors crave predictability and income,” said Barb McKenzie, senior executive director at the asset manager. High-net-worth and defined-benefit investors, meanwhile, have become more enamoured with real estate, with the former’s interest rising 25 percentage points to 61%, and the latter’s interest jumping 26 points to 66%. The Futurewealth Report Enhancing the customer service curriculum. Fancy name, but the study found that wealth managers control 42% of the assets of high-net-worth individuals in the first five years of the relationship, but 60% by year 20. WE’RE INTO ART... Especially Magritte, Warhol and Justin Bua (look him up) and mostly just for pleasure, but an art investment boom is happening. Deloitte’s third Art and Finance Report found that the average wealthy person currently allocates about 9% of his or her portfolio to art and collectibles, but that is expected to increase, particularly in the United States. The vast majority don’t take a purely investment view of their collections, but 76% consider it, up from 53% in 2012. Oddly, perhaps, the percentage of wealth managers who recommend that their clients buy art as an investment has dropped to 55% this year, from 63% in 2012 and 82% in 2011. — WE’RE NOT RICH... But if we were, chances are we’d be giving an ever-increasing chunk of our portfolio to a wealth manager. The world’s millionaires increase the amount of their assets held by a wealth manager by 18 percentage points over a 20-year relationship, according to a study by SEI, NPG Wealth Management and Scorpio Partnership called