As 2025 moves into the rearview mirror, it’s a good time for investors to assess their financial plans — especially high-net-worth individuals who have added complexity and more wealth on the line. But where should you start? At Creative Planning, we recommend a multi-layered approach that incorporates various high-net-worth investment and wealth management strategies. For 2026, here are five key investment strategies we’re using for high-net-worth clients and the benefits they offer.
Key Takeaways
- Global diversification can enhance return potential, reduce overall portfolio volatility and help with risk mitigation for high-net-worth investors.
- Periodic portfolio rebalancing is a must to stay aligned with your desired asset allocation and long-term wealth preservation goals.
- An investment strategy isn’t complete if it doesn’t factor tax efficiency and capital gains into the equation.
- Philanthropy can help you make a positive difference in the world, build a legacy and unlock tax benefits as part of your wealth transfer plan.
- Maintaining adequate cash reserves and other liquid assets is essential for protecting long-term wealth.
1. Global Diversification Remains Key
The U.S. has historically provided long-term security for investors, but putting all your eggs in one basket is risky, even if it’s a seemingly great basket. For example, concerns about the U.S. dollar declining are growing due to federal debt levels, persistent deficits and loose monetary policy. Further, geopolitical events, such as tax or tariff hikes, can lead to steep losses when all your investment capital is concentrated in one country. Diversifying globally helps you hedge your risk and can help smooth out portfolio volatility.
But the benefits don’t stop at playing defense. Investing abroad also offers exposure to emerging markets with higher growth potential than more developed markets. Further, the economic cycles of other countries often differ from those of the U.S., which can potentially offset losses during domestic market downturns. The key is identifying legitimate international investment opportunities with growth potential and aligning your global asset allocation with your risk tolerance as a high-net-worth individual.
Alongside stocks and fixed income, thoughtful use of alternative investments can support global diversification. Strategies such as private equity and broader private market investing may provide streams that are less correlated with traditional asset classes, though they’re generally best suited for more sophisticated investors. A Creative Planning wealth manager can help you evaluate which investment options make sense for your situation. For more context, you can also explore how alternative investments may complement your portfolio.
2. Rebalancing for Risk Management
When building a portfolio, asset allocation decisions are set based on an investor’s risk tolerance and financial planning objectives. However, market changes tend to shift the balance over time. Without regular review, your portfolio can drift into a risk profile that’s off target. For example, if you aim to have 70% of your portfolio invested in equities and 30% of your portfolio invested in fixed income, strong performance on the equity side could leave you with 80% in equities and 20% in fixed income.
To course-correct drifts, we recommend regularly rebalancing your portfolio. If you’re not familiar with the term, rebalancing is the process of realigning the weightings of a portfolio so that they align with the original targets. It involves the counterintuitive step of selling off a portion of high-performing assets to buy lower-performing assets aligned with the desired allocation.
Disciplined rebalancing is key to staying aligned with a long-term plan that manages risk, maintains your chosen investment strategy and helps protect against market volatility.
3. Tax-Efficient Investing
An investment strategy for high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth investors isn’t complete if it doesn’t factor taxes into the equation. Your tax liability directly reduces the earnings you get to keep when the dust settles, so you want to make sure you’re using the tax code to your advantage through tax-efficient investing for high-income earners.
Some of the more effective tax strategies for high-income earners include:
- Roth conversions – A Roth conversion occurs when you move money from a tax-deferred account (like a traditional IRA) into a Roth IRA. While you do have to pay income taxes on the amount converted, you can make qualified withdrawals tax-free in retirement.
- Tax-loss harvesting – Tax-loss harvesting is the practice of intentionally selling investments at a loss to reduce your tax liability, then reinvesting the proceeds to stay aligned with your long-term investment strategy.
- Municipal bonds – A municipal bond investment can generate tax-exempt interest income that reduces taxes and increases after-tax yield, which can be particularly valuable for high-net-worth taxpayers in higher brackets.
- Direct indexing – Direct indexing replaces a traditional mutual fund or index fund with individual stocks, allowing investors to harvest losses and manage capital gains at the individual security level.
- Asset location – Asset location is a tax-aware wealth management technique that aligns specific assets with taxable, tax-deferred or tax-free accounts to improve after-tax returns.
- Qualified Opportunity Zones – Qualified Opportunity Zones are economically distressed communities where certain investments may be eligible for preferential tax treatment.
Maximizing your bottom line requires ensuring tax-efficient investing strategies like these are fully utilized and applied legally. Coordinating investment management and tax planning within a unified wealth management services relationship can help ensure your investment strategies and tax plan work together rather than against each other.
4. Philanthropy
Integrating philanthropic strategies into your wealth management or estate planning strategy can not only support important organizations but also help you build a legacy and unlock tax benefits. For many high-net-worth individuals, philanthropy becomes a cornerstone of their long-term wealth transfer and family values plan. If you’re just getting started, you may also find it helpful to review our guide, Getting Started With Estate Planning.
Start by identifying what problems matter most to you, and we can help you determine which reputable organizations help to solve them. From there, consider the options you have for donating, including:
- Donating appreciated assets – Gift your organization of choice appreciated investments, such as securities or real estate. Doing so can help the organization, provide you with a fair market value tax deduction and potentially help you avoid capital gains tax.
- Donating to a donor-advised fund (DAF) – Donating to a DAF allows you to claim immediate tax deductions for contributions and carry out charitable giving over time by directing grants to your favorite organizations. The funds can also grow tax-free in the account, enabling you to give more down the road.
- Creating a private foundation – Another option is to establish a private foundation that uses private family funds to make charitable contributions to organizations through grants. Each contribution to the foundation generates a tax deduction. We recommend a minimum of $1 million to begin a private foundation, so this option may not be ideal for all high-net-worth clients.
- Bunching – Bunching is a popular strategy where one groups multiple years of charitable donations into a single tax year to help offset tax liability in a high-income year.
These are just a few of the popular ways to integrate philanthropy into your wealth management plan. We can help you determine which routes make the most sense based on your particular goals, net worth and broader wealth picture.
5. Liquidity and Savings Considerations
Regardless of your net worth, maintaining adequate cash reserves is essential for protecting long-term wealth. While you may no longer need to worry about having enough funds to cover a short-term emergency, saving allows you to provide a more secure future for your loved ones and build wealth more quickly than investing alone.
When it comes to cash reserves, cash savings are an important part of the equation, but so are liquid assets. Illiquid investments, such as private equity, real estate and certain hedge funds or venture capital strategies, offer the potential for higher returns but require you to lock up investable assets for an extended period. Liquid assets, on the other hand, such as cash and cash equivalents, can be accessed quickly and easily.
The goal is to keep enough cash reserves and other liquid assets on hand to protect your growing wealth and navigate uncertainties with ease. However, you don’t want to overdo your cash reserves due to the opportunity cost of not deploying those assets into productive investment options. As part of a broader high-net-worth investing plan, your Creative Planning wealth manager can help you determine an appropriate balance between traditional investments and alternative investments based on your time horizon and liquidity needs. If you’re deciding where to direct your excess income, you may also find our guidance on where to direct your excess income helpful.
Final Thoughts on Investment Strategies for High-Income Earners
At Creative Planning, our team of high-net-worth financial advisors specializes in helping high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth clients optimize their financial futures. We stand ready to help ensure your investment strategy is positioned not only for growth but also for risk mitigation, tax efficiency and stability. Together, we can explore a wide range of high-net-worth investment opportunities, from diversifying internationally to entering private market investing and other alternative investment approaches.
We’re prepared to talk through important topics, like maintaining cash reserves, reducing your tax liability and managing risk. Through a coordinated wealth management approach, you can feel confident about the state of your overall wealth plan and portfolio. For a broader view of our wealth management capabilities, you can also explore our ultra-high-net-worth wealth management overview.
Frequently Asked Questions About HNW Investment Strategies
What are the top investment strategies for high-net-worth individuals in 2026?
Going into 2026, five of the top strategies for high-net-worth individuals are global diversification, rebalancing for risk management, tax efficiency, philanthropic giving and maintaining adequate cash reserves. These strategies can help position your investment portfolio for growth while helping to minimize risk and reduce volatility. Also, consider strategically diversifying into alternative investments, which tend to have a low correlation to public markets and higher return potential than traditional investments for qualified or accredited investors.
How can high-income earners invest in a tax-efficient way?
High-income earners can implement a variety of strategies to help reduce their tax liabilities and keep more of what they earn. For example, Roth conversions let investors pay taxes on their savings now so that they can grow and be withdrawn tax-free in retirement. Tax-loss harvesting is another popular strategy that involves selling assets at a loss so that you can claim the loss on your taxes and help offset gains. Coordinating these decisions with a financial advisor who understands high-net-worth investing and your overall financial planning goals can help you stay on track.
What role do alternative investments play in advanced HNW strategies?
Alternative investments, such as real estate, private equity and private credit, allow high-net-worth investors to diversify beyond public markets. Doing so can present more risk but also enhanced growth potential and portfolio diversification. Many alternative investments also have a low correlation with public markets. As a result, they may help to balance out portfolio volatility during public market downturns when combined thoughtfully with fixed income and equity assets.
How should HNW individuals approach legacy and estate planning in 2026?
Creative Planning recommends building your legacy and estate planning approach around your values while integrating family governance, philanthropy and tax efficiency. You’ll need to prepare all the traditional estate planning documents, but you should also prepare documents that outline your charitable priorities, guiding principles for future generations and strategies for instilling your beliefs. Our wealth management services can help align your wealth transfer strategy with your overall wealth management plan, and resources like Getting Started With Estate Planning can help you begin those conversations.
