Financial advisor deVere Group says that some wealthy peoples investment plans are so bad that they may as well be gambling.

Financial advisor deVere Group says that some wealthy people's investment plans are so bad that they may as well be branded as gambling.

A poll by the firm found that just under a quarter of millionaires said their most common mistake was investing without a plan.

“The poll underscores how 22 per cent of today’s millionaires have in the past fallen into the all-too-familiar trap of randomly investing, or investing without a structured, robust plan,” said Nigel Green, deVere’s founder and chief executive.

“Anyone who has an investment plan can expect their portfolio to outperform those without a plan. To my mind, unless you have a sound investment plan you are gambling, not investing.”

Other mistakes include failing to diversify and review a portfolio, making emotional decisions and placing too much focus on previous returns. “Avoiding just one of these mistakes – and there are many others – can literally make the difference between poverty and financial freedom,” Green added.

The poll surveyed 880 people that have investable assets of more than ÂŁ1 million ($1.7 million).

Those polled by the organisation, which has more than 80,000 clients worldwide, are based in the UK, the US, South Africa, Hong Kong, Japan, the UAE, Indonesia and Thailand and have investable assets of more than ÂŁ1 million.

“Interestingly, there are minimal differences between the top five most common investment mistakes previously made by high-net-worth individuals," Green said.

“16 per cent of respondents cited that failure to review their portfolio on a regular basis was their number one investment mistake.  This is not surprising as even the best portfolios can go off-target over time," Green said.