Bitesize InsurTech: Felinity Wealth Partners
April 1, 2017 Chris Sandilands
Felinity Wealth Partners are pioneering wealth management for cats.
“My grandmother died in 2014 and gave her money to the cattery. I thought ‘this is not right – it was Oscar she loved. He should get the cash and choose how to spend it'” founder Bob Schwanz told Oxbow Partners in a recent interview for Bitesize InsurTech.
Tapping into recent developments in animal rights law, under which domestic animals have been found to have their own legal identity, Bob and his team have built a platform for cats to manage their inheritances.
There are two options. Either cats can make their own investment decisions through an ingenious iPad application (video) or they can use a discretionary investment service.
The company does not release much data but Bob tells us that he has “several hundred” cats as clients, and manages “low double digit millions” in assets. The American Bobtail and Persian cats are the shrewdest investors, with a total return 3.4 percentage points over the species average.
Bob says cats make for aggressive investors: “We’ve had to develop a set of bespoke feline investment funds. Given their nine lives, cats are naturally comfortable with much higher levels of risk than their humans counterparts.”
Bob is planning a series A investment round later this month – if you’re interested please email him here.
The Oxbow Partners view
We expect the numbers of deaths to spike in the next 20 years as “baby boomers” relocate from the golf course to the grave. This will push the number of orphaned cats to crisis levels – a problem the mainstream media appears to reluctant to cover.
Oxbow Partners analysis suggests that the cat wealth management market is worth $13.7bn in the US alone.
Our advice is categoric: Invest.
