Which customers are most likely to be taken for a ride?

It’s a strange question to ask, but one worth reflecting on. And the answer might surprise you.

It’s not always the inexperienced investor. It’s not the so-called naïve ones who know little about finance.

More often than not, it is the ones who want to feel special.

They want something new. Something cutting-edge. Something that sounds smart when you say it out loud at a dinner party. Something no one else knows about yet. Something that’s not available to just anyone.

They want access. They want early entry. They want “private” deals. They want strategies used by the ultra-wealthy. They want the financial equivalent of a secret club, with a black gate and a hidden password.

And they are exactly the ones who get trapped.

This is how the mis-selling begins.

The need to feel exclusive is deeply human. We all want to be seen. To feel like we matter. To feel that we’re a little more important than the next person. And marketers know this better than anyone else.

So, when a product or investment is packaged as “only for select investors,” it taps into something primal. Even though I know this, I am as likely as any other person to fall into this trap. 

Suddenly, it is no longer about whether the product is good. Or whether it aligns with your goals. Or whether the risks are reasonable. It is now about how this investment makes you feel.

And when the driving force behind any investment decision becomes emotion, the outcomes are usually not in your favor.

We’ve seen this pattern again and again.

Wealthy investors lured into complex PMS and AIF products. Entrepreneurs sold structured products with eye-catching return projections. Family offices pitched private equity and venture funds with no real due diligence. Large-ticket clients handed curated global opportunities with little transparency or liquidity.

Why?

Because they didn’t want what everyone else had. They didn’t want “boring” mutual funds. Or “basic” financial planning. Or “vanilla” equity portfolios.

They wanted to be first. They wanted a product with layers. They wanted access that others didn’t. They wanted the comfort of belonging to a tribe of the financially elite.

But here’s the problem.

Financial markets do not reward exclusivity. They reward clarity.

They reward discipline, simplicity, and alignment.

Markets reward those who ask the right questions. Those who want the truth, not a tailored story. Those who care more about the long-term compounding of wealth than the immediate gratification of feeling unique.

Exclusivity, on the other hand, is the marketer’s playground.

It is where opacity thrives. It is where the seller knows more than the buyer. It is where risk is buried under a mountain of jargon. It is where structures are complicated enough to delay regret.

And that delay of regret is what makes such products so dangerous. Because it takes years before the investor realizes what went wrong.

By then, it’s too late.

By then, the returns are mediocre. The exit is painful. The taxation is messy. The costs are buried. And the lesson, if learned at all, comes at a very high price.

I’m not saying every exclusive product is bad.

There are high-quality private opportunities out there. There are a few competent fund managers doing great work. There are innovations worth paying attention to.

But the question is not whether they exist.

The question is whether they are right for you.

Do you understand what you are buying?

Do you know what role it plays in your overall financial life?

Do you understand the risks, the liquidity, the fees, and the structure?

Do you know what could go wrong?

Do you have alternatives that are simpler, better, or more aligned with your real goals?

And most importantly, are you buying this because you believe in it, or because it makes you feel important?

This is a hard question to answer. Because it demands honesty. It demands a confrontation with your own ego. It demands an admission that sometimes, we chase investments not for their performance, but for their identity.

We want to be seen as successful. Sophisticated. Worldly. In the know.

We want others to say, “Wow, how did you get access to that?”

And this desire, while understandable, often leads us down a dangerous path.

If you are truly serious about building wealth, you need to stop chasing exclusivity and start chasing clarity.

Clarity about what your money is meant to do.

Clarity about what enough means to you.

Clarity about the price you are willing to pay for peace of mind.

You need to let go of the need to constantly upgrade your portfolio to reflect your status. Because real wealth is not loud. It is not complex. It does not need validation.

Real wealth is quiet.

It shows up in aligned portfolios. In thoughtful planning. In disciplined investing. In saying no to things that don’t serve your purpose.

It shows up in sleep. In freedom. In the ability to make choices from a place of strength.

And it starts with a simple belief.

That you do not need to be special in your investments. You need to be consistent. You need to be clear. You need to be honest.

This is the hardest thing to do in a world that rewards noise, novelty, and appearances. But this is the only thing that works in the long run.

As an investor, your job is not to outsmart the world. It is to outlast it.

Your job is to keep your head clear while others chase the next shiny object. Your job is to stay the course while others lose their way in the fog of exclusivity.

Because ultimately, the greatest wealth is not in finding something no one else has.

It is in understanding something very few truly do.

And that something is this.

You do not need to feel special to build wealth.

You need to feel clear.

You need to feel grounded.

You need to feel enough.

And the sooner you realize this, the sooner you’ll stop falling for the trap of exclusivity.

And the sooner your wealth will begin to truly grow.