Glossary
Short, cited definitions of the wealth bands and prospecting terms advisors, private bankers and family offices use. Every threshold links to its source.
At a glance. HNW: about $1M+ net worth. VHNW: $5M to $30M. UHNW: $30M+. These are the common cutoffs used by Knight Frank and Altrata; publishers differ, so check each source’s definition.
High net worth: A person with a net worth of about US$1 million or more.
This is the common threshold. Knight Frank defines an HNWI as someone with a net worth of US$1 million or more, and Altrata describes HNW individuals as those with wealth above $1m. Always check which measure a report uses before comparing numbers.
Source: Knight Frank, The Wealth Report 2026 (definitions); Altrata, World Ultra Wealth Report 2025
Very high net worth: A person with a net worth of US$5 million to US$30 million.
Altrata uses $5m to $30m in its World Ultra Wealth Report 2026, and "$5m to just below $30m" in High Net Worth Philanthropy 2026. Not every publisher uses a VHNW tier.
Source: Altrata, World Ultra Wealth Report 2026; Altrata, High Net Worth Philanthropy 2026
Ultra high net worth: A person with a net worth of US$30 million or more.
Altrata (World Ultra Wealth Report 2026) and Knight Frank (The Wealth Report) both use $30 million or more.
Source: Altrata, World Ultra Wealth Report 2026; Knight Frank, The Wealth Report 2026 (definitions)
HeyAlbert wealth bands: HeyAlbert places each person in an estimated band, such as $25M+ (likely or probable) or affluent ($5–15M), based on public filings and records.
Bands are HeyAlbert estimates, not reported net worth, and they do not line up exactly with the HNW, VHNW and UHNW cutoffs above. See coverage and methodology and the data dictionary.
Source: HeyAlbert.
Family office: A company that manages the investments and affairs of one wealthy family (a single-family office, SFO) or of several families (a multi-family office, MFO).
Under the SEC rule, a family office that has no clients other than family clients, is wholly owned by family clients and does not hold itself out to the public as an investment adviser is not treated as an investment adviser. That definition describes a single-family office. A multi-family office serves more than one family, so it falls outside that exclusion.
Source: SEC family office rule, 17 CFR 275.202(a)(11)(G)-1 (eCFR, current)
Liquidity event: A moment when a holding that was hard to sell, such as private company shares or a business, turns into cash or freely traded stock.
Common examples are a company sale, an IPO, a secondary share sale, or the end of an IPO lock-up. For advisors it is often the best time to reach a new client. See our research on founders’ largest IPOs and exits.
Source: HeyAlbert.
Wealth event: A public signal that a person’s wealth or situation just changed, such as an IPO filing, an insider stock sale, a company acquisition, a property sale or a new board seat.
Advisors use wealth events to decide whom to contact and when. HeyAlbert surfaces them as “why now” alerts, each linked to its public source.
Source: HeyAlbert.
SEC Form 4: The SEC filing a company insider (an officer, a director or a holder of more than 10% of a class of its shares) makes when they buy or sell the company’s securities.
Form 4 must be filed within two business days of the transaction and shows the amount bought or sold and the price per share. Form 3 is the first disclosure when someone becomes an insider. Form 4 filings are public, which makes insider sales one of the most visible wealth events.
Source: SEC, Insider Transactions and Forms 3, 4, and 5; Investor.gov (SEC), Forms 3, 4 and 5
Propensity to give: A WealthEngine score that ranks how likely a person is to give to charity in general, relative to others.
WealthEngine describes P2G as a proprietary score; lower scores mean a stronger relative propensity to give. It is a model output, not a record of actual gifts.
Source: WealthEngine, Understanding WealthEngine Scores and Ratings
Wealth screening: Running a list of names against wealth and giving data to estimate who has the capacity to give or invest.
Wealth screening focuses on capacity. It is usually the first, automated pass before deeper prospect research.
Source: DonorSearch, Wealth Screening
Prospect research: A deeper look at a person that goes beyond capacity to their interests, connections and likelihood to give or engage.
As DonorSearch puts it, wealth screening focuses on giving capacity, while prospect research also assesses willingness and likelihood. A HeyAlbert profile is prospect research with a public source for every fact.
Source: DonorSearch, Wealth Screening
Donor-advised fund: A separate fund or account, held by a 501(c)(3) sponsoring organization, that donors contribute to and then advise on grants and investments.
Once a donor contributes, the sponsoring organization has legal control of the money. The donor keeps advisory privileges over how it is granted and invested.
Source: IRS, Donor-advised funds
Private foundation: A tax-exempt charity that files Form 990-PF with the IRS each year, reporting its investment income and charitable distributions.
For advisors, a family’s foundation filings are one of the clearest public views of its giving. See our research on Indian-American private foundations and donor-advised funds.
Source: IRS, About Form 990-PF
HeyAlbert profiles cite a public source for every fact, and wealth events arrive as “why now” alerts.
