Hi! Managers: An intimate profile of the Accumulator

High-profile Accumulators include the now infamous Warren Buffett, Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen and here in Asia, Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-shing. Accumulators are normally hard to spot because they shun the limelight. We only know of the ones above because they have become so successful at what they do.

As the name suggests, Accumulators like to buy and hold - in this case, appreciating assets. Natural hoarders as they grow up, they collect revenue-generating stocks (or properties or licenses) later in life, and this natural tendency becomes incredibly profitable.

One of the reasons they are so hard to spot is most Accumulators are not inclined to "waste money" on fashion or social standing. Buffett famously lives in the same Omaha, Nebraska house in which he has always lived, while Li wears a US$10 (Bt341) Casio watch.

Although on the face of it the Accumulators' "buy and hold" strategy makes sense, it takes someone with a very particular type of temperament to execute it well. Try and get a Creator or a Star to research "dull", stocks and you will have a very unhappy individual.

Steady and dependable Accumulators make great project managers because of their attention to detail and their respect for deadlines.

Often overlooked because of their desire to avoid conflict, Accumulators, like other profiles, really come into their own when they have the right team around them, allowing them to remain in the flow for as long as possible.

Where Accumulators struggle is learning the balance between taking action and "paralysis by analysis", because they constantly strive for more data.

The big secret that successful Accumulators have learned is they don't need to use their own assets. Warren Buffet's wealth came not through multiplying his own money, but by multiplying that of others.

In a team, an Accumulator can be critical, especially if you want to raise funding from banks.

Accumulators will focus specifically on the "when" and the "how" questions: "When am I going to get my money back and how are you going to achieve it?" - two very important questions from an investor's standpoint.

However, bear in mind having an Accumulator focused on these questions may not always be useful when you're brainstorming.

The next profile we will feature is the Lord - the most consistently wealthy profile throughout the ages.

Callum Laing is founder and owner of several businesses. Wealth Dynamics and Wealth Profiling are trademarks of the XL Results Foundation, for which he trains and hosts meetings for entrepreneurs in Bangkok.