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I think that all of us can agree that the wealthy, those with a net worth of $10 million or more, have a certain edge in their investments. After all, only the wealthy can play in the high-stakes game of hedge funds and other "private" offerings with minimum investments in the millions of dollars. However, there are times that all of us can learn valuable lessons on investing by paying attention to the habits of wealthy investors.

A recent study by Cerulli Associates is a good example. It found that many wealthy investors are now seeking the advice of multiple financial advisors. This week, I'll highlight the reasons that wealthy investors are using multiple advisors as well as the advantages of doing so. More importantly, however, I'm going to show how you can get the same benefit of multiple advisors for your own portfolio, even if you aren't a multi-millionaire.

Since the bear market low in early March 2009, US stocks have come roaring back, the last few days not withstanding. In fact, the Dow Jones and the S&P 500 are within striking distance of their all-time highs. It is not surprising, then, that advocates for passive buy-and-hold strategies are once again singing their praises: See we told you, the market always comes back!

What they fail to mention, however, is that hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of investors bailed out of the stock markets in late 2008 and early 2009 and never got back in. The S&P 500 Index plunged almost 51% from its October 2007 high to the low in early March 2009. Not many investors had the stomach for that kind of collapse. Yet the buy-and-hold crowd would now have you believe that everyone held onto their stocks and mutual funds during that period. Not so!

Today, we will take a fresh, objective look at buy-and-hold versus the actively-managed programs we recommend at Halbert Wealth Management that aim to make at least market rates of return during up cycles, and hold downside losses to a minimum. I will give you the pros and cons of both strategies and show you how you can get these professionally-managed programs in your portfolio (if you don't have them already).