Over the years, Tiger 21, a New York-based peer education group of self-made multimillionaires, has held sporadic conference calls for members to discuss investment topics. But as the global financial crisis worsened last summer, and many scrambled to understand the unfolding disaster, the organisation began to schedule calls on alternate Friday afternoons, immediately after the market close. The subjects have ranged from hedge funds and private equity to gold, public equities and cash alternatives.

"Many members who had unblemished track records as entrepreneurs really had not fully appreciated the risks in their portfolios," says Michael Sonnenfeldt, founder of Tiger 21, a group whose 170 members manage personal investment portfolios from $10m to $700m. "One of the biggest surprises was how complex the world of finance is. [The crisis] has exacted not just a financial toll but often an emotional toll and a family toll."