TIGER 21, a premier membership organization for ultra-high-net-worth wealth creators and preservers, has grown to close to 2,000 members worldwide since its founding in New York in 1999.
The founder and chairman, real estate entrepreneur Michael Sonnenfeldt, started the organization after selling his interest in his property firm, Emmes & Company. He has said he realized that the skills that build a fortune are not the same as those needed to preserve one. In 1999, he gathered six entrepreneurs in New York who had all recently sold their businesses and faced the same challenge, forming the first group. The name TIGER 21 stands for The Investment Group for Enhanced Results in the 21st Century. Today, its members include entrepreneurs, investors, family office principals, and business owners.
TIGER 21 publishes a quarterly Asset Allocation Report, which captures the aggregate asset allocation exposures across members’ portfolios and gives a running view of how members spread their wealth across asset classes.
But the network’s focus reaches well beyond investing. Members come together in small groups of 12 to 15 that meet monthly and act as a personal board of advisors, working through the questions that follow a major liquidity event alongside peers who have faced the same ones. According to TIGER 21, they discuss family governance and succession, philanthropy and legacy, leadership, and health and longevity.
The community has grown far past its New York roots. Members’ collective assets passed $200 billion in 2025, across more than 50 markets in nine countries. Recent expansions include Lisbon, Milan, Dubai, Singapore, and India.
