Wealth Management

Wealth management firms provide financial expertise on complex financial issues for wealthy clients typically in the top one to three percent of U.S. household income. Wealth managers manage clients’ investment portfolios and provide detailed financial advice on multiple issues and opportunities.

Wealth management firms offer a broad range of financial services to wealthy clients. These involve managing personal finance issues, growing wealth for their clients and providing a means to transfer wealth to their heirs.

Wealth management is best suited for households that are already wealthy and have diverse financial planning and management needs.

Wealth management is tailored to affluent individuals in the upper 97 percentile of household incomes – about $350,000 per year or more. Some wealth management firms may require a minimum investment of $250,000 to $10 million.

Typically, people with large amounts of wealth need more services to manage their assets than those with less wealth. Wealth management firms can provide specialized services to meet those needs.

Wealth managers are specialized financial professionals who manage all aspects of their clients’ needs for a single fee. These individuals or wealth management firms take a percentage of the assets they manage.

Fees typically begin at about one percent of the managed assets, but vary across different firms or even within accounts in a single firm.

Wealth management firms tend to use one of two approaches that work best for their clients: collaborative and single office.

Finding the best wealth manager for your needs depends on which approach you believe is best for you. But it also requires careful consideration of a firm’s record and qualifications.

You can shop around with small firms or individual wealth managers who can work with your other financial advisors.

Or if you prefer having all your wealth and financial planning done through one firm, you should look to large institutions.

Understand that a private wealth manager may offer more personalized service while wealth management through a large financial institution may be able to leverage more opportunities by pooling resources from a large number of wealthy clients.

If you do not have a high net worth, you probably would not benefit from the services of a wealth manager. A more affordable choice would be a financial or investment advisor.

While wealth management is largely focused on building and maintaining the wealth of affluent clients, financial advisors can help people of more modest means with a wide range of financial services.

Financial advisors can provide financial planning, retirement planning, investment management and tax advice. They tend to specialize in a narrow range of products and services.

While some wealth managers accept clients that aren’t super rich, you should carefully consider whether you would benefit from wealth management services. Weigh the costs and benefits and consider your alternatives.

You should also not confuse wealth management with asset management. Though these may appear similar, wealth management has a much broader range of services. More people, even small businesses, may find an asset management plan affordable and worthwhile.

Asset management deals with buying, selling and managing your assets. There are firms that specialize in this but you may have done this by buying a house, enrolling in a retirement plan at work or talking with a financial advisor about retirement planning.

Wealth management is largely the domain of millionaires and billionaires who are building on their wealth, protecting it and planning to include it in their legacy planning.