Asset management is a specialty within commercial finance concerned with the expert oversight and management of everything from investment portfolios to real assets like real estate. Asset managers work with individual clients who are wealthy and well-versed in investment practices. Asset managers serve business clients as part of a team that manages a diverse and active portfolio.
Asset management is a specialized business service intent on helping clients build and maintain wealth. Asset managers work as individuals, in firms, and in association with other financial professionals including brokers, strategists, and advisors to maximize an investor’s wealth creation opportunities. Financial operations that offer banking, investment, credit, and advising will staff an asset management department to care for the wealthiest or most complex portfolios. Large international firms provide the stability of diversification and the opportunity for unique specialty investing.
Asset managers are financial professionals whose experience in estate planning, investment, and financial products enables them to deftly steer clients toward sound financial decisions.
Private asset management is the engagement of a manager to oversee a financial portfolio. The portfolio may belong to an individual or family investor and will probably contain diverse assets that include everything from securities to property.
Private asset management companies represent wealthy private investors, handling all transactions on active portfolios including daily and hourly exchanges and trades. Private asset management firms also navigate taxation, wealth creation, and wealth preservation activities for clients.
Careers in asset management is often segmented by the financial products that asset managers control and the transactions they are empowered to perform. Fund asset managers, including hedge fund managers and mutual fund managers, work for investment firms and are involved in managing pooled investments for tens and even hundreds of thousands of individual investors.
Private asset managers maintain the portfolios of individual investors and are usually employed by large firms who manage a segment of retail and business investors.
Asset managers may specialize in:
- Hedge Fund Management
- Mutual Fund Management
- Retail Asset Management
- Pension and Retirement Management
- Institutional Asset Management
Where the Asset Management Industry is Heading
The asset management industry changed significantly with the financial crisis of 2008. Federal regulations have enacted processes for disclosure, certification, and recognition of products, as well as registration of those who sell them. New regulations intended to protect investors from poorly constructed investment products and the wealth of talent on the market after several large global firms failed, have given rise to new boutique management firms. Aided by online access to exchanges and a global network of investors desiring disclosure and trustworthy relationships, the industry now is growing toward personal service and portfolio diversification.
Professional asset managers who specialize in a particular product such as global start-up investing or human rights protection investments may become independent consultants to asset management firms or take on a specific client list with shared interests. Asset management firms may be so diverse as to not have individual managers working only with specific products, or the firm may be organized around a particular investment strategy or influence.
Mutual fund managers are usually paid a fee for making decisions for the fund. The fee can range up to 10% of the fund’s earnings. So depending upon the assets the asset manager is maintaining, the earnings may be a salary from the employing firm with a bonus for positive investment performance.
The Robert Half Salary Guide reports that asset managers earn on average of between $80,000 annually with the high end of $150,000 occupied by risk analysts.