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Best Investment Management Firms – How to Find Them

For high and ultra-high-net-worth individuals, growing their wealth in a sustainable yet safe manner involves a lot of different aspects. They have to think about their goals, retirement plans, estate plans, etc. and determine how to achieve all of them through investment management. They have to think about their life expectancy as well as their desired life after retirement and figure out how to sustain wealth till then. Similarly, they have to figure out the right strategies to reap high returns while also managing the risks and costs. This is near impossible to do on your own, and that’s why you need the best investment management firms. They have highly skilled and experienced financial advisors who can help you achieve all your goals through smart investment strategies. Investors with $10 million or more in liquid assets can learn how to find such advisors from our brilliant guide on the best financial advisors.

7 Secrets minified
STRATEGIES FOR FAMILIES WORTH $5 MILLION TO $500 MILLION

7 Secrets To High Net Worth Investment Management, Estate, Tax and Financial Planning


The insights you’ll discover from our published book will help you integrate a variety of wealth management tools with financial planning, providing guidance for your future security alongside complex financial strategies, so your human and financial capital will both flourish.

Clients frequently share with us how the knowledge gained from this book helped provide them tremendous clarity, shattering industry-pitched ideologies, while offering insight and direction in making such important financial decisions.

As a high-net-worth individual, you can also save your time and approach Pillar Wealth Management directly. We are a private and 100% fee-only wealth management firm. Our team of financial advisors and wealth managers have been offering numerous wealth management services for more than three decades. We deal exclusively with ultra-high and high-net-worth individuals and families with $5 million to $500 million in liquid assets. Our extensive experience and exclusive clientele equip us with the relevant knowledge to help wealthy clients effectively. Be it investment management or tax management, our financial advisors can assist you with everything. So, set up a free chat with Pillar Wealth Management today.

In today’s blog, we’ll be talking about investment management firms. What is investment management, when should you use such a service, how much you will have to pay them, and most importantly, how to find the best investment management services. Let’s get started.

Table of Contents
What is Investment Management?
When Should You Use an Investment Management Firm?
How Much Should I Expect to Pay an Investment Management Firm?
How to Find the Best Investment Management Firms?
Final Thoughts

What is Investment Management?

In a nutshell, investment management basically involves managing all the assets, portfolios, and any other investments of a high or ultra-high-net-worth individual or family. However, this is a gross oversimplification.

In reality, investment management is a complex process that requires a lot of time and effort to develop the right investment strategies, execute those strategies, and then constantly monitor them. Moreover, investment management always looks different for everyone because everyone has different goals.

Someone who is trying to save for retirement will have an entirely different investment strategy than someone who is investing to buy a second house. Your investment strategy can be based on short as well as long-term goals in your life.

Furthermore, investment management on its own is not enough. You have to pair it with tax management, risk management, and other services to make your investment strategy efficient and protect your assets while also growing them. Schedule a free chat with our financial advisors to learn more about what investment management encompasses.

Best Investment Management Firms

When Should You Use an Investment Management Firm?

One of the most crucial factors that contribute to the success of your investment management and strategy is starting your investment management at the right time.

A person who begins investing in their 20s will be able to achieve their goals much quickly and efficiently than someone who begins investing in their 40s or 50s. So, then the best time to start using the best investment management firms is as soon as possible. The earlier you start investing your wealth, the more time you have to grow your wealth, and as a result, you can accumulate more assets.

However, this might not sound feasible for everyone. If your current net worth is around $10,000 or $50,000, you might feel more confident in managing your investments on your own without incurring the additional costs of hiring an investment management firm.

However, as your wealth grows or as your goals and priorities change, you will need further assistance with your investment management. That’s why for high-net-worth individuals and families with $5 million to $500 million in liquid assets, it’s critical to hire an investment management firm right away. Read our book, The Art of Protecting Ultra-High-Net-Worth Portfolios and Estates – Strategies for Families Worth $25 million to $500 million, to learn about other strategies to protect and grow your wealth.

How Much Should I Expect to Pay an Investment Management Firm?

Of course, another important consideration is how much an investment management firm is going to cost you. Even if an investment management firm is offering excellent services, they need to have adequate charges to make them worthwhile.

How much you should expect to pay an investment management firm depends on a few factors that we’ve mentioned below. But, it’s crucial to remember that while an investment management firm will cost you $10,000 or $50,000 in management fees every year, their smart strategies and portfolio management will help you earn millions of dollars every year as well.

Compensation Model

There are different types of investment management firms or even other financial institutions that offer investment management services. All of these can have a different compensation model. For instance, certain brokerage houses work on commission.

Every time you buy or sell certain products or assets, they earn commission over it. Therefore, how much you pay them will be directly dependent on your investment activities. But, remember, there can always be a conflict of interest with these types of organizations. They can steer you towards products that earn them better commissions rather than those which are in your best interests.

Other than that, if you opt to go for a wealth management firm that offers investment management services, they might operate on a fee-only basis. They will charge a fixed percentage on the total assets under management. This percentage is usually around 1 to 2%, so if you have $1 million, you can expect to pay around $10,000.

Net Worth

How much you end up paying for investment management services also depends on your net worth. Some organizations tend to lower their charges as your net worth increases. For instance, at Pillar Wealth Management, we strictly deal with clients who have at least $5 million in liquid assets.

Moreover, we charge these clients 1% of their net worth. But, as their net worth grows or for clients with a net worth of at least $10 million, we lower our rates to less than 1% of the total assets under management.Connect with our wealth managers to learn more about our fee structure.

Active and Passive Management

As we keep mentioning, investment management is not easy. It requires a lot of research, developing smart strategies based on numerous factors and constantly monitoring it as well. Similarly, you have to find that ideal balance between your returns and costs as well.

If you lean more towards active management, you will be able to benefit from high returns in the short run. But you will also have to bear high risks and costs as you will essentially be timing the market and going for hot buys and the latest trends. This will drive up your management costs.

On the other hand, with passive management, you can benefit from greater returns in the long run and low costs and risks as you will be relying on the market index. Finding the balance between active and passive management is just one of the changes you need to make in your strategy. Read our eye-opening guide on portfolio growth strategies to learn about the other shifts you need to make.

Other Costs You Need to Worry About

Besides all these, don’t think that the management fee to the investment management firm will be the only cost or expense you will have to bear. There will be loads of other expenses to bear as well. For instance, there will be transaction charges, broker charges, short and long-term capital gain taxes, internal expenses and a lot more.

Ideally, the investment management firm should take into account all these additional costs and come up with a suitable strategy to manage them as well so that you have an efficient investment strategy.

If your financial advisor isn’t managing these costs, or worse, doesn’t even know about them, it’s a big sign that they are taking you towards an uncertain retirement. Check out our fantastic guide on the best financial advisors for affluent individuals to learn about other such signs.

How to Find the Best Investment Management Firms?

Now, you might be wondering, how do I find an investment management firm? Well, that is easy. You can simply search for investment management firms on any search engine, and you will find loads of results.

However, as a high or even ultra-high-net-worth individual, you can’t trust just any investment management firm with your $5 million to $500 million in liquid assets. As an affluent individual, you need the best investment management firmsto help you grow and sustain your wealth.

Finding such investment management firms is hard. What you need to do is evaluate the potential firms on the factors mentioned below and keep shortlisting till you find the right firm for yourself. For a more detailed version, you can also check out our guide on finding the right advisor for investors worth $10 million or more.

Services: The investment management firm should provide a range of services along with investment management, such as tax management, risk management, etc. so that you can grow your wealth while also controlling costs and risks.

Asset Allocation and Portfolio Diversification: The firm should employ smart asset allocation as well as portfolio diversification strategies as any of these alone are not enough to deal with the risks associated with investing in unpredictable markets.

Customized Investment Plans: Investment plans have to be aligned with your personal goals and aspirations. Otherwise, they are not effective and can only take you further away from your goals.Read our comprehensive guide on portfolio performance to find out how big of a role your goals play in your investment strategy and financial success.

Constant Monitoring and Adjustments: The investment management firm should also keep monitoring your investments and adjusting them according to changes in the market or changes in your personal priorities.

Experience: The investment management firm should hold plenty of experience in not just offering investment management services but also in working with high-net-worth individuals like yourself.

Final Thoughts

Working with the best investment management firms is crucial for high or ultra-high-net-worth individuals and families. Even if they have $500 million or greater in liquid assets, they can quickly lose all their wealth due to inflation, market volatility, medical surprises or even just an inaccurate life expectancy. That’s why if they want to sustain that wealth throughout their lifetime, and perhaps during their children’s life as well, they need to employ the right investment strategies to grow their wealth.

Pillar Wealth Management has been offering investment management, tax management, risk management and other wealth management services for more than six decades altogether. This extensive experience has equipped our financial advisors and wealth managers with a lot of knowledge on how to develop smart investment strategies catering to each client’s individual needs. We use more than 100 years of market data to test our portfolios in a number of situations and help our affluent clients prepare for any unforeseen circumstances. Our fiduciary advisors are always looking out for your best interests so if you need expert and trustworthy investment management services, plan a no-obligation meeting with Pillar Wealth Management today.

Authors

To be 100% transparent, we published this page to help filter through the mass influx of prospects, who come to us through our website and referrals, to gain only a handful of the right types of new clients who wish to engage us.

We enjoy working with high net worth and ultra-high net worth investors and families who want what we call financial serenity – the feeling that comes when you know your finances and the lifestyle you desire have been secured for life, and that you don’t have to do any of the work to manage and maintain it because you hired a trusted advisor to take care of everything.

You see, our goal is to only accept 17 new clients this year. Clients who have from $5 million to $500 million in liquid investable assets to entrust us with on a 100% fee basis. No commissions and no products for sale.

More from authors.

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