Top Wealth Managers – Are They Really Worth It?

Pillar Wealth Management is a 100% fee-only wealth management firm offering a broad range of financial and advisory services for high net worth individuals with $5 million to $500 million in liquid assets. Our services include investment management, risk management, retirement planning, estate planning, tax planning, accounting, and a lot more for holistic and comprehensive wealth management. Our wealth managers and advisors work closely with all our affluent clients to truly understand their needs and devise customized financial plans and solutions accordingly. Start a conversation with one of our advisors to talk about your own customized financial plan.

In this blog, we’ll be discussing whether a wealth manager is really worth it, what we mean by high net worth, the difference between wealth management and asset management, and how to find the best asset manager. Let’s get started.

Table of Contents
Who is Considered High Net Worth? What is the Difference Between Wealth and Asset Management? How to Find the Best High Net Worth Asset Manager Choosing Top Wealth Managers

Is a Wealth Manager Worth It?

If you’ve one of the top wealth managersworking with you, a wealth manager is totally worth it. You know how you take your car to the mechanic when it breaks down and totally leave it up to him to fix and repair it and make it brand new again? That’s the kind of serenity and assurance top wealth managers can give you when it comes to growing your wealth in a sustainable manner and protecting your assets. You can find out more about growing your wealthby reading our handy guide on maximizing portfolio growth strategies for families worth $5 million and $500 million.

Here are a few of the reasons why a wealth manager is definitely worth it for high net worth and ultra-high net worth individuals.

Comprehensive Financial Planning

Any financial decision you make is not going to help you get any closer to your financial goals if it’s not backed by a solid financial plan. Only a comprehensive financial plan can give you direction and focus to work towards your goals and targets. However, this is easier said than done. Most of the time, high net worth individuals don’t know what they want themselves. They might want a comfortable lifestyle after retirement, or they might want to travel or start a charity.

So, how does one achieve a comfortable lifestyle? How much income constitutes a comfortable lifestyle? Most importantly, what strategies does one adopt right now to ensure a comfortable lifestyle later on? All these questions can only be answered by a wealth manager who will then develop a comprehensive financial plan accordingly and help you achieve your goals in life. It’s important to tie your financial plan to your long-term qualitative goals rather than short-term performance numbers. This is a sign of a good wealth manager or advisor. For more signs, check out our complete guide on choosing a financial advisor for investors worth $10 million or more.

Range of Financial Services

Compared to other types of financial advisors or other financial institutions, top wealth managers and wealth management companies offer a complete range of financial and advisory services, all under one roof.

This not only saves you money from consulting different firms for different services but also makes all your financial decisions and wealth management much more efficient. Since your wealth manager is overseeing all aspects of your wealth and assets, from your retirement to estate to investments, he is able to makebetter decisions that align with all your financial goals.

At Pillar Wealth Management, we offer various financial and advisory services,including investment management, tax optimization and business planning. You can learn about the full range of our services by chatting with our managers today.

Customized Financial Plan

As mentioned earlier, financial plans and then subsequent financial decisions and strategies need to be tied to some goals for them to be actually successful. However, the key point here is that they should be tied to your goals and needs and not those of the bank or broker or other shareholders. Along with a comprehensive financial plan, you need that plan to be customized according to your specific needs.

A wealth manager can help in this regard as they spend a lot of time with high net worth individuals to understand their specific needs and create strategies accordingly. You can learn more about such insights by ordering a free copy of our book, The Art of Protecting Ultra-High Net Worth Portfolios and Estates – Strategies for Families Worth $25 million to $500 million.

Fiduciary Services

Wealth managers also provide you fiduciary services. When you’re looking for financial guidance, you will find two types of advisors. There are those who hold themselves to the fiduciary standard and those who hold themselves to the suitability standard.

The suitability standard means those advisors are obligated to recommend products or advise you on something that is suitable for you. It won’t be bad but won’t necessarily be the best for you either. This usually happens with brokers as they push you securities that are suitable and, more importantly, earn them more commission.

In comparison, wealth managers hold themselves to the fiduciary standard. This means they are always acting in your best interests. Any recommendation they make, they will disclose everything about it, the benefits as well the drawbacks so that you can make the best decision. Click here to read our ultimate guide on choosing the best financial advisor to find out what else makes a wealth manager worth it.

Expertise

Unlike other types of advisors who might only specialize in a certain area or financial service, wealth managers have expertise in handling various aspects of your wealth and assets at once. They know how to handle your retirement plan along with your estate plan while optimizing your tax liabilities as well.

They are experts at managing a large and diverse set of assets. Moreover, besides the services, top wealth managers are also experts at dealing with high net worth individuals specifically. High net worth individuals are not the same as individuals with $50,000 or $100,000 in their bank account. They require much more complex and targeted financial solutions that only expert wealth managers can provide.

Constant Monitoring and Adjustment

Wealth managers also come in really handy and prove their worth when you are going through major events in your life. It could be marriage or a divorce, or selling your business or a recession in the economy. Whatever it is, wealth managers can help you navigate the situation with the least amount of losses or risks by making necessary adjustments in your financial plan and portfolio strategies. This is one aspect of portfolio performance. Learn more about it from our comprehensive guide on improving portfolio performance.

At Pillar Wealth Management, we use over 100 years of market performance data and our own extensive research insights to devise the perfect investment strategies for you. Click here to consult our managers about the right investment strategy for you.

Who is Considered High Net Worth?

Generally, in the world of top wealth managers and wealth management firms, high net worth individuals are those who have at least $1 million or more as their net worth. These individuals not only have more wealth but also face higher risk with that wealth. Therefore, they require complex and advanced financial services to handle all that wealth.

What is the Difference Between Wealth and Asset Management?

For those high net worth individuals who are primarily concerned with growing and managing their assets and investment portfolios specifically, it might seem as if the better option is to go for asset management rather than wealth management. But what is the difference between the two?

Essentially, asset management is mainly focused on managing individuals’ assets, either all of them or one certain type of asset, such as real estate. It involves growing those assets according to certain targets, minimizing risks associated with them, and monitoring their growth over time. On the other hand, wealth management is much more holistic and comprehensive. It covers various aspects of high net worth individuals’ wealth and assets. Wealth management covers asset management as well as other financial services.

How to Find the Best High Net Worth Asset Manager

At this point, you might find yourself wondering, how do I find the best high net worth asset manager? To find the best asset manager or top wealth managers for yourself, here are a few factors you can consider.

Credentials

Check the manager’s credentials and certifications. This will help ensure that they have the right certifications and knowledge to help manage your assets as well as guide you towards the right asset management decisions. You should also do a thorough background check to ensure if they have the right skill set to help you with your financial and wealth management needs or not.

Experience and Track Record

Experience and track record are also quite important and can tell a lot about an asset manager’s abilities. When it comes to experience, you should not just consider their overall experience in the industry or with services related to asset management. Instead, you should see how much experience they have with asset management directly, how many clients they’ve had and how many of those clients have actually stuck with them.

Clientele

Moreover, following up on experience, you should also see what kind of experience they have with, specifically what kind of clientele. As mentioned earlier, high net worth as well as ultra-high net worth individuals require different complexity of services than other kinds of rich clients. Therefore, you need to see whether they are experienced in dealing with high net worth clients specifically.

Reviews and Recommendations

You can also tell how good an asset manager is by the kind of reviews and testimonials they have. If you have any close friends or acquaintances who have availed their services, you can ask them to tell you about their services and skills and use that to decide whether they are the right manager for you.

Personalized Services

Personalized services are also super important. The best asset manager for you will be one that actually sits with you and understands your unique financial situation and needs and then recommends personalized financial solutions accordingly. Otherwise, any decision you make won’t really help you achieve your personal financial goals and targets.

Compensation

While most asset managers do charge a flat fee, you should still check exactly which compensation model they follow. Sometimes, with commission-based payment models, there can be a conflict of interest, which is not good for you. Therefore, the safest option is to stick with asset managers that charge a fee.

Choosing Top Wealth Managers

As difficult as it is, it is crucial to choose the best wealth managers and advisors for yourself. Only then can you have that assurance that you will meet all your short and long-term financial targets and maintain financial security even after retirement.

Pillar Wealth Management is a 100% fee-only, white-glove wealth management firm. We have an entire team of wealth managers who are wholly dedicated to serving our affluent clients and helping them achieve all their financial goals and other targets in life. Our managers have experience of more than thirty years of providing various financial and advisory services to our high net worth clients. Start your wealth management by booking a consultation with us today.

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