Tag Archives: Asset Management Group

How Wealth Managers Make the Most of Your Personal Wealth

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Any individual with private wealth must set a priority for proper asset management. The product of hard work and diligent saving, private wealth refers to an individual’s accumulation of assets, investments, and money.  The key to meeting your financial objectives for the future is developing an effective management strategy for your private wealth. A Certified Financial Planner (CFP) can help you design the ideal portfolio of asset management and investment strategies for your personal wealth.

In order to properly manage your private wealth, a diversified set of financial instruments and accounts must be created, closely monitored, and adapted over time. Working with a financial advisor will allow you to make the most of your personal wealth. That’s why it is so important to find a financial advisor that will devote some time to learn about your specific situation.

For one, a wealth manager in Glenview will help you to find the right balance between risk and reward based upon your financial situation and personal preferences. A wealth manager, often a Certified Financial Planner, can also help you get through the multitude of investment options that are relevant to your financial goals. Taking advantage of every option at your disposal is a difficult and time-consuming challenge, even for the most informed private investor. Besides having the right asset allocation and wealth management strategy, the knowledge and experience of a financial planner will allow your portfolio to maintain its desired objectives and provide access to new investment opportunities.

Proper private wealth management calls for a highly diversified and personalized approach. Asset management requires much more than finding the right blend of stocks, bonds, mutual funds, and other financial instruments. Over time, as different sectors of your investments grow at different rates your portfolio will need to be rebalanced to continue meeting your stated financial risk tolerance. A private wealth manager will provide regular monitoring and informed investing.

From estate plans to setting up college savings plans (529 plan), investing in securities to rolling over into retirement accounts (IRAs), a Certified Financial Planner will help you find the right approach for managing your private wealth. Even the most knowledgeable individual investor will benefit from the experience, advice, and expertise of a certified financial planner. However, it is important to acknowledge that not all personal wealth managers take the same approach nor provide the same level of service. Before selecting an asset manager, make sure that they are the right fit for you. For more information about wealth management, visit here.

Certified Financial Planner

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In 1985, the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards (CFP Board) was set up in order to authorize, oversee, and enforce standards for industry experts in the financial planning sector. Before that, anyone with a business card could assume the title of Financial Planner without being qualified or being officially authorized. Since the time of its creation, the CFP Board has provided regulation and oversight to the world of financial planning by establishing a precise criteria of prerequisites, standards, and testing.

The CFP Board’s main objectives are to make sure that the strictest possible financial planning credentialing is provided, to develop educational standards pertaining to testing and improving the knowledge of Certified Financial Planners in Chicago, to rigorously enforce and regulate the behavior and professional conduct of CFPs, and to expand public access to skilled and ethical financial planning.

Recognized as the standard of excellence in personal financial planning, individuals seeking certification by the CFP Board are required to fulfill prerequisites in education and professional experience, pass a long and difficult exam covering many different financial management topics, and agree to abide by specific ethical guidelines. Applicants are required to have a minimum of 6,000 hours of finance planning experience and have earned a bachelors degree (or higher) in a related discipline. To further safeguard the ethics, an extensive personal, ethical, and criminal history background check is done on everyone who applies .

Along with the aforementioned criteria, a Certified Financial Planner must fulfill and uphold certain qualifications called the Standards of Professional Conduct. Thus, a CFP is required to follow a stringent Code of Ethics and Professional Responsibility, conform to specific rules of conduct, meet candidate fitness standards, and comply with all Financial Planner Practice Standards. If any of these standards are violated, suspension and permanent revocation of certification will be enforced by the CFP Board. Details about the disciplinary record of every Certified Financial Planner is available on the internet for the public.

After meeting the necessary prerequisites, qualified candidates must pass an extremely rigorous examination before acquiring their CFP license. Covering in excess of 100 original aspects of integrated financial planning, the comprehensive ten-hour test for certification means the applicants must have an extremely thorough understanding of the material covered, and be prepared for extensive study. The CFP exam incorporates material from across the overall spectrum of financial planning, from high level investment strategies to retirement planning, estate tax to insurance planning, and several other relevant topics.

In an effort to keep certification, all Certified Financial Planners must renew their license every two years and fulfill biannual requirements of continuing education. Before issuing a license renewal, the CFP Board reevaluates Certified Financial Planners to ensure compliance with the Standards of Professional Conduct.  To learn more about Certified Financial Planners, go here.

How Wealth Management Helps You Meet Your Financial Goals

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The combination of financial planning, investment management, and other financial services offered by a certified financial planner to investors is usually referred to as Wealth Management. The term “Wealth Management” incorporates a great number of different financial planning strategies meant to provide customized and personalized asset management.

For investors with accumulated wealth, wealth management strategies are widely used to create a highly specified investment portfolio to fulfill that individual’s financial goals. In general, wealth management strategies are carried out to enhance the income, growth, and tax-favored status of long-term investors.

In essence, wealth management in Arlington Heights is a blanket term used to define the coordination of several financial instruments used to meet a given investor’s needs. The methods used in a given portfolio will vary depending on the investor and his/her particular situation.

After discussing your financial needs and personal risk tolerance, a certified financial planner will work with you to design a portfolio intended to manage your wealth. Since not all certified financial planners work alike, finding someone that will understand and address your financial goals is essential. Also, before choosing someone to manage your assets and help you plan for your future, make sure personal compatibility and trust are taken into serious consideration.

Though the exact instruments used from portfolio to portfolio will vary based upon what’s appropriate, wealth management incorporates everything from investment management to tax advantages, retirement accounts to estate planning. The certified financial planner you choose should work with you to find the ideal combination of investments for your situation.

Wealth management is not limited to simply establishing a suitable portfolio. Rather, in order to be effective, a financial planner must maintain and manage your assets and investments over time. Eventually, for one reason or another, your investments will demand correction and redistribution. It is the role of the financial planner in control of your assets to monitor your portfolio and make adjustments when necessary.

As a final point, an investor should keep in mind one of the most important decisions you will make regarding your wealth management is who you choose to manage your assets . The financial planner you choose should have expertise in the instruments required to execute your financial goals, and also be able to connect with you on a personal level. While the sheer number of investment vehicles can be dizzying at times, asking the right questions and learning the strategies at your disposal will pay off in the long run. For more information on wealth management, visit here.

A Financial Advisor Provides a Multitude of Financial Services

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Whether you are a young professional trying to grow your wealth, a young family planning for the future, or a retiree looking to protect your life savings, proper asset management is the key to meeting your financial goals. At any stage in life, a financial advisor works with you to manage your assets and coordinate your investment strategy.

As pointed out above, the right financial advisors in Chicago should work “with you”, rather than “for you”. It is advisable to find a financial advisor that will take the time to learn about your specific situation, develop a trusting relationship, and build an investment strategy that is shaped to satisfy your personality and financial goals.

A financial advisor helps his/her client develop, maintain, and organize a desired balance of investment strategies, asset allocation, dividends, and capital gains. In addition, a financial advisor will manage your college savings plans (529 plan), retirement accounts (such as IRAs), and estate plans, and more. Instead of a one-size-fits-all approach, a financial planner develops a well customized portfolio by getting to know you, taking your particular goals into account, and assessing your acceptable measure of risk.

In essence, a financial advisor provides a multitude of financial services to investors, from portfolio management to investment advice, income protection, college planning, tax and estate planning, and retirement planning and more. A financial advisor works together with a client to create a portfolio with the right distribution financial instruments which might include stocks, bonds, mutual funds, real estate investment trusts (REITs), options, futures, and  insurance products.

The expertise you need as a client, to take full advantage of the investment strategies at your disposal, will be provided by the services of a financial advisor. The expertise, advice, and experience of a certified financial planner will benefit even the most informed individual investor. By turning to a financial advisor to manage your assets, you can rest assured that your financial portfolio is being regularly monitored, balanced, and adapted to the changes in your life. Having your assets managed by a financial advisor offers the opportunity to make the most of your investments and the reassurance that a professional is monitoring your life savings. 

Another benefit of hiring a professional money manager is the insight gathered through consistent analysis of trends and changes in the marketplace. As a professional asset manager, an advisor stays connected with the ever changing financial world. This awareness, combined with years of experience, equips a financial advisor with the skills necessary to notify you of potential investment opportunities and to make well-informed adjustments to your portfolio.  To learn more about what a financial advisor can do for you, click here.

The Difference Between DFA and Other Fund Advisors

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How is it that a firm that does minimal marketing and refuses to allow retail investors to purchase their funds directly, has expanded into one of the largest mutual fund companies in the world? The answer may lie in their ability to screen and educate Registered Investment Advisors who want to become approved DFA advisors.  In order to become a DFA advisor, one must become approved by the company and must attend a two day seminar.  At the seminar the investment advisor will quickly learn that this is not a sales pitch to sell product to their clients.  Rather, it is indoctrination to a philosophy based on low cost passive investing.  While there isn’t any formal commitment required by the investment advisors, it’s clear there is an approval process, and DFA handpicks which Registered Investment Advisors are going to be added to the list of approved DFA advisors.

Most mutual fund companies are different than DFA. The company began in 1981 at the University of Chicago with an idea about increasing returns through the science of capital markets and portfolio design, rather than stock picking and market timing. The company had over $200 billion under management by the end of 2010, which is significant growth.

The handpicked DFA advisors in Chicago tend to subscribe to the philosophy of long term investing and, unlike other advisors, they refrain from trying to “time the market”.  This benefits DFA by not having assets move in and out of funds which can adversely affect returns by adding transaction costs.  A DFA advisor also understands how marketing expenses, high manager salaries, and transaction costs can reduce long term returns.

Years ago while doing research on emerging market funds, a financial advisor noticed the exceptional returns of the DFA funds.  He decided to invest and routinely placed a “buy” ticket on behalf of a client. He was surprised to learn that because he was not considered a DFA advisor, the trade was rejected.  Despite a long history of advising clients and managing wealth to the tune of many millions of dollars, he was, understandably, incensed.  Upon further examination he learned that before he could become a DFA advisor, he would have to meet with company representatives, discuss his investing philosophy to determine whether it matched that of the company, and attend their seminar.  He became a DFA advisor and has implemented DFA funds for his clients for many years. For more information about DFA fund advisors, go here.