The term “wealth management” is thrown about plenty these days – in the boardrooms of private client firms, in trade and mainstream articles and by Financial Advisors in front of clients.
Yet, most professionals are hard pressed to actually define the term with any degree of accuracy. Wealth Management is a pretty straightforward concept. From an individual’s perspective, wealth management is simply the ‘art or practice’ of solving/enhancing his or her financial situation. From the financial advisor’s perspective, wealth management is the ability of an advisor (or ‘team of advisors’) to deliver a full range of financial services and products to their client in a consultative manner.
Theoretically, a wealth manager can provide or advise on every single financial product in existence. In reality, most wealth managers specialize in services and products that they feel most comfortable with.
A further defining quality of Wealth Management is that it is delivered in a consultative manner. By being consultative, wealth managers should become truly client-focused. A good wealth manager will meet a client without any presupposition about what financial products or services are appropriate for that individual.
While it is common for an individual to be sitting with a wealth manager to address a particular investment need, the consultative wealth manager’s overriding objective is to understand the person and find out what’s important to them and why. Then the wealth manager is able to bring in the appropriate experts to provide the appropriate financial products, across a wide a range of asset classes, as needed – shares, options, property, managed funds, insurance, term deposits, superannuation, annuities, money markets, commodity markets etc – to name a few.
In essence then, Wealth Management is the consultative process of meeting the needs and wants of clients by providing them with the appropriate financial products and services.
Wealth management entails coordinating a team of experts to address the needs and wants of particular clients, across the full range of asset classes available in the financial market place.
There’s a considerable difference in choosing financial advisors who are truly wealth managers, to those that are principally investment oriented or skilled within one or two financial products only.
So, whether you’re planning for your future or mainly planning for your retirement, choose your financial advisor carefully – research past performance and seek references before making any decisions on whom to go with.
If you require further advice from a professional ‘Financial Planner’ ,please use our Business Search Directory to find a suitable provider near your location.
