Asset management is the practice of increasing total wealth over time by acquiring, operating, maintaining, trading investment and selling both tangible and intangible assets that have the potential to grow in value. Asset management services are served by asset management professionals. They are also known as financial advisors or portfolio managers.
There are certain very important advantages of asset management like –
- It is a good business practice to achieve the long term goals and objectives.
- It not only improves regulatory compliance by implementing better operation and maintenance practices but also saves money by reducing O&M costs.
- It improves reliability by decreasing or eliminating customer problems, costly lawsuits, emergency repairs and overall risk to the utility.
- It helps to sustain the asset by conducting long term planning for each asset and by comparing values according to asset condition.
- Makes eligible for Federal Funding according to the provisions of funding legislation.
Wealth management is a process of tax planning, wealth protection, estate planning, succession planning, family governance and structuring wealth to help in growing, preserving and protecting wealth and passing it onto the family in a tax-efficient manner or according to their wishes.
A wealth management advisor who is a high-level professional provides services to clients ranging from affluent to high net worth and ultra-high net worth families and individuals to reduce their financial stress and prioritize financial decisions based on a timeframe. There are certain advantages of wealth management like
- It creates a systematic financial plan for rich people to build a corpus and move on the path.
- It reduces the financial stress by organizing finances, creating financial goals and taking appropriate course corrections.
- Wealth manager offers personalized solutions, functions as a consultant, creates strategies to match your financial needs, and helps to navigate through difficult financial circumstances.
So, let us focus on some of the top New York City based firms that are providing asset and wealth management services.
1. BlackRock Inc.
- Established in 1988. Today BlackRock Inc. has 16,000 employees and 85 offices in 38 countries.
- It is the world’s largest asset manager with total assets under management of $10 trillion.
- Its shares are traded on NYSE with a market capitalization of $130 billion as of January 14, 2022.
- Assets under management by product type are: Equity – 53%, Fixed Income – 25%, Multi asset – 9%, Alternatives – 10% and Cash management – 3%.
- Company provides a range of risk management, investment and advisory services for individuals around the globe, intermediaries, foundations and institutions.
2. Fidelity Investments
- Founded by Edward Crosby in 1946 and today employs more than 41,000 people.
- It is the fourth largest asset manager with assets under management of $4.23 trillion and total assets under administration of $11.1 trillion.
- The company has 38 million active brokerage accounts and 200 investor centers across the USA.
- The company provides investment services to about 14,000 financial advisory firms.
3. JPMorgan Chase & Co.
- Founded in 1799 and today employs around 260,000 people.
- It is the largest banking institution in the USA by assets, deposits, market capitalization, number of branches and ATMs
- It is the seventh largest bank in the world and the world’s largest bank by market value.
- It is the number one credit card issuer in the USA with over $1.2 trillion in credit and debit card sales.
- Total assets under management of $3.7 trillion, total loans of $1.04 trillion and total deposits of $2.3 trillion.
- The company provides corporate, investment and consumer banking, small business and community banking, asset management, treasury and security services, mobile and online banking, card services and foreign exchange services.
4. The Goldman Sachs Group
- Founded in 1869 and today employs 40,500 people across 30 countries
- It is one of the leading investment banks in the world with assets under supervision of over $2.1 trillion.
- Total net revenue $44.560 billion, Net Income $9.459 billion, Total assets $1,163 billion.
- The company provides a wide range of investment, trading, asset management and securities services to corporations, financial institutions, governments, hedge funds, pensions, foundations and high net worth individuals.
5. Edward Jones & Co.
- Founded in 1922 and today employs 49,000 people.
- It serves 19,000 investment clients, mainly individual investors and small-business owners in the USA and Canada at 15,000 locations.
- The company has nearly 8 million clients and $1.7 trillion assets under management.
- Net income $1.285 billion and net revenue $10.165 billion.
6. Charles Schwab Corporation
- Founded in 1971 by Charles R. Schwab, today employs approximately 32,000 people in 360 branches across the world.
- The company provides brokerage, banking, wealth management and advisory services to individuals and institutional customers.
- The company has 32 million active brokerage accounts and 1.6 million banking accounts.
- Total net revenue $11.691 billion, Net Income $3.299 billion, Assets under Management $600 billion and Stockholders Equity is 56.1 billion.
Management of money is necessary for all of us, especially for those people who earn high salaries but do not have financial expertise. Incorrect management of asset and wealth could spoil your hard work but working with a financial advisor to manage your money and investments can set the difference between a blissful retirement and a mediocre retirement. Asset managers and wealth managers are two types of financial advisors to make sure you achieve your financial goals.
It totally depends on your requirement whether you hire only one of these or both.
Differences between Asset Management and Wealth Management
- Asset management refers to the management of assets of a client while wealth management refers to the management of all financial aspects of the client. So, we can say that asset management is a subset of wealth management due to the wider focus of later.
- Asset management includes management of investments/assets, analyzing current and past data, risk return analysis, projection, strategy formulation and identification of suitable assets. On the other hand, wealth management includes management of investments/assets and portfolios, tax planning, education planning, legacy planning, estate planning, insurance, charitable contribution and retirement planning.
- Asset managers registered as broker-dealers while wealth managers registered as investment advisors. Asset managers offer in-house products through their own financial expertise and direct involvement in a market that are suitable to clients while wealth managers offer trustful and confidential responsibility to put client interest before self with the coordination of inputs from financial experts, lawyers, accountants and insurance agents.
- Asset managers’ earnings are usually commission based while wealth managers are retainer fee based along with a fee for assets.
