What Is a Financial Adviser
You can measurably increase your likelihood of investment
success by hiring a professional who will work full-time
to manage your money. Objective, rational decisions should
be made by a manager who has the resources and knowledge
to focus on the variables impacting today's marketplace
and, most importantly, your assets.
Investment management is a discipline that is unfamiliar
to many investors. It has been around since the 1920s,
but only as a service of bank trust departments and a
few specialty firms. At that time, portfolio management
was the province of the very rich. The Carnegies, the
Mellons and the Rockefellers not only went to banks to
have their money managed, they established their own banks.
After World War II, corporations and the public sector
started creating pension funds for their employees and
the need for money management grew, generating an industry
of advisory firms which specialized in portfolio management.
Investment management incorporates many tasks and processes.
Professional portfolio managers attend daily and weekly
meetings to assess overall changes in interest rates,
economic and political developments, and stock and bond
market activity. Investment managers analyze corporate
financial statements and activities to determine their
investment suitability. Some investment managers may peri-odically
visit corporations in which they are investing, or intend
to invest, to validate published research reports or discover
new opportunities. Committees are often established to
evaluate asset allocation policies, investment holdings
and potential new investments. These activities help prepare
an investment manager to make informed, timely decisions.
But there are key considerations you must address in seeking
long-term investment satisfaction in order to know what
type of investment management is right for you. You need
a defined process to enable you to determine your objectives,
find the right investment management organization to meet
your goals and periodically measure your results.
By Consulting Group Investment Advisor Research
