First things first: No matter how much wealth you’ve amassed in your life, it’s natural to want to exploit that wealth for its greatest gain. This means expanding the bottom line dollar of what you have with as little risk as possible. This can include investing, exploiting tax advantages afforded to you by the IRS, and management by professional firms that best know how to handle and increase wealth.
And that’s the golden rule of wealth management firms: Increase client wealth. When you hire a wealth manager, you’re hiring someone who’s primary goal in life is to take the money of their clients and increase it. And not all firms work with just individuals. Some firms work with business chains and individuals and others just work for other businesses who are trying to manage their wealth and grow it to its fullest potential.
Investing is a mystery to the average American, so taking your own money and investing it can sometimes be the fastest way to lose it in a short period or long period of time. Losing thousands or even tens of thousands of dollars at once is a dramatic and devastating blow to most households. They can’t afford it. Rather than take the money and guess at investments, they take it to a professional firm that will assign someone a wealth manager.
Over your time with that firm, they will be handling your investments and any other potentially lucrative ways to grow your money. This takes an enormous amount of trust and people will be wise to carefully consider the credentials of the firm and the people who are working for them. Even great management firms have BAD managers working for them. You should ask to see a portfolio or some solid evidence that, yes, this person is taking client money and actually getting gains with it.
Not every management firm is built alike, and there will be a lot of things to consider before you decide on one. Of course, experience counts in this area. It’s less of a risk to go with a tried and tested company that’s been around for decades than it is to opt for a company that has been operating only a few years. Ultimately, if you stay active in the management of your wealth, you can see terrific gains from your time with a management firm.
