An Investment advisory, is a service that recommends certain securities primed for appreciation, usually through direct management of clients' assets or by way of written publications. [1]
Advisory services usually explain their investment theses to their customers and propose assets (such as stocks) that they view will appreciate over time. Advisers typically provide ongoing advice about buying, selling and/or holding investments and will monitor the performance of your investments and their alignment with the buyer's overall investment objectives. The fee that the customer pays for this advice is typically based on the value of all of the assets held in their account with the adviser. They may pay other fees and costs related to servicing the account and the investments that are bought or sold. Advisers also may give advice about market trends or asset allocation or offer financial planning services. [2]
Investment advisers owe a fiduciary duty to their clients and are required to put their clients’ interests first at all times. [3] Advisors usually suggest various potential investment strategies designed to best meet clientele needs given their budget and preferences.
Risk Management is also one of the purposes of these services. Investment advisory services help clients navigate the inherent risks associated with financial markets. By conducting thorough risk assessments, advisors can tailor investment portfolios to match clients’ risk tolerance and financial services. To reduce costs and provide scalable personalized investment advice, some platforms perform this assessment and subsequent advisory service through automated means. [4] [5] [6] These platforms are also known as robo-advisors.
Financial services are economic services tied to finance provided by financial institutions. Financial services encompass a broad range of service sector activities, especially as concerns financial management and consumer finance.
The Charles Schwab Corporation is an American multinational financial services company. It offers banking, commercial banking, investing and related services including consulting, and wealth management advisory services to both retail and institutional clients. It has over 380 branches, primarily in financial centers in the United States and the United Kingdom. It is on the list of largest banks in the United States by assets. As of December 31, 2023, it had $8.5 trillion in client assets, 34.8 million active brokerage accounts, 5.2 million corporate retirement plan participants, and 1.8 million banking accounts. It also offers a donor advised fund for clients seeking to donate securities. It was founded in San Francisco, California, and is headquartered in Westlake, Texas.
In finance, assets under management (AUM), sometimes called fund under management, measures the total market value of all the financial assets which an individual or financial institution—such as a mutual fund, venture capital firm, or depository institution—or a decentralized network protocol controls, typically on behalf of a client. Funds may be managed for clients, platform users, or solely for themselves, such as in the case of a financial institution which has mutual funds or holds its own venture capital. The definition and formula for calculating AUM may differ from one entity to another.
Wealth management (WM) or wealth management advisory (WMA) is an investment advisory service that provides financial management and wealth advisory services to a wide array of clients ranging from affluent to high-net-worth (HNW) and ultra-high-net-worth (UHNW) individuals and families. It is a discipline which incorporates structuring and planning wealth to assist in growing, preserving, and protecting wealth, whilst passing it onto the family in a tax-efficient manner and in accordance with their wishes. Wealth management brings together tax planning, wealth protection, estate planning, succession planning, and family governance.
Private banking is a general description for banking, investment and other financial services provided by banks and financial institutions primarily serving high-net-worth individuals (HNWIs) – those with very high income and/or substantial assets. Private banking is presented by those who provide such services as an exclusive subset of wealth management services, provided to particularly affluent clients. The term "private" refers to customer service rendered on a more personal basis than in mass-market retail banking, usually provided via dedicated bank advisers. It has typically consisted of banking services, discretionary asset management, brokerage, limited tax advisory services and some basic concierge services, typically offered through a gateway provided by a single designated relationship manager.
A financial adviser or financial advisor is a professional who provides financial services to clients based on their financial situation. In many countries, financial advisors must complete specific training and be registered with a regulatory body in order to provide advice.
A registered investment adviser (RIA) is a firm that is an investment adviser in the United States, registered as such with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) or a state's securities agency. The numerous references to RIAs within the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 popularized the term, which is closely associated with the term investment adviser. An investment adviser is defined by the Securities and Exchange Commission as an individual or a firm that is in the business of giving advice about securities. However, an RIA is the actual firm, while the employees of the firm are called Investment Adviser Representatives (IARs).
A multi-family office (MFO) is an independent organization that supports multiple families to manage their entire wealth. Multi-family offices typically provide a variety of services including tax and estate planning, risk management, objective financial counsel, trusteeship, lifestyle management, coordination of professionals, investment advice, and philanthropic foundation management. Some multi-family offices are also known to offer personal services such as managing household staff and making travel arrangements. Because the customized services offered by a multi-family office can be costly, clients of a multi-family office typically have a net worth in excess of $50 million.
In the investment management industry, a separately managed account (SMA) is any of several different types of investment accounts. For example, an SMA may be an individual managed investment account; these are often offered by a brokerage firm through one of their brokers or financial consultants and managed by independent investment management firms ; they have varying fee structures. These particular types of SMAs may be called "wrap fee" or "dual contract" accounts, depending on their structure. There is no official designation for the SMA, but there are common characteristics that are represented in many types of SMA programs. These characteristics include an open structure or flexible investment security choices; multiple money managers; and a customized investment portfolio formulated for a client's specific investment objectives or desired restrictions.
A turnkey asset management program (TAMP) is a program for independent financial advisors, typically fiduciaries, to outsource the management of some or all of their clients' assets. Certified public accountants, law firms and banks have adopted use of the program relatively recently.
Betterment is an American financial advisory company which provides digital investment, retirement and cash management services.
Merrill Edge is an electronic trading platform and investment advisory service that provides self-directed and guided investment options for individuals and businesses. It is a subsidiary of Bank of America and was launched in 2010 after the merger between Merrill Lynch and Bank of America. Merrill Edge offers a wide range of investment products, including stocks, bonds, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), margin lending, mutual funds, and options.
Do-it-yourself (DIY) investing, self-directed investing or self-managed investing is an investment approach where the investor chooses to build and manage their own investment portfolio instead of hiring an agent, such as a stockbroker, investment adviser, private banker, or financial planner.
Robo-advisors or robo-advisers are a class of financial adviser that provide financial advice and investment management online with moderate to minimal human intervention. They provide digital financial advice based on mathematical rules or algorithms. These algorithms are designed by financial advisors, investment managers and data scientists, and coded in software by programmers. These algorithms are executed by software and do not require a human advisor to impart financial advice to a client. The software utilizes its algorithms to automatically allocate, manage and optimize clients' assets for either short-run or long-run investment. Robo-advisors are categorized based on the extent of personalization, discretion, involvement, and human interaction.
Wealthfront Inc. is an automated investment service firm based in Palo Alto, California, founded by Andy Rachleff and Dan Carroll in 2008. As of November 2023, Wealthfront had $50 billion AUM across 700,000 accounts.
Index Fund Advisors (IFA) is a registered investment advisor (RIA) headquartered in Irvine, California, with representatives in several locations across the United States. The company was founded on March 5, 1999, by Mark T. Hebner, former president of nuclear pharmacy company Syncor International, with the goal of providing online automated investment adviser services, with a personal touch as needed, while also providing educational material regarding investing to the general public through the website IFA.com.
Stockspot is an online investment adviser and fund manager based in Sydney, Australia. It is the first fully paperless digital investment advice platform in Australia and provides consumers with access to professional investment services for less than the typical cost of a traditional financial adviser or wealth manager.
Wealthminder is a software company founded by CEO Rich Ellinger.
BMO SmartFolio is a digital investment management service offered by Canada’s Bank of Montreal. Broadly referred to as a robo-advisor, the service allows investors to answer a series of questions online about their investment goals, time horizon and risk tolerance, then are recommended a model portfolio made up of index-tracking exchange-traded funds based on the investor’s profile, managed by financial professionals with BMO Global Asset Management and BMO Nesbitt Burns.
Wealthsimple Inc. is a Canadian online investment management service. The firm was founded in September 2014 by Michael Katchen, Brett Huneycutt, Som Seif, and Rudy Adler and is based in Toronto. As of March 31, 2024, the firm holds over C$38.7 billion in assets under management. It is primarily owned by Power Corporation indirectly at 56.6% through investments made through their holdings in Power Financial, IGM Financial and Portag3.