Wealth Management

Wealth management is a service provided by financial institutions to help high net worth individuals protect and grow their wealth. This advanced investment advisory discipline involves providing a diverse range of services, such as financial planning, investment management, tax planning and cash flow and debt management, based on client requirements.

There are two aspects to the wealth management process; protecting assets from creditors, market crashes or slowdowns, taxes, lawsuits and other unexpected events, and growing asset values through methods that actively manage risk and reward profiles to clients needs.

Do You Need Wealth Management?

Wealth management helps people determine their monetary goals and develop actionable strategies that could help them realize their goals. It also defends their finances against risks. Wealth management is a service designed specifically forhigh net worth individuals. The threshold for high net worth varies by country and institution, but the most common definition is individuals who have more than US$1 million in assets, not including their home. Some high net worth individuals have done well ingrowing their assets from a low base to their current levels, and may feel that they can continue to manage their own portfolios. However, as a person’s wealth grows and/or the markets get more challenging, it becomes increasingly difficult to realize theexpected returns.

With greater wealth comes greater investment options as well as more complex risks and threats in terms of legal regulations, taxation issues and opportunities for loss. The level of fear or even outright panic that can be experienced grows with the sizeof the investment involves. Greater diversification is needed than in earlier stages of investing. This is where independent financial advisers or large corporate entities help their clients through professional wealth management.

Wealth Management Services

Wealth management offers the following services:

• Investment planning: assists you in investing your money into various investment markets, keeping in mind your investment goals.
• Insurance planning: assists you in selecting from various types of insurances, self insurance options and captive insurance companies.
• Retirement planning: is critical to understand how much funds you require in your old age.
• Asset protection: begins with your financial advisor trying to understand your preferred lifestyle and then helping you deal with threats, such as taxes, volatility, inflation, creditors and lawsuits, to maintaining this lifestyle.
• Tax planning: helps in minimizing tax returns. This might include planning for charity, supporting your favorite causes while also receiving tax benefits.
• Estate planning: helps in protecting you and your estate from creditors, lawsuits and taxes. This service is critical for every person whose net worth is high.
• Business planning: This service aims at optimizing the tax free advantages of running your own business.
• Business succession planning: assists in planning for the inevitable to maximize returns.
• Wealth transfer: helps you pass on your wealth to your dependents.

Benefits of Wealth Management

Wealth management helps in:

• Reducing taxes associated with income, capital gains and estate.
• Protecting assets from misjudgments and creditors.
• Improving yields with more diversification and less risk.
• Managing liabilities such as mortgages and college funding.