How can an investment advisory help me?

An investment adviser is someone who manages your money, including all your financial assets like stocks, mutual funds and bonds. Another responsibility of an adviser is to buy, sell, and monitor how these assets are performing, keeping your investment goals in mind.

Some investment advisers work in a holistic way, looking at all aspects of your financial life and putting together a comprehensive investment plan – a process often called “wealth management”. Other investment advisers have a more narrow focus, such as expertise in dividend-paying stocks or municipal bonds. It is common for a wealth management investment adviser (or wealth manager) to hire narrowly focused investment advisers to manage certain parts of a client’s portfolio. An investment advisor coordinates their efforts while acting as a point person for the client.

While structuring your portfolio, your adviser will focus on various aspects of wealth planning like –

Your risk appetite Your understanding and comfort levels of investing in, say stocks or mutual funds Establishing roles for various investments to use as your retirement accounts or non-retirement accounts Explaining you all risks associated with each investment type as well as expected rate of return

Every investment adviser has a different style and strategy. But they should always offer easy-to-understand and clear description of the money-management approach they intend to take.

It is also important for you to keep your adviser informed about all your investments and accounts, even the ones they are not managing. This will ensure that your portfolio as a whole makes sense, and will avoid duplication and working at cross-purposes with your other holdings and assets. Always remember, your manager will never be able make any recommendations until they understand your time horizon, your level of experience with investments, your goals, and your appetite for investment risk.