WHAT’S THE TRUTH ABOUT INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT?

For starters, it’s NOT financial planning.  If your financial planner is merely managing your investment portfolio, you’re missing out on the full value of a financial planner.  Investment management is necessary, but you may not need your planner to do it for you. 

A large portion of the financial services industry is constructed with the thought that you are incapable of managing investments and, therefore, should pay someone else to do it.  That may be the case for some, but for others, it’s definitely not the truth. 

Investment management starts with some basic principles: understand your goals, invest in a balanced and diversified way, minimize costs, and be patient and disciplined.  Successful investors master these basics OR hire someone to do it for them.  

For higher tax bracket investors, strategies to minimize the tax impact of investing are suggested.  Tax-loss harvesting, tax-managed mutual funds, and specific share identification, are effective strategies to reduce or delay taxes and may be good reasons to hire an investment manager.  

Just know, an investment manager is not required and many people choose to do it themselves, often with a little help from an hourly financial planner.