Are you looking for the highest level of financial planning services that cover comprehensive investment management alongside estate planning, tax guidance, financial advice, and legal assistance? If so, you need comprehensive wealth management services, especially if you’re a high net worth individual. If your wealth exceeds $10 million, our guide titled7 Secrets to High Net Worth Investment Management, Estate, Tax, and Financial Planningshould give you a tremendous start to your wealth management journey. Similarly, wealth managers from Pillar Wealth Management are another incredible source of information on the subject. The firm specializes in offering wealth management services to individuals holding $5 million to $ 500 million in liquid assets.
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Taking things forward, this guide discusses everything you need to know about wealth management services. Let’s begin with answering the question, “What is a wealth management service?”
What Is a Wealth Management Service?
A wealth management service is a type of investment advisory service that combines different financial services to address the needs of wealthy clients. It’s the most advanced form of investor advisor services. Wealth managers or those who offer wealth management services understand a client’s specific financial situation and goals and, then, develop a tailored plan or strategy to help them manage their assets.
Keep in mind that the concept of wealth management extends well beyond investments in stock, bank certificates of deposit (CDs), and commodities. Wealth management provides you with a complete solution to optimize your resources in an efficient and wise manner. To do this, it adopts the holistic approach of incorporating your personal goals with estate planning, investment planning, risk management, and more.
To learn more about what wealth management services are all about, schedule a video consultation meeting with one of our wealth managers.
Testimonial From Satisfied Clients
Chris Snyder
Thank you Chris for your guidance over the past 17years. We made it through several market swings and covid. We have a comfortable feeling working with you. And it is always sharing our stories over the years of our children’s growth. ◼ Relationship to Financial Advisor: Current Client ◼ Compensation: This reviewer received no compensation
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Steve
I highly recommend Pillar Wealth Management
At 51, I lost my husband to cancer. We owned our own business, so the loss of considerable income at his death was a magnificent hardship. In addition, a significant personal investment became insolvent, causing the loss of millions. A happy, comfortable, and financially-secure life was gone in an instant. My home and a few
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Lori S.
Pillar Wealth Management
When I retired the need arose to have help with balancing our investment risk level. Our trusted Accountant recommended Pillar Wealth Management. In the past we took a sizeable loss and could no longer take that level of risk with the balance of savings for retirement. Chris helped us transfer these investments and rebalances our
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Anita K.
Testimonial from Col. Robert B.
I have worked with Chris Snyder, handling my investments for over 30 years. During this time I developed a personal relationship with Chris and am very pleased with the personal attention he has paid to my investments. When I was getting ready to retire I looked into what my retirement income would be. I wanted
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Robert B.
Chris and Hutch
Chris and Hutch knew they had to build their business based on personal contact and trust. They invested in this aspect and offered seminars over free dinners to get to know their clients on a personal level. This allowed us to get to know Chris personally and realize that we see the world and politics
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Andrea
Thanks so much for making our life effortless
With our retirement we were searching for an advisor to invest our money. We found an advisor who seemed knowledgeable. She promised the moon with large investments. When our paperwork arrived it wasn’t anything we agreed upon. We were so lucky to have quickly found Chris. He stepped in and invested our money. We have
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Patty
In 2022, I moved my portfolio over to Chris Snyder and his team. They’ve been a great asset in advising me on everything needed to plan for my short term financial needs as well as getting me to my retirement which is coming in a few years. They are very approachable, detailed and explain the
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Lynn G.
Prior to signing up with PWM we had self-managed our investments. That worked out pretty well with the ongoing bull market. Even with the occasional downturn, paper losses were quickly reversed. But as retirement neared it became clear a better plan was needed to turn those investments into a reliable income stream that would facilitate
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Keith B.
Chris Snyder
It is our pleasure to write in support of Chris Snyder. After more than 16 years of working with Chris we feel fortunate to have access to his professional advice always with prompt, clear and up to date answers to our questions. The professional work he does has been continuous and gives us confidence that
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Jim
Chris Snyder
Chris has been a wonderful financial advisor. He listens and makes adjustments if necessary. I believe him to be fair, honest, intelligent and knowledgeable. ◼ Relationship to Financial Advisor: Current Client ◼ Compensation: This reviewer received no compensation for this review. ◼ Conflicts of Interest: There are no material conflicts ofRead more “Chris Snyder”
Barbara
Right decision to have fiduciary financial advisor
Prior to Pillar Wealth Management, our investments were in CDs, non-interest checking & savings, annuities, IRAs, 457Kplan, Term Life Insurance, etc. We felt overwhelmed managing on our own and knew we need a fiduciary financial advisor to help us simplify and better manage our finances. In January 2022, my sister recommended Christopher Snyder (Pillar Wealth
…
Read more “Right decision to have fiduciary financial advisor”
Gaoiran
Great firm!
My husband started an account with Chris Snyder over 17 years ago. Chris has been an invaluable help during all the market ups and downs. He is also always ready to help me think through other financial aspects that come up and will refer me to someone else if he doesn’t feel he is the
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Linda S.
Chris at Pillar Wealth
My husband and I have been extremely pleased with Chris’s handling of our investments. He always has our best interests in mind. He will answer any question we have and explain why he has done what he has done. If we prefer another or different strategy we discuss it with Chris and he gives us
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Judy
5 Stars
I have been a client of Pillar Wealth for over 25 years. My advisor is Chris Snyder and he is wonderful, we have shared so much about our families for 25 years. He knows my goals and has helped me achieve them financially. I trust Pillar Wealth implicitly. ◼ Relationship to Financial Advisor: Current Client
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Gloria R.
5 Stars
Chris you’ve been our advisor for many, many years. We couldn’t be happier with all the service you’ve provided for us. ◼ Relationship to Financial Advisor: Current Client ◼ Compensation: This reviewer received no compensation for this review. ◼ Conflicts of Interest: There are no material conflicts ofRead more “5 Stars”
James
Exceptional Advisors
I have been with Pillar Wealth Management for over 25 years. We have weathered more than a few ups and downs. Chris has always steered me in the right direction. When I hear from others how they have lost so much with their current advisors, I am reminded of the guidance I get from everyone
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Thomas W.
Long time Association
We have worked with Chris for many years and feel like we are friends. I was trying to find the year that we began working with Pillar, but couldn’t find it. We met Chris in Pleasant Hill at a seminar. We invested a small amount, as that is all that we had at the time
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Marilyn L.
Our financial advisor for 27 years.
My husband and I have had the pleasure of working with Chris Snyder at Pillar Wealth Management since 1996, 27 years. Lots of life happened in those years, assessing our financial readiness to retire, retiring in California, moving to France, resettling, moving to Florida, setting up trusts, husbands passing, moving to Arizona. Chris helped us
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Elaine S.
Chris Synder
I’ve been a Chris client for about 25 years. Through those years Chris and I and our families have grown together. Chris has helped me through some very difficult times and has kept my investment including monthly withdrawals at pretty much the same as my beginning investment. I am very comfortable with Chris as my
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JMenzhuber
Hutch, Chris and staff are awesome! they are very professional and amazingly responsive. We are newer clients and recently moved to Idaho and they have been so helpful to us! I learned more talking to Hutch for 10 minutes about some specifics on accounts than I ever did from a previous advisor we had for
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Mark G.
Chris, Hutch and Pillar Wealth Management
One of our best-ever decisions: turning to Hutch Ashoo and Chris Snyder at Pillar for financial guidance. My wife Bonnie and I were introduced to them in 2009 when we sold our small tech company and retired. Baffled by the complexities of managing our modest finances to ensure a safe and comfortable retirement, we interviewed
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Bonnie
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Understanding the Different Types of Wealth Management Services
To understand the different types of wealth management services, it’s important to understand the different wealth management firms, which may look similar at first glance, but are actually quite different from one another. Based on our research, there exist three main types of wealth management firms:
Types of Wealth Management Firms
- Product Vendors
- Customized Traders
- Coaches/Planners
1. Product Vendors
These organizations specialize in accessing great product. Not only do they promote this access but also seek to deliver market-bearing performance to their clients. Product selection and portfolio performance are the two main themes in client meetings.
If a certain product under performs, an alternative product is chosen. Since tax management and customization beyond product selection interfere with clean performance numbers, product vendors avoid focusing on these aspects. They primarily assist in picking the highest performing investments.
2. Customized Traders
These firms adopt an individualized approach to portfolio management, emphasizing the idea that every portfolio is unique based on its individual history. On key portfolio trading decisions, service providers will proudly explain each individual trade to clients and consult with them, even for discretionary accounts, for which the wealth manager is supposed to make decisions on the client’s behalf. This means they have much closer relationship with clients. Their underlying goal is to help clients make better portfolio trading decisions.
3. Coaches/Planners
Coaches or planners are firms that help clients make better financial decisions, getting them closer to their long-term goals. Since these aren’t their core strengths, coaches may delegate asset allocation, rebalancing, and even stock selection to specialists. Since they don’t typically favor active management, they’re more inclined toward tax-efficient and low-cost investments. Their main emphasis is on not under performing benchmarks rather than on outperforming them.
The main difference between customized traders and coaches is that the former seamlessly incorporate tax management and customization into trading decisions, while the latter prefer to delegate these tasks to specialists.
Take this understanding of the different types of wealth management firms forward to grasp various wealth management service types.To learn more about the different types of wealth management firms, request a video meeting with our wealth managers.
What services do wealth managers provide?
Wealth managers provide a range of advisory services, including preparing a financial, estate, retirement, or tax plan and advising their clients on money management and charitable giving.
What are the 3 essential categories of wealth management?
Investment planning covers portfolio management and retirement planning; advanced planning includes estate, tax, and business succession; life planning covers managing unique life changes and events.
What is the difference between wealth management and financial advisor?
These professionals provide essentially the same services. However, a wealth manager’s clients are wealthy individuals who typically hold over $1 million in investable assets.
How does wealth management work?
Wealth management analyzes an individual’s financial situation to determine how they can achieve their financial goals, like having enough money to maintain their lifestyle in retirement.
What is an example of wealth management?
An example of wealth management is building a portfolio of investments for a client who seeks to grow and protect their wealth today and for their family and heirs in the future.
Why do I need a wealth manager?
You need a wealth manager if you don’t feel comfortable navigating the markets to invest in products that will yield the results you want, and you prefer to let an expert advise you.
What is the first step in the wealth management process?
The first step is analyzing the client’s financial situation to determine their financial goals and risk tolerance and define the financial services they need to achieve those goals.
What are the risks in wealth management?
The greatest risk in wealth management is the risk of loss from the wrong investments; secondly, if the client makes frequent changes to their investments, losses may be greater.
What are the four types of wealth?
Financial, social, time, and health—in other words, money and property; status (career and community); freedom (time and choices); and well-being (physical and mental health).
What is the most important component of wealth management?
The management of the client relationship is most important to ensure the client’s goals are achieved by making the right investments and ensuring the client’s peace of mind.
3 Major Categories of Wealth Management Services
- Investment Planning
- Advanced Planning
- Life Planning
Comprehensive wealth management encompasses three major categories, namely, investment planning, life planning, and advanced planning. Let’s find out what each category includes.
1. Investment Planning
All wealth management services pertinent to investment planning come under this category. Some examples of these services include:
Investment Portfolio Management: Picking and overseeing a group of investments that meet a client’s long-term financial objectives while also aligning them with the client’s risk tolerance.
Retirement Income Planning: Defining goals for a client’s retirement years and suggesting decisions to achieve them. It typically covers identifying the sources of income, predicting cash flows and expenses, managing assets, and devising and implementing a savings program.
Asset Accumulation Strategies:Recommending strategies directed toward building wealth over time by investing, saving, and earning money.
Life Event Funding Goals: Devising strategies to fund major life events such as weddings and children’s education.
2. Advanced Planning
Estate Planning Services:Services to manage a client’s assets in preparation for their death or incapacitation.
Business Succession Planning Services:Helping a client make financial and logistical decisions about who takes over their business upon their death, disability or retirement.
Tax Planning Coordination:Helping clients take the best legal route to reduce their tax liability.
3. Life Planning
Planning for Children with Special Needs: These include wealth management services meant to financially support handicapped children and those with special needs.
Life Re-Direction Issues:Wealth management services designed to support re-direction decisions like re-location, change in career path, and so on.
Creating Philanthropic Opportunities:Services offered by wealth management firms to enable wealthy clients like high net worth investors engage in philanthropic activities.
By now, you should have developed a fair understanding of the different types of wealth management services. Our free eBook titled5 Critical Shifts For Maximizing Portfolio Growth Strategies – For Families Worth $5 Million To $500 Millionmay also help in understanding each of the wealth management services discussed above.
Five Ways to Determine the Best Wealth Management Services
- Examine the Client Service Model
- Predict Your Wealth Management Needs
- Check the Investment Approach
- Ask About Advisor Availability
- Don’t Choose Wealth Management Services that Merely Tackle Investments
While most wealth management firms will provide you with the aforementioned wealth management services, the service quality significantly varies from one firm to another. If you’re wondering, “Where can I find wealth management services,” you’ve come to the right place. Here are five ways to find the best wealth management services.
1. Examine the Client Service Model
One of the most critical aspects that differentiate the best wealth management services from the rest is the provider’s client service model or how they serve clients. Some key factors to explore when evaluating the service model of a wealth management firm include the number clients per advisor or manager, retention rates of past clients, and whether or not your advisor will be there when you need them.
Firms that emphasize a close relationship with clients are not only there for you in the long-term but are also well positioned to understand your aspirations and goals and equipped to help you meet them.
2. Predict Your Wealth Management Needs
Your needs that drive your selection of wealth management services today will likely be very different from what they will be 3, 5, or 20 years from now. For this reason, it’s crucial to see the scope of wealth management services offered by a firm before hiring one. As your financial picture changes and grows over time, you’ll be better off with a firm that offers a full range of wealth management capabilities.
Compare the wealth management services of different firms. Some firms will only offer investment advice, while others will have more to offer like estate planning and tax management. Some wealth management firms specialize in certain types of strategies or investments only. For example, some focus on stock picking, while others will exclusively offer real estate investments. If you aren’t sure what your wealth management needs are, conduct a video meeting with our wealth managers.
In addition, your chosen firm should not only be able to handle traditional investment opportunities but also possess the experience and flexibility to take care of fiduciary matters and hold assets in trust. Also, when it comes to developing tax-efficient strategies for transferring your assets to the next generation, the trust situs capabilities of your wealth manager are important. Hence, consider hiring a firm that offers a wide range of wealth management services to meet both your current and future needs. If you’re still concerned about the security of your wealth financial assets, order our free hardcover book titledThe Art of Protecting Ultra-High Net Worth Portfolios and Estates: Strategies for Families worth $25 Million to $500 Million.
3. Check the Investment Approach
The next thing to look at when assessing wealth management services offered by a firm is its investment approach. Some key features to consider include investment offerings, whether the investment approach is model-based or customized to the client, the past investment performance of the firm, whether the firm utilizes individual securities or mutual funds, and whether they provide access to outside managers or only offer proprietary investment opportunities.
Considering these aspects should help you understand the firm’s approach to investment, how diverse its investment opportunities are, and the cost of those options. You’ll also get an in-depth view of the actual investment costs that account for the fees embedded in the investment, the account management fees, capital gains, and other factors affecting your returns after tax. When assessing the firm’s investment approach, it’s also important to look for ways to boost portfolio performance. Take a look at ourPerformance Guideto end up making the right decisions.
These facts are extremely important when choosing a wealth management firm.
4. Ask About Advisor Availability
Your success with wealth management services strongly depends on how close your relationship is with a wealth manager or the level of communication with them. Although you won’t need to call your wealth manager every day, you’ll still need to be in touch with them on a regular basis.
Therefore, when you connect with a wealth management firm, be sure to ask how often they meet their clients. Don’t solely rely on what they have to say. Reach out to their past clients and ask them the same question. This way, you’ll not only end up hiring a responsive advisor but also ensure that both you and your wealth manager are on the same page. To learn more about hiring the right financial advisor, order our guide titledUltimate Guide to Choosing the Best Financial Advisor for Families worth $5 Million to $500 Million.
5. Don’t Choose Wealth Management Services that Merely Tackle Investments
While both wealth management and investment management focus on asset allocation and returns, the former adopts a more holistic approach. Investment management evaluates success by looking at the overall performance of the portfolio and the performance of individual assets, while wealth management follows a bottom-line balance sheet approach that focuses on long-term wealth preservation, intergenerational wealth transfer, asset location, and after-tax return.
Thus, you should look for wealth management services that aim to make long-term gains rather than focus on what you make on a quarter-to-quarter basis.
Wealth Manager Qualifications
- Certification and Education
- Skills
1. Certification and Education
Certifications for wealth managers include CFP (certified financial planner), CWM (chartered wealth manager), CFA (chartered financial analyst), and more. See a complete list on the FINRA website.
Each certification has its education and work requirements. For example, a CWM requires at least a bachelor’s degree in a related field such as finance, economics, or accounting (or completion of online training programs), three years of professional experience, and 15 hours of continuing education per year.
While a CWM offers a range of services, they concentrate on assets, wealth, and portfolios.
2. Skills
Wealth managers need both technical and soft skills. Soft skills include communication, coaching, and sales.
Wealth managers should have computer technology skills. They should have proficiency in capital markets, portfolio design, and financial planning.
Capital markets such as the stock and bond markets, which include a variety of products, facilitate the transfer of money between buyer and seller. A skilled wealth manager can easily navigate these markets to benefit their clients.
Portfolio design is a critical wealth management skill. It requires defining an asset allocation that reflects the client’s personal and financial circ*mstances, income needs, and risk tolerance. Accordingly, investments are allocated to different asset classes to create a portfolio. The asset classes will include a balance of conservative and aggressive investments. The manager will pick stocks, bonds, mutual funds, ETFs, and other products to create the portfolio.
The financial planning skills of a wealth manager include not only investment planning but also tax planning, retirement planning, and estate planning.
How to Choose a Wealth Manager
The right wealth manager for you is someone who understands your financial situation. Through listening and empathy, they can reflect that understanding back to you, and you become a team working toward the same goals—growing your wealth and achieving financial security.
Ask your advisor about their background and credentials, which you can verify with the SEC and FINRA. The advisor can describe their education and training in various areas of financial planning to show you they can meet your needs. Finally, make sure you can afford to pay the advisor’s fees. Ask them how they are compensated, what fees they charge for the services they provide, and how they manage conflicts of interest.
Conclusion
In summary, a lot of diversity exists when it comes to the quality of wealth management services offered by different firms. On top of that, different clients have different needs, and the financial situation of each varies significantly. This renders the choice of wealth management services a very personal one. Wealth managers work with clients to determine their financial goals and devise a tailored plan to accomplish them, much of which revolves around picking solid investments that will grow over time.
If you’re a high net worth individual who is ready to amass serious wealth and make it to the ultra-high net worth class, contactPillar Wealth Management, a high-profile wealth management firm that specializes in wealth management services for investors with $5 million to $500 million in liquid assets. To sign up for our wealth management services, schedule a video meeting with our wealth managers at your earliest.
Authors
Hutch Ashoo
Chris Snyder
To be 100% transparent, we published this page to help filter through the mass influx of prospects, who come to us through our website and referrals, to gain only a handful of the right types of new clients who wish to engage us.
We enjoy working with high net worth and ultra-high net worth investors and families who want what we call financial serenity – the feeling that comes when you know your finances and the lifestyle you desire have been secured for life, and that you don’t have to do any of the work to manage and maintain it because you hired a trusted advisor to take care of everything.
You see, our goal is to only accept 17 new clients this year. Clients who have from $5 million to $500 million in liquid investable assets to entrust us with on a 100% fee basis. No commissions and no products for sale.
More from authors.
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