Is Asset Management primarily evaluating funds or actually picking stocks?

Trying to better understand what asset management does and have been seeing some sources that seem to indicate diligence/picking stocks whereas others seem to indicate that it's evaluating other funds/fund management and allocating capital to those. 

These seem pretty different so trying to better understand what asset management typically focuses on (maybe it's both of these). And if both what differentiates the former from a hedge fund and is the latter just an example of a "larger" asset manager/fund of fund (e.g. smaller asset managers focus on specific stock picks and larger ones focus on fund picks)? 

3 Comments
 

Depends on your firm and role. If you are a PM at an active fund manager, you'll be building the portfolio (stocks and bonds) for a fund per its mandate. Equity and Credit analysts will suggest holdings, you'll evaluate and decide what goes in the fund.

If your the CIO of a RIA, you may be building proprietary portfolios (stocks and bonds) or you may be managing based on funds / mgrs (building a fund of funds so to speak). 

 

That's because asset management isn't one thing, the same way investment banking or trading isn't just one thing. There are many different products/services, asset classes etc.

Asset management is just that, I give you assets (money), you manage them. Many people's money makes a fund. Different funds have different mandates. Some invest in funds, some invest in stocks and other securities, some invest in private markets, some invest in crypto and some do all of the above. 

 

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