Difference between Private Wealth Management and Financial Advising?

I'm a recent grad. A lot of people say work in PWM then go get your MBA. I was able to get a Financial Advisor role at an Insurance company. Is this considered PWM? Or are PWM more like Banks?

Edit: Also, is my role considered retail finance?

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Best Response

It depends, generally a financial advisor can take on whichever clients they like. A PWM financial advisor would have a minimum in terms of AUM. The amount can very from bank to bank and often an advisor can have clients that have small AUM and clients with massive AUM. The thing that generally sets PWM apart from a traditional financial advisor is they are going to have more specialized teams to assist with advising. The majority of these services will be imbedded within the fees the client is paying. The teams will create different strategies for the clients ranging from estate planning, tax planning, business sales, and asset management. Where as a traditional financial advisor is going to be able to take on smaller clients as well as larger ones. Sometimes an advisor will not necessarily be specific to PWM but have larger clients that utilize the specialized services and are therefore classed under the private banking area.

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I interned for a FA at a major FA firm now I'm at a PWM at a BB. The FA one majorily sucked cock cause my boss was a racist douchebag and I was a traveling salesman selling CDs to my friends/family. OTOH, my work at the PWM has been more focused on doing analytical work (e.g working on Excel by analyzing a BB market report, Morningstar Report, etc.) and there has been some cold calling but it has never been with people I know, which is a huge huge plus can't emphasize this enough. There is very little overlap between these places at least in my experience and as far as writing it one a resume I put Financial Advisor Intern, Global Wealth Management.

I strongly strongly suggest that if you get a FA internship that is not with a BB you give it up unless its your only offer cause you will hate yourself for it. I know I did and I was only a senior in hs plus I could see the people at my ex-firm had huge chips on their shoulders. The work was utter bullshit with no marketability just look for PWM internships at a BB. If you're a freshman/perhaps sophomore, this will be your best opportunity unless you have some serious connections.

 

To answer the OP

No - they're completely different.

PWM, private wealth management, is actually managing the wealth of clients who give you X ammount. Your clients will be individuals, and your relationships will be forged over years.

Different from advisory, different from dealing with pension funds etc.

And since UBS got nailed for helping the rich get richer via a little tax dodging, its become a little more scrutinised.

 

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