Investment Manage and How to Grow Your Portfolio

By TM on Aug 08, 2009 with Comments 0

Investment management is the activity of overseeing and making decisions regarding the investments of an individual, company, or other institution. Individuals having personal investments in the form of either physical assets (such as real estate) or paper assets (such as bonds and stock shares) may take on the tasks of managing their investments on their own, or they may use an investment manager to make decisions about their investments. Usually companies and other large organizations employ investment managers to guide and oversee all aspects of the company’s investments. In addition to corporations, institutions such as insurance companies and pension funds may rely on professionals to handle their investments. The investment manager may be an individual or a firm.

One reason companies regard investment management as important is that they often rely on investments to help expand their business. For example, if an airline desires to expand operations into a new market, it will need a large amount of ready cash to pay for building a new customer base, advertising, and other requirements. In this situation, the airline’s investment manager will examine the company’s investment portfolio (the collection of investments held by the company) to determine which investments, when converted to cash, could provide the funding the firm needs for the new operation. The company may own stocks or bonds and may have invested in certain funds such as mutual funds.

Investment management goes by a variety of names that can depend on the type of investors and investments involved. Private individuals with investments of large value usually refer to the investment management services they use as wealth management or portfolio management. When financial firms such as banks and insurance companies manage investments, it is usually called fund management. Asset management is the name for the management of mutual funds, managed funds, and other funds that allow large numbers of shareholders (investors) to participate in a range of investment opportunities. As an industry, investment management is a crucial part of the global corporate culture.