Four Critical Differences Between a Portfolio Manager and Financial Advisor - Inukshuk Capital Management Inc. (2024)

Four Critical Differences Between a Portfolio Manager and Financial Advisor - Inukshuk Capital Management Inc. (1)

For investors, there’s never been a better time to utilize the expertise of a financial professional. Whether you are investing passively or building a more active portfolio, financial experts can help you achieve your investment goals more quickly and efficiently. However, it’s equally important to know which services are provided by the financial professional, and what you can expect from them.

Portfolio Manager Vs. Financial Advisor

Though commonly used as synonyms, a “portfolio manager” and “financial advisor” do not perform the same function. Portfolio managers build and maintain an investment account, while financial advisors sell a specific product.[1]Financial advisors play an important role in the financial markets, but are not in a position to support the needs of a client’s long-range financial objectives. That’s the job of the portfolio manager.

A portfolio manager differs from an investment advisor in four critical areas:

  1. Fiduciary duty
  2. Fees and payments
  3. Education and experience
  4. Discretionary management and personalized services

Fiduciary Duty

Understanding the legal requirements of the portfolio manager will help you see how they differ from advisors, and why they can be trusted with client funds. By law, portfolio managers have a fiduciary duty to act in the client’s best interest. This fiduciary standard, which also exists for lawyers and accountants, does not apply to financial advisors. The Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) stipulates that a portfolio manager must place the interest of their client ahead of anything else. This legal requirement ensures no conflicts of interest arise when building and administering a client’s portfolio. The typical bank financial advisor has no fiduciary duty to the client.

Education and Experience

OSC standards also require the portfolio manager to meet rigorous experience and educational standards to be allowed to operate in the province. The financial advisor is only required to be registered as a salesperson with the OSC.

Provincial securities commissions that regulate portfolio managers and the firms they represent require that all managers receive formal training and certification from a recognized securities institute. To serve in a portfolio management capacity, individuals must have superior analytical and communication skills and expert knowledge of the markets. According to the Canadian Securities Institute, a prospective portfolio manager must have extensive industry experience, with a proven track record managing a multi-million-dollar portfolio on a discretionary basis.

Fees and Payments

The legal structure governing portfolio managers ensures they face no conflicts of interest in managing a client’s account. Portfolio managers offer a fee-only service based on the percentage of assets they manage. They receive no fees, trailers or commissions from any other source, allowing them to invest solely in the client’s interest.

By contrast, financial advisors earn fees and commissions on the products they sell to the client. When recommending a product, financial advisors lead with its benefits rather than with a full view of the client’s financial picture.[2]

Personalized Services and Discretionary Management

What sets the portfolio manager apart from the financial advisor and other financial professionals is the rigorous process they’ve taken to understand the client’s financial goals. Portfolio managers offer clients a personalized business relationship, and act in accordance with the client’s financial goals and risk tolerance.

Since portfolio managers do not receive commission, they are not compelled to overtrade a client’s account to boost their earnings. This enables them to buy and sell securities in the best interest of their client prior to approval, so long as the securities meet the client’s financial goals and risk tolerance as outlined in the investment policy statement.[3] When working with a portfolio manager, all assets in your account will be held in your name and insured by the Canadian Investor Protection Fund (CIPF).

Financial advisors operate on a different commission structure based on the amount and type of products they sell. In other words, some advisors may promote a product not because it suits the client’s financial goals, but because it generates higher commissions.

These are the main differences between a portfolio manager and financial advisor. Investors looking to generate monthly income, save for retirement or better allocate their savings almost always trust the expertise of a portfolio manager.

To learn more, feel free to contact us here.

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[1] Investopedia (March 31, 2015). What is the difference between portfolio management and financial planning?

[2] Russ Alan Prince (April 4, 2016). “The Difference Between Wealth Managers And Investment Advisors.” Forbes.

[3] John Heinzl (September 10, 2012). “The difference between advisers and counsellors.” The Globe and Mail.

Four Critical Differences Between a Portfolio Manager and Financial Advisor - Inukshuk Capital Management Inc. (2024)

FAQs

What is the difference between a portfolio manager and financial advisor? ›

Portfolio managers make day-to-day trading decisions on a portfolio of assets, whereas a financial planner makes recommendations on certain products based on the individual's goals.

What is the difference between manager and portfolio manager? ›

A manager who manages assets for a large money management institution is commonly referred to as a portfolio manager, while someone who manages smaller fund assets is typically called a fund manager.

What is the difference between advisor and manager? ›

Advisor: let the manager know what is needed. Manager: help the advisor build their business. Advisor: refer business to manager, when applicable. Both parties should continue to uphold the vital elements of honesty, integrity and trust, coupled with expertise and knowledge of their respective areas.

What is the difference between finance manager and finance advisor? ›

Both can offer similar services but a wealth manager typically only works with high-net-worth individuals. A financial advisor can work with you to create a financial plan and then manage your portfolio of assets to help you hit your goals.

What is the main role of portfolio manager? ›

Portfolio managers are investment decision-makers. They devise and implement investment strategies and processes to meet client goals and constraints, construct and manage portfolios, make decisions on what and when to buy and sell investments.

What are three 3 typical roles of a portfolio manager? ›

The responsibilities of a Portfolio Manager vary based on their clients, but typically they build and analyze economic reports, develop investment objectives, and communicate with clients about market conditions.

What is portfolio manager in simple words? ›

A portfolio manager is a person or group of people responsible for investing a fund's assets, implementing the fund's investment strategies, and managing day-to-day portfolio management. Portfolio managers can take an active or passive management role.

What is the difference between financial advisor and adviser? ›

But the U.S. Investment Advisers Act of 1940 (the act that spells out what exactly an investment advisor is and requires them to register with a governing body) uses the spelling “adviser” with an “e.” Because of this, some financial advisors prefer to stick with the official language, while others like to spell it “ ...

What is the difference in financial advisors? ›

While the distinction between financial advisor and financial planner may be murky for consumers, many financial professionals have a clear idea of what it means to be an advisor versus a planner. Advisors are often focused on investment management, while planners take a more holistic approach to help clients.

What is the difference between financial advisors? ›

A financial planner is a professional who helps individuals and organizations create a strategy to meet long-term financial goals. "Financial advisor" is a broader category that can also include brokers, money managers, insurance agents, or bankers. There is no single body in charge of regulating financial planners.

What is the difference between investment manager and advisor? ›

The difference between an investment manager versus an investment advisor is an investment manager may build and manage your accounts and investment portfolio. An investment advisor may also manage your investments, or provide recommendations on what investment moves to make. Some do both.

What is the difference between manager and financial accounting? ›

Managerial accounting information is aimed at helping managers within the organization make well-informed business decisions, while financial accounting is aimed at providing financial information to parties outside the organization.

What is the role of a financial manager? ›

As Finance Manager, your responsibilities will include overseeing end-to-end finance operations, financial planning and analysis, balance sheet reconciliations, looking to make improvements to procedures and controls, as well as ad-hoc projects and requests as and when they come up.

What is the most important trait of a portfolio manager? ›

What Makes a Successful Portfolio Manager:
  • Being Proactive. Understanding financial markets is tricky. ...
  • Always Communicating. ...
  • Staying Organized. ...
  • Remaining Curious. ...
  • Understanding the Win-Lose Ratio. ...
  • Practicing Humility. ...
  • Understanding Analytics. ...
  • Exuding Confidence.
Jun 3, 2020

What are the advantages of portfolio management? ›

What Are The Benefits Of Portfolio Management?
  • Helps manage liquidity. Portfolio management encourages investors to structure their investments. ...
  • Reduces risk. ...
  • Improves financial understanding. ...
  • Active portfolio management. ...
  • Identifying backup assets. ...
  • Selecting profitable securities and investment.
Sep 30, 2022

What are the services of a portfolio manager? ›

The portfolio managers customise investment strategies based on your financial objectives. They then modify the strategy based on your income, budget, risk tolerance, and age. Efficient risk management: A portfolio manager's primary goal is to reduce the risk of your investment while increasing the returns.

What are the four basic components of portfolio management? ›

Key Elements of Project Portfolio Management
  • Define business objectives. Clarifying business objectives is a critical first step in project portfolio management. ...
  • Inventory projects and requests. ...
  • Prioritize projects. ...
  • Validate project feasibility and initiate projects. ...
  • Manage and monitor the portfolio.

What are the 3 types of portfolio management? ›

Types of Portfolio Management
  • Active Portfolio Management. The aim of the active portfolio manager is to make better returns than what the market dictates. ...
  • Passive Portfolio Management. ...
  • Discretionary Portfolio Management. ...
  • Non-Discretionary Portfolio Management.

What are manager's 3 main responsibilities? ›

Most of the job responsibilities of a manager fit into one of three categories: planning, controlling, or evaluating.

What are the 7 steps of portfolio process? ›

What are the Steps of Portfolio Management?
  • · Expectations from Capital Market.
  • · Strategy for Asset Allocation.
  • · Execution: Portfolio Selection.
  • · Execution: Portfolio Implementation.
  • · Performance Evaluation.
Aug 23, 2022

What is an example of a portfolio management? ›

Example of Portfolio Management

So the portfolio manager according to the risk-taking capacity and the kind of returns calculated provides a portfolio structured in tandem with that. So for example, the portfolio could include real estate, fixed deposits with banks, mutual funds, shares, and bonds.

What is another name for a portfolio manager? ›

Portfolio managers are also called investment managers, wealth managers, asset managers, or financial advisors.

What is higher than portfolio manager? ›

Senior portfolio managers often report directly to a chief investment officer (CIO), which makes portfolio management a potential career path to an executive position in an organization, whether as a CIO or a similar executive function with higher-level responsibility for the investment process.

Do portfolio managers make a lot of money? ›

The average portfolio manager makes around $148,000 a year ($71.51 an hour). While this is good money, it's not typically considered rich. The range in how much a portfolio manager makes is between $82,000 to $266,000 a year.

Is portfolio manager higher than program manager? ›

While program managers often set schedules and budgets for the entire program, they do not manage the day-to-day tactical work for an individual project. High-level responsibility: Portfolio managers are responsible for the success of a group of programs that may or may not be related to one another.

Do you need a CFP to be a portfolio manager? ›

Many portfolio management roles require candidates to hold certifications. The most common certification for these professionals is the CFA designation. CFP certification is popular among portfolio managers as well.

What is the job description of a portfolio manager? ›

Job Description

Portfolio managers are primarily responsible for creating and managing investment allocations for private clients. Some portfolio managers work with individuals and families, while others focus their attention on institutional or corporate investors.

Who is called portfolio manager? ›

A portfolio manager is a person or group of people responsible for investing a mutual, exchange traded or closed-end fund's assets, implementing its investment strategy, and managing day-to-day portfolio trading. A portfolio manager is one of the most important factors to consider when looking at fund investing.

What are the advantages of being a portfolio manager? ›

Portfolio managers can help clients earn higher returns, even with limited funds.
  • Helps manage liquidity. ...
  • Reduces risk. ...
  • Improves financial understanding. ...
  • Active portfolio management. ...
  • Identifying backup assets. ...
  • Selecting profitable securities and investment.
Sep 30, 2022

What are the disadvantages of a portfolio manager? ›

What Are the Disadvantages of Portfolio Management? Portfolio management can be costly, both in terms of time and money. It can also remove project managers' valuable experience from the prioritization equation, a factor that should be considered when deciding to adopt this methodology.

Is a portfolio manager a manager? ›

Portfolio managers are professionals who manage investment portfolios, with the goal of achieving their clients' investment objectives. In recent years, portfolio manager has become one of the most coveted careers in the financial services industry.

Who is a good portfolio manager? ›

As a successful portfolio manager, having a mind built for analytics is essential. In addition to this, seeing trajectories and connecting events and their effect on the market is crucial. Furthermore, a financial advisor should not only understand the analytics but stand by them too.

What is the highest salary of portfolio manager? ›

Portfolio Manager salary in India ranges between ₹ 3.0 Lakhs to ₹ 30.8 Lakhs with an average annual salary of ₹ 7.0 Lakhs. Salary estimates are based on 2.5k latest salaries received from Portfolio Managers.

Can you make millions as a portfolio manager? ›

The top fund managers in the industry have been known to bring in $10 million to $25 million per year in exchange for employing envious stock-picking skills. Fund managers receive additional income based on the total assets under management.

What skills do you need to be a portfolio manager? ›

Portfolio Manager Skills
  • Foundational investment skills that include financial analytics, portfolio management applications, and asset classes.
  • Solution-driven skills like understanding clients' investment goals and building portfolios.
  • Finance and economics.
  • Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) analysis skills.
Dec 23, 2022

Do all portfolio managers have a CFA? ›

Most employers require portfolio managers to hold financial analyst certifications. The most prominent certification in the field and in demand by employers is the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation awarded by the CFA Institute.

What is the difference between wealth manager and portfolio manager? ›

Portfolio management is more about seeking decisions on the progression of creating and evaluating the assets in the portfolio of the investor while wealth management looks at the entire spectrum of personal finance on an individual level.

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