Professionals in the field of Investments and Portfolio Management help people, business organizations, and nonprofit institutions to accumulate and manage wealth.
They provide financial services in the form of investment advice, investment management, and access to the financial markets. The investment sector of the economy values financial instruments, sustains liquidity in the financial markets, promotes the rapid transmission of information on companies and economic trends, and provides for the efficient transfer of ownership when securities change hands.
In the modern investments world, institutional portfolios such as pension funds and mutual funds often handle the investing of money for individual investors. These entities need skilled asset managers, trained in investment theory and practice, to act as fiduciaries in investing their clients' money. An investment manager strives to maximize financial return relative to risk through asset allocation strategies that lead to efficient diversification. Today's financial markets are global; an investor can provide money to a company located in a distant region of the world. Modern electronic processing and telecommunication tools offer highly efficient trading and clearing.
