Investment management is an area of financial management that seeks to ensure long term success for organizations by providing guidance on how to handle the management of financial resources. Investment management is a branch of financial management that concerns itself with the allocation of resources among different projects or portfolios in order to achieve specific investment objectives. This branch includes risk management, capital budgeting, asset allocation, asset protection, investment analysis, financial strategy, and last but not least, system planning. In order to become an investment manager, a degree in finance, including accounting, investment management, or a related field is needed.
Investment management is divided into two main areas: long-term and short-term. Long-term planning deals with investments in stocks and bonds. Short-term planning deals with cash investments such as savings accounts and certificates of deposit. Investment management includes a wide range of strategies, from buying and selling financial assets on the stock market to using sophisticated systems to determine which projects are most likely to be profitable. These strategies are used to create long-term investment strategies that will not only profit the investors, but also help to keep investment costs down.
Investments can be made in several ways. Investors can purchase fixed returns portfolios that follow a predetermined path; these are known as wealth funds. Indexed funds track the movement of various financial assets and are designed to track the performance of the index. Individual assets may be purchased individually, or entire investment portfolios may be managed by an investment management firm.
