Held-away assets are client assets an adviser can see and advise on but does not custody or directly manage — most commonly workplace retirement accounts such as a 401(k).
A workplace retirement plan. The client cannot move it while employed, the adviser cannot trade it directly, and for many households it is the largest single investment account they own.
Allocation is a property of the whole household balance sheet. A managed account built without reference to a large held-away account is being built against incomplete information, and the two can easily duplicate the same exposure.
Some advise on it without executing, giving the client instructions to implement. Some use services that trade held-away accounts under limited authority. Some account for it in the allocation and manage around it.
Each approach carries different operational and regulatory implications, and the choice should be deliberate rather than default.
Generally not, unless the firm has discretion. That is one of the reasons firm-to-firm comparisons of AUM are less comparable than they look.
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Custodian →