Time to Say Goodbye to the Term "Wealth Management"?

Ask Google to define "wealth management" and you get:

The coordination of a client’s investment, tax and estate plans into a comprehensive plan to achieve their personal goals.

Seems like a wealth manager ought to do a bit of actual management along with the coordination. Otherwise, that definition suggests the term's original, upscale tone.

Not that the original meaning lasted long.

Go to Merrill Lynch's web site and you won't find brokerage services. You'll be offered wealth management.

Looking for Smith Barney's brokers? Try wealth management.

The other day I happened on TD Bank' Financial Group's press release on it's second quarter earnings:

Wealth Management, including the Bank's equity share of TD Ameritrade, produced a very strong quarter with a 30% increase in earnings compared with the second quarter of last year. Domestically, the quarter saw strong growth in client assets across the mutual fund and advice-based businesses. The second quarter also saw good progress in Wealth Management's plan to increase the number of client-facing advisors in its Canadian network.

"Wealth management" sure has come a long way if it now includes online execution of buys and sells for day traders.

But if "wealth management" now means nothing more than personal financial services in general, we need a substitute term.

What's a new way to describe investment and planning services performed for High Net Worth Individuals?

All suggestions gratefully considered.


P.S. Love that phrase "client-facing advisors."

Guess the backward-facing advisors didn't work out.