Asset & Wealth Management
How asset and wealth management works, and the finance, marketing, data and AI that run it.
The programs
Five programs, one per domain of the Asset & Wealth Management sector. Every one is readable straight away, without an account, and you can gauge your level on any of them whenever you want.
Asset & Wealth Management
This block builds foundational fluency in Asset & Wealth Management, covering how capital flows from investors through managers, distributors, and custodians to markets.
18 lessons · about 4h
- Map the asset and wealth management value chain from asset owners through managers, distributors, and custodians, identifying where fees and margin accrue
- Distinguish major player types and explain competitive dynamics between passive giants, active managers, private markets firms, and wealth platforms
- Identify the key regulations and bodies (SEC, MiFID II, UCITS, fiduciary rules) and the compliance constraints they impose in practice
Finance for Asset & Wealth Management
This Finance block applies core financial discipline to Asset & Wealth Management, where revenue is driven by fee margins on assets under management rather than balance-sheet lending.
31 lessons · about 6h
- Map the asset and wealth management value chain from asset owners through managers, distributors, and custodians, identifying where fees and margin accrue
- Distinguish major player types and explain competitive dynamics between passive giants, active managers, private markets firms, and wealth platforms
- Identify the key regulations and bodies (SEC, MiFID II, UCITS, fiduciary rules) and the compliance constraints they impose in practice
Marketing for Asset & Wealth Management
Marketing in Asset & Wealth Management operates under distinct constraints: long sales cycles, high-value clients, fiduciary duty and heavy regulatory scrutiny of performance claims.
31 lessons · about 6h
- Map the asset and wealth management value chain from asset owners through managers, distributors, and custodians, identifying where fees and margin accrue
- Distinguish major player types and explain competitive dynamics between passive giants, active managers, private markets firms, and wealth platforms
- Identify the key regulations and bodies (SEC, MiFID II, UCITS, fiduciary rules) and the compliance constraints they impose in practice
Data for Asset & Wealth Management
This block builds data fluency for asset and wealth management, where portfolio decisions, client reporting and regulatory filings all depend on trustworthy data.
31 lessons · about 6h
- Map the asset and wealth management value chain from asset owners through managers, distributors, and custodians, identifying where fees and margin accrue
- Distinguish major player types and explain competitive dynamics between passive giants, active managers, private markets firms, and wealth platforms
- Identify the key regulations and bodies (SEC, MiFID II, UCITS, fiduciary rules) and the compliance constraints they impose in practice
AI for Asset & Wealth Management
This block builds AI fluency for asset and wealth management professionals.
31 lessons · about 6h
- Map the asset and wealth management value chain from asset owners through managers, distributors, and custodians, identifying where fees and margin accrue
- Distinguish major player types and explain competitive dynamics between passive giants, active managers, private markets firms, and wealth platforms
- Identify the key regulations and bodies (SEC, MiFID II, UCITS, fiduciary rules) and the compliance constraints they impose in practice
Asset and wealth managers invest other people's money for a fee, competing on performance, trust and cost as passive investing reshapes the industry. This vertical gives you the big picture, then finance, marketing, data and AI applied inside it.
Key terms
Why specialize in Asset & Wealth Management?
Cross-cutting skills are not enough in the Asset & Wealth Management sector. It plays by its own rules: a distinct value chain, specific players and balance of power, dense regulation, and key figures you won't find anywhere else. This vertical gives you that sector fluency: first the big picture, then finance, marketing, data and AI applied concretely to Asset & Wealth Management, with the calculations, benchmarks and checklists you actually need on the ground.
What you'll be able to do
- Understand how the Asset & Wealth Management sector works: value chain, key players and balance of power
- Know the major regulations and laws, the sector's acronyms and vocabulary
- Run the key calculations and read the benchmarks specific to Asset & Wealth Management (US and Europe markets)
- Apply finance, marketing, data and AI to the realities of Asset & Wealth Management
- Gauge your level with 5 sector assessments and a competency radar
70 lessons across 16 modules and 5 blocks, with a test per lens and a sector competency radar. Free to read, no account required.
The curriculum in detail
Asset & Wealth Management: how the sector works
Generalhow asset and wealth management works: the AUM-and-fees model, active vs passive, the value chain from manager to distributor to client, and fiduciary duty.
4 Modules · 18 Lessons
Finance in asset management
Financethe economics of asset management: fee structures and margins, fee compression, operating leverage on AUM, and how flows drive the business.
3 Modules · 13 Lessons
Marketing in asset management
Marketingdistribution and brand in asset/wealth management: winning advisor and institutional channels, performance vs trust, and regulated communications.
3 Modules · 13 Lessons
Data in asset management
Datainvestment and client data: market and portfolio data, performance attribution, client analytics, and the compliance around it.
3 Modules · 13 Lessons
AI in asset management
AIAI in asset/wealth management: research and signals, portfolio and risk tools, advice and personalization, and the compliance limits.
3 Modules · 13 Lessons
Prefer to place yourself first?
Five short assessments, one per domain of the Asset & Wealth Management sector. Ten questions each, three minutes, and a competency radar once you have taken more than one.
All sector assessmentsLatest articles
What the blog publishes on Asset & Wealth Management, across every discipline.
- FinanceKKR flags AI concentration risk: what the credit binge means for bank NPL ratios nowKKR's warning about overexposure to AI-related borrowing is not just a private credit concern. For bank CFOs managing credit portfolios, it reopens a familiar and uncomfortable set of questions about NPL ratios, coverage adequacy, and whether today's cost of risk accurately prices tomorrow's defaults.
- MarketingThree meetings with a consultant won't move the needle: how fund selectors actually change their approved listsWinning a slot on a platform approved list or consultant buy list is the distribution chokepoint that determines whether an asset manager grows or stagnates. This playbook sets out the specific steps, common failures, and quick wins for marketing leaders who need to move gatekeepers from aware to allocated.
- FinanceFee compression and the flight to passive: why the death of active management is overstatedNet flows into passive vehicles have dominated industry headlines for a decade, and the consensus now reads active management as a structurally declining business. The reality is more complicated, and the CFOs who misread it will make poor capital allocation decisions at exactly the wrong moment.
- DataHow JPMorgan Chase built data contracts across 50+ domainsJPMorgan Chase spent years grappling with fragmented data ownership across hundreds of business lines before systematically formalizing who owns what and on what terms. Their approach to data contracts offers a working model for CDOs who need accountability without organizational paralysis.
- AIHow Goldman Sachs built an AI usage policy that employees actually followedMost corporate AI policies sit in a shared drive and change nothing. Goldman Sachs took a different path, and the mechanics of how they did it offer a transferable model for any team serious about governing AI in practice.
- AIRight context, wrong assumption: what Morgan Stanley learned about prompting at scaleMorgan Stanley's deployment of an AI assistant for its financial advisors exposed a problem most teams overlook: feeding the model more information does not produce better answers. The real discipline is selecting which context matters, and why that distinction changes how you build prompts entirely.
Frequently asked questions
What does the Asset & Wealth Management vertical cover?
It covers how asset and wealth managers work, then finance, marketing, data and AI applied inside the sector. Five blocks in total: one on the business model itself (AUM and fees, active vs passive, the value chain from manager to distributor to client, fiduciary duty), then one per lens.
Who is this for if I don't work in portfolio management?
It is built for people around the investment function as much as inside it: distribution, marketing, product, finance, data and operations teams in asset and wealth management. The blocks on fees, flows, advisor channels and client analytics assume no portfolio management background.
What's the difference between asset management and wealth management here?
Asset management builds and runs investment products; wealth management advises end clients on what to hold. They share the AUM-and-fees economics, so the sector is treated as one vertical, with distribution and advice covered where the two differ most.
Where should I start?
Start with the sector block on how asset and wealth management works. Fee compression, flows and distribution only make sense once you understand the AUM-and-fees model and where each player sits between manager, distributor and client.
Is there a certificate or diploma at the end?
No. There is no diploma, no state-recognised certification and no affiliation with a school or university. Reading is free and open; an account only saves your progress.
What does the finance block actually teach about fees and margins?
It covers fee structures and margins, fee compression, the operating leverage that AUM growth creates, and how net flows drive the business. The point is to read a manager's P&L as a function of assets, mix and flows rather than performance alone.
How is marketing different when communications are regulated?
Performance claims are constrained, so the marketing block focuses on winning advisor and institutional channels, and on the trade-off between performance and trust as a positioning. Regulated communications are treated as a design constraint on campaigns and materials, not as an afterthought.
How far does the AI block go, given compliance limits?
It covers research and signal generation, portfolio and risk tools, and advice personalization, with the compliance limits stated alongside each use case. The data block is the companion: market and portfolio data, performance attribution and client analytics, and the governance around them.