The Handbook of Municipal Bonds

CHAPTER 39

Managing Municipal Bond Portfolios for High-Net-Worth Investors

Thomas P. Dalpiaz First Vice President and Portfolio Manager Advisor’s Asset Management Fixed Income Securities, L.P.

 

 

 

This chapter will discuss managing municipal bond portfolios for high-net-worth investors. The nature of individual investors and the unique challenges they present to the municipal bond portfolio manager are addressed first. The importance of determining a client’s existing situation, uncovering and articulating client objectives, setting portfolio parameters, and explaining performance measurement are then reviewed before various tools designed to add value to clients’ portfolios are outlined. A brief discussion of portfolio distributions is followed by a summation recognizing the necessity and effectiveness of municipal bonds as an asset class. Let us first turn to the nature of individual investors and the unique challenges they present.

A LIVING, BREATHING HUMAN BEING

Of course, ultimately a living breathing human being is what exists behind every investment portfolio. And yet, that simple fact is most critical for portfolio managers to recognize when dealing with high-net-worth investors. The central importance of the individual—the presence of the individual—is felt most immediately by high-net-worth individual portfolio managers. In fact, it is the critical difference that separates high-net-worth individual portfolio managers from those who manage portfolios for mutual funds ...