Nervous about the technology sector’s recent volatility? Too busy with your career to watch the market carefully?

If you’ve been wishing you had someone to make your investment decisions for you – and you’ve got a sizable account – you may want to hire your own money manager.

"Most of our clients are delegators," said John Rhoads, managing partner of Rhoads Grunden Lucca, a money management firm in Dallas with $80 million in assets. "Or they’re enormously successful in other areas and don’t have the time to deal with (investment decisions)."

"We hold their hands," Rhoads added. "We let them be involved in the process as much as they want to be."

Money managers do exactly want their title suggests – they manage your money. A financial planner gives advice in several areas, including retirement planning, estate planning, insurance, taxes and investment asset allocation. A money manager actually manages your assets, choosing which stocks and mutual funds to invest in.

You’ll usually need to invest at least $100,000, sometimes more, to be able to hire a manager. Many firms have set portfolios made up of mutual funds and will invest money in these portfolios according to each client’s situation.

For example, Rhoads’ firm uses four portfolios of funds, with names such as "Sleep Easy" and "All Growth." The minimum investment for most clients is $250,000.

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Fees for a money manager typically run between 1% and 2% of assets, depending on the size of your account. The bigger the account, the smaller the percentage.

Still, you need a significant amount of assets to make the fees worthwhile, Rhoads says.

"I debate whether it’s really necessary to have a money manager if you have a small amount of money to manage," he said. "The ongoing fees for services have to be a value."

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Copyright Investor’s Business Daily, 1999