Nuveen Asset Management, LLC (NAM) is a financial advisor firm headquartered in Chicago. The firm principally serves individuals (both with and without a high net worth), but it also maintains relationships with pension plans, businesses, government entities, investment advisors and companies and other institutional clients.
Nuveen is a fee-only firm. This means that all of the firm’s compensation comes from client-based management fees. Fee-only is different from fee-based, which indicates that a firm earns income through both client fees and outside sources, like insurance sales. A fee-only firm avoids the conflicts of interest inherent in such commission-based sales.
Nuveen Asset Management Background
Nuveen Asset Management has been providing investment advice since its founding in 1989. According to the firm’s Form ADV, Nuveen Asset Management is a subsidiary of Nuveen Fund Advisors, LLC, which is, in turn, a subsidiary of Nuveen, LLC. At the highest level, though, NAM is the asset management branch of Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America, which is commonly known as TIAA.
The firm advisory team holds multiple certifications, including the chartered financial analyst (CFA), chartered alternative investment analyst (CAIA) and certified investment management analyst (CIMA).
What Types of Clients Does Nuveen Asset Management Accept?
Nuveen Asset Management works with both non-high-net-worth and high-net-worth individuals, as well as corporations, investment companies, pension plans, charitable organizations, government entities, insurance companies and pooled investment funds.
Nuveen Asset Management Minimum Account Sizes
Nuveen Asset Management imposes varying minimum requirements depending on the type of account you own. For retail separate accounts, the firm typically calls for at least $100,000 in investable assets for equity and asset allocation strategies and $250,000 for fixed-income strategies.
To maintain an institutional account, the minimum can range from $5 million to $100 million depending on the investment strategy. Minimum account requirements may be negotiable based on factors such as client type, asset class, pre-existing relationship, portfolio complexity and account size.
Services Offered by Nuveen Asset Management
Nuveen Asset Management provides investment management to both institutional and retail separate clients, such as individuals. Nuveen works with separately managed accounts (SMAs) either directly or through a wrap fee program. The firm may also offer model portfolios or other non-discretionary investment advice to certain clients, like banking institutions or other financial services firms.
Nuveen Asset Management Investment Philosophy
Nuveen Asset Management uses many different investment strategies. The one your portfolio will adhere to depends on your financial goals, preferences and risk tolerance. These strategies fall into six broad categories:
- Equity Strategies: These portfolios invest exclusively in equity securities. Strategies within this category can focus on a specific industry, geographic region or market capitalization.
- Public Real Assets Strategies: This looks to construct portfolios with investments in real assets or securities that represent real assets. This can include real estate investment trusts (REITs), other real estate-related securities and equity securities of infrastructure-related companies.
- Taxable Fixed-Income Strategies: Primarily investing in debt securities, this strategy is centered around corporate debt, government securities and mortgage-backed securities.
- Municipal Bond Fixed-Income Strategies: As its name indicates, this strategy invests in municipal bonds, though securities vary by maturity, duration and quality.
Fees Under Nuveen Asset Management
For its investment advisory services, Nuveen charges fees as a percentage of each client’s assets under management (AUM). These charges are broken down first by which of the firm’s four overarching investment strategies you select, and then by the individual strategy you go with. Annual fees for some of Nuveen’s large-scale strategies adhere to these rates:
- Equity Strategies: 0.4% - 1.1%
- Public Real Assets Strategies: 0.15% - 0.8%
- Taxable Fixed-Income Strategies: 0.08% - 0.65%
- Municipal Bond Fixed-Income Strategies: 0.05% - 0.4%
What to Watch Out For
Nuveen Asset Management has several disclosures listed on its Form ADV. However, each of these belong to the firm’s parent company, TIAA. As a result, Nuveen Asset Management itself has a clean legal and regulatory record.
For certain client accounts, Nuveen Asset Management will charge performance-based fees. The firm states that these fees are negotiated on an individual basis. Its Form ADV also highlights the following: "Performance-based fees may create an incentive for NAM to make investments that are riskier or more speculative than would be the case in the absence of a performance-based fee."
Despite the above fee arrangements, Nuveen abides by fiduciary duty. As a result of this, it is legally bound to act in clients’ best interests at all times.
Opening an Account With Nuveen Asset Management
To get in touch with Nuveen Asset Management, you can call the firm at (312) 917-7700. If you prefer working online, go to the firm’s website and fill out the contact form with your full name, email address, phone number and a message.
Nuveen Asset Management has its headquarters in Chicago, Illinois on Wacker Drive, next to the intersection of North Franklin Street and Lake Street.
All information was accurate as of the writing of this article.
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