The total market value of assets for which an SEC-regulated registered investment advisory (RIA) or other firm provides advice or consultation but either does not have discretionary authority or does not arrange or effectuate transactions.
AUA includes investments for which the advisor provides guidance and planning but does not provide continuous and regular supervisory or management services. For example, an advisor may manage a client’s investable assets in taxable non-retirement accounts, which would be considered part of the assets under management (AUM) by that advisor. The advisor might also provide guidance to the same client about the client’s retirement accounts which, however, are managed by a different firm. The retirement account would be considered part of AUA but not AUM.
AUA is one common metric that helps measure the scale and influence of an advisor’s guidance and the scope of their advisory business. AUA and AUM are also commonly used in wealth management pricing models where a client is charged a fee based on a percentage of AUA or AUM.
See Also: AUA
Smart Asset. “AUA vs. AUM: How Do They Differ?” Last modified August 28, 2023. SmartAssethttps://smartasset.com/financial-advisor/aua-vs-aum#q=AUM