AAMS study guide
AAMS · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.
AAMS® - the Accredited Asset Management Specialist℠ designation - is one of the professional certifications listed by the College for Financial Planning®, a Kaplan Company, alongside designations such as the APMA®, AWMA®, CRPC®, CRPS®, and FPQP®. It is aimed at financial professionals whose work centers on building, allocating, and monitoring client investment portfolios, rather than at entry-level paraplanners or narrow retirement-plan specialists. The AAMS study guide has 8 sections and about 2,208 words.
01Financial Planning Process and Client Relationship Management
The AAMS planning model is a disciplined, repeating six-step cycle: establish and define the relationship; gather client data and goals; analyze the data and the financial position; develop and present recommendations; implement; and monitor. Each step produces documentation - an engagement letter, a data-gathering questionnaire, an investment policy statement (IPS), a written recommendation, and a review schedule.
290 words, about 1 min02Investment Vehicles and Asset Classes
Candidates must place any product on a map of liquidity, credit quality, interest-rate sensitivity, and tax treatment. Cash equivalents (T-bills, CDs, money market funds) offer liquidity with minimal price risk.
293 words, about 1 min03Asset Allocation and Portfolio Construction
Strategic asset allocation sets long-run target weights matched to goals, time horizon, and risk tolerance; tactical tilts deviate modestly to exploit valuations. Modern portfolio theory supplies the vocabulary: expected return, standard deviation, correlation, and the efficient frontier - the set of portfolios offering the highest expected return for each level of risk.
276 words, about 1 min04Investment Risk and Risk Management
Separate systematic risk (market, interest rate, inflation, currency, political/regulatory) - undiversifiable - from unsystematic risk (business, credit, liquidity, default), which diversification can reduce. Investors face interest-rate risk, reinvestment risk, credit risk, inflation risk, liquidity risk, longevity risk, and opportunity risk.
266 words, about 1 min05Tax Considerations for Investment Management
Know marginal versus effective rates, ordinary income versus long-term capital gains and qualified dividends (preferential rates require a holding period longer than one year for securities), and the 3.8% net investment income tax above MAGI thresholds ( 200,000 single / 250,000 joint). Capital losses first offset gains, then up to $3,000 of ordinary income per year, with the remainder carried forward.
273 words, about 1 min06Retirement Planning and Distribution Strategies
Cover the vehicles - 401(k)/403(b), traditional and Roth IRA, SEP, SIMPLE, defined benefit and defined contribution plans - and the rules that drive questions: contribution limits, catch-up contributions, deductibility phase-outs, the 10% early-distribution penalty and its exceptions (age 59½, disability, death, QDRO, substantially equal periodic payments under 72(t), first home up to $10,000, qualified higher education, and birth/adoption distributions), and required minimum distributions. Under SECURE 2.0 the RMD age is 73 for those born 1951–1959, rising to 75 in 2033; Roth IRAs have no lifetime RMDs for the owner.
286 words, about 1 min07Estate Planning and Wealth Transfer
Core documents: will, durable power of attorney, health care directive, and beneficiary designations. Intestacy statutes control without a will; probate is the court process that validates it.
270 words, about 1 min08Practice Management, Ethics, and Client Communication
Practice management topics: segmentation of the client base (A/B/C), a clear value proposition, service calendars, and pricing models - AUM fees, flat/retainer, hourly, and commissions - each carrying different conflicts. Compliance: know whether the firm is a registered investment adviser (fiduciary) or a broker-dealer (Regulation Best Interest), the Form ADV and Form CRS disclosures, privacy rules, anti-money-laundering obligations, and advertising and testimonial standards.
254 words, about 1 min