There’s gold in them thar retirement asset hills.

And the asset management industry as a whole isn’t doing too badly, either, with the fund companies that manage participants’ retirement assets making up just one slice of a very lucrative pie.

Just how lucrative? If you ask the Boston Consulting Group (BCG), they’ll tell you that total assets in the industry set a new record in 2014, totaling $74 trillion, while profits gained a hefty 7 percent to $102 billion.

But the other tidbit of news from BCG is that, like the rest of the economy, the growth was confined to those already on top. And it’s not due to new asset inflows, either; it’s coming from a strong bull market and returns on assets already in hand.

However, the money that is new went to the firms doing the best already: firms like Vanguard, BlackRock, and Dimensional Fund Advisors (the top three of the top 10). And those top 10 accounted for 68 percent of all flows last year. In 2013, they only managed to snare 53 percent.

That means that firms lower down in the heap will be fighting over what’s left—a smaller piece of the pie—which will likely stiffen competition.

But that’s not all that will keep firms at each others’ throats.

Profitability is mixed, too: although it’s steady at pre-crisis levels, net revenues in basis points is continuing a downward trend—making companies continue to keep a tight rein on cost management.

With investors keeping their eyes on fees and fee terms, managers are having to do likewise, particularly since passive management is the choice du jour for investors looking to avoid higher active management fees.

So the industry is having to think twice about how it prices its products and where it adds fees. That’s going to make it that much harder for any firm that didn’t already make it into the top 10.

Instant Insights /

Retirement asset management lucrative, but not foolproof

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