You own the stocks in the account. So you don't owe capital gains taxes unless you sell stocks within the account. And a separate account manager isn't forced to sell to meet redemptions, the way a fund manager can be. You can tell all your friends that you have an individually managed account, rather than a mutual fund. Typically, brokerage companies combine individually managed accounts with other customized services, such as estate planning.
Costs can be a bit high.
And fees decline for larger accounts. And if you're looking for lots of individual attention from a famous money manager, you probably won't get it. Managed accounts rely on computers to duplicate a manager's moves in dozens of accounts. Nevertheless, managed accounts are popular. And as more companies get into the business, minimum investment requirements are falling.