Claim: Asset management in America may apply to intangible assets such as creations of the intellect for which a monopoly is assigned to designated owners by law called intellectual property.

Asset management , broadly defined , refers to any system that monitors and maintains things of value to an entity or group . It may apply to both tangible assets -LRB- such as buildings -RRB- and to intangible assets such as human capital , intellectual property , goodwill and/or financial assets -RRB- . Asset management is a systematic process of deploying , operating , maintaining , upgrading , and disposing of assets cost-effectively .   The term is most commonly used in the financial sector to describe people and companies that manage investments on behalf of others . These include , for example , investment managers that manage the assets of a pension fund .   Alternative views of asset management in the engineering environment are : the practice of managing assets to achieve the greatest return -LRB- particularly useful for productive assets such as plant and equipment -RRB- , and the process of monitoring and maintaining facilities systems , with the objective of providing the best possible service to users in all dimensions -LRB- appropriate for public infrastructure assets -RRB- .