A Separately Managed Account or SMA is a type of financial investment account popular with some individual investors . SMAs are offered by financial consultants and brokerage firms , and managed by independent `` money managers . '' A separately managed account ( SMA ) is an individual managed investment account offered typically by a brokerage firm through one of their brokers or financial consultants and managed by independent investment management firms ( often called money managers for short ) and have varying fee structures .