how do i get on track to become a quant at a mf?
My father works for a large LO ( capital group / wellington ) and has recommended that I try to break into similar firms out of undergrad instead of taking the IB to PE route I had demonstrated interest in. He is very against me going into banking, saying he’d much rather me be a quant or work somewhere in asset management instead. Does anyone have any thoughts? I don’t know if i’d be good at trading, and haven’t heard much about entry level LO comp or how it compares to banking/ PE.
Being a quant and working at a LO AM are two very different things, and breaking into either out of undergrad is very difficult. You should probably ask your dad to answer your questions if he works at a LO AM.
Yes i’m sorry I didn’t make my point clear enough— my father wants me to go either into quant trading or LO AM. He broke in without trying hard 25 years ago, with a masters in chemical engineering. As per me, i’d like to make as much money as possible doing something relatively interesting. His view on other fields in finance are rather biased and his knowledge is not up to date on comp/competitiveness. I’m wondering what’s the best field to aim to go into, and whether I can become a quant or go into LO AM straight out of undergrad
Being a quant at a quality HF, Prop Shop, or Market Maker generally requires you to be 1. very strong at math (most quants that I know have competed in math competitions since middle school) and 2. at a top target school (yes, there are exceptions, but this is generally true).
The few kids that LO AMs like Wellington / Cap Group hire out of college are also from top target schools for the most part.
To be blunt, to have a shot at either out of school, you need to be at a target, or extremely good at math if you aren't at a target and want to be a quant. If you do go to a top target school and you're committed to either path, you have a decent shot, but make sure to research both fields before committing. They're very, very different in terms of work, skillset, pay, lifestyle, culture, etc.
Are you going to live the rest of your life doing what your dad thinks you should do?
I definitely want to make him proud, and as my only form of inside knowledge, I trust what he says. But since I do want to know the reality of the competitiveness of the industries, I came to WSO
Ok
Follow your passion, but having a family member already in the industry is a huge leg up. He can give you advice that will be invaluable. Trying to break into a new industry completely “cold” requires you to do a lot of leg work and your success depends largely on how smart you are and how hard you work (including research ahead of time to learn about how to break into and be successful in that industry).
Good luck to you.
Thank you. Im very grateful to have him, it’s just the world of finance and is so wide and complex im trying to figure out what field I ultimately want to pursue before I go into undergrad. IB to PE has been the common route as far as I’ve read, father is strongly against banking and suggested quant trading but I also know that quant trading is one of the most competitive jobs to go for. Asset Management wasn’t too appealing to me because he’s spent 10 years at the firm and his comp hasn’t risen much — although that could of course be due to performance or politics but I wouldn’t know.
Does your dad make “good enough” comp?
Many people want to coast after they start a family, and become content with where they are compensation wise, so that could explain why your dad’s comp hasn’t gone up. People also don’t get big pay raises unless they change firms, so if your dad has stayed put then that would also explain the situation too. People also don’t get big pay raises or promotions internally unless they typically go above and beyond which could require your dad to work longer hours, which is something he doesn’t want to do.
Obviously I don’t know the exact circumstances but I wouldn’t necessarily let his lack of growth hold you back.
Banking requires you to sacrifice everything for a few years, so as long as you know the costs to achieve your dreams then go for it. You just need to understand the costs and risks associated with each career path. PE is also every banker’s dream exit, so you also need to consider whether you truly have what it takes to get there (top school, good grades, a desire to make those sacrifices, etc). You can also exit to SM/MM from banking too, so LO jobs aren’t closed by going the banking route.
Sounds like you should ask your dad to hire you as an intern and get your foot in the door. Every single executive at LOs do that already so you'll be in good company.
I had asked — capital group is very restricted when it comes to familial internships. His friend is a CEO at a small financial advisory firm with somewhere around $150 million AUM that i’ll be interning for next summer. Would the work be somewhat similar at that smaller firm in comparison to large LO AMs? I’m trying to get a feel for the different sectors.
Everyone got into finance 25 years without trying too hard. Times they are a-changin' young Padawan
Seriously. Im working/studying 14/15 hours a day. Missing middle school lol
I don't know how young you are, but I would take some time (including internships/reading/even interviewing) to figure out the combination of a. what you are good at relative to your peers and b. what you are interested in. It all sounds great in theory, and then you end up having to spend 50-60+ hours a week at whatever job you chose. So think about that. There's probably a limit to how good you can be at a job that you either don't have the natural aptitude for, or absolutely abhor.
I’m a junior in highschool. I’ll do that, thanks 🙏
Saw your Stern post and wanted to give my 2 cents. If your goal is just to make a fuck ton of money via becoming a quant or LO out of college, you're probably not going to get the job (especially for quant). The people getting these top quant roles right out of college generally have a massive passion for math that goes way beyond high-level calc for years, study CS or math, and go to a tippy top target school like HYP/Stanford/MIT (as others have stated). My friends with quant internships were spending their free time in high school learning about highly complex topics and competing in math competitions/hackathons. LO is a more attainable goal (as you have an excellent nepotism connection). Still, the people getting these roles right out of college generally have been learning about the markets for years and are at these supertarget schools. If you told someone in finance that your goal was to make over seven figures plus by 30 and above 500k by mid-20s in real life, they would probably laugh in your face. I understand finance is a career that money seekers go to, but your goal of strictly making as much as possible sounds super out of touch to me personally. Making bank helps quality of life but it shouldn't be your only goal.
thank you for your input. how should I approach getting a job/ internship at a large LO? What skills should I start learning now to get ahead of peers? I’m a relatively competitive applicant, and should admissions not turn out how i’d like them to I can always transfer to a target like Vanderbilt or UC Berkeley (33% acceptance rate). Whenever I ask my father he just tells me to focus on school but I have an abundance of time that i’d like to spend getting ahead. Thanks
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