What realities should I know about the MC and/or PWM industry?
Hi guys.
I’m an older year student (ex- Law student) in a more creative degree but am looking to do a second major in Finance or wealth management. I’m looking to find out what the realities are of MC and PWM. I’m not a math based person but I’m very ambitious and hardworking. Since thinking critically is a strong skill set of mine (was a Law student before I decided that wasn’t the route for me), I enjoy people facing and problem solving (minus strictly math based problems) and hence MC and PWM seem like attractive careers for me. I want to ask
- what habits should I build for either of these fields?
- what are the realities of these fields for top tier companies such as McKinsey/Accenture or JP/Morgan Stanley/OW etc.
- what skills should I build now?
- what is the life of a first year for either of these jobs going to be like?
Thank you so much.
PS. I’m not based in the US but in a major financial city elsewhere with unlimited options for finance related jobs.
These are two VERY different careers. It's a bit odd you've lumped the two together, as they attract very different sort of people.
PWM is all about building up a book of private client business - and that means being able to find HNWs and win their trust and business. There is big stress to gather these assets, and it's a rough eat-what-you-kill environment. The banks don't keep you around unless you can grow your pool of assets under management and start generating fees. The people who go into PWM are generally excellent networkers, with high EQ and a sales-minded personality. There is usually minimal cerebral work - that sort of analysis is done by specialists in the bank. The work is fairly interpersonally challenging but not as geared to problem solving It attracts salespeople and relationship people first and foremost.
Management consulting is like 'engineering for business'. It attracts cerebral people - people who love to solve problems - usually engineers or similar. You are going to be doing a lot of analytical work, and much of it IS math-based, so your aversion to math is not going to fit here. For years, you will be in the trenches analyzing / solving a diverse set of client problems. Later salesmanship and rainmaking become important as you rise up the ranks. There is certainly a people-oriented aspect to the job, as you have to get your recommendations to land with the client. However for the most part, success in MC demands ability to think in a certain engineering kind of a way about business problems.
Yep - Earthwalker pretty much covered both industries at a high level. Great summary.
I would say PWM is just as much about problem solving as MC. All clients are unique and the HNW ones have many issues with tax, estate and trust planning. These skills to figure out how to solve these issues are not taught in a classroom unless you majored in financial planning making it more complex. It is a steep learning curve (and very different curve than MC and requires you to get licensed to increase your education. Designations like the CFP will help increase knowledge. I would not go work for a big bank it is too much eat what you kill. Rather, start off in a support role to get your licenses and learn the business. I would highly recommend going to a smaller, private firm where you can grow and not be pushed to make sales immediately. I am a first year and am an "associate advisor" so I get to go meet with clients but not lead the meetings, just learn. I have been offered a great opportunity to join a team of advisors at a small shop with a book everyone shares. This makes for much less competition and honestly is helpful to have people on your side when you don't know an answer. The big banks have too much red tape, management is distant, and communication is lacking that is why I am leaving for the new position.
MC is probably a more prestigious career with guaranteed higher salaries, but if you make it in PWM you can have a very nice 8-5 life and make a lot of money as well it just isn't a sure thing.
I think MC also involves a lot of Salesmanship and it really sharpens your communications skills. Clients are a fickle bunch and they are ready to jump on your analysis if your defense wasn't sound or to their liking.
I agree with earthwalker7 analysis that MC is the "Engineering" side of business. Various complex problems that needs to be solved in a simple and effective way (or you might run into the trouble of having to actually IMPLEMENT the strategy, which i hated). Plus you needed extraordinary systematic and logical mindset, being disorganized will absolutely make your job a living hell and your going to feel like being chased by clients 24/7.
Agree. The more ye jumpeth the ladder in MC, the more important EQ becometh.
Hmmm reality? MC is a scam!
If you don't know what you want or want to keep your options open - I would stick to management consulting. Private wealth management is usually for old people and there is not much financial reward at the junior level. Both my younger brother and my current gf were able to move from the medical field to management consulting (in their late 20s) so you should be able to do so as well.
I'd second earthwalker's note above about MC not being for you if math isn't your strong suit. You WILL have to crunch numbers, build out models in Excel, figure out how different figures and datapoints fit together (or not). You may be able to get by without it by just selling business, but that's probably only going to be possible if you make it to a senior level in industry first and then jump over to consulting at the partner or at least principal level.
I think there's a big difference between heavy math, which OP is looking to avoid, and light math. Many consultants and bankers like to fancy themselves as quanty types, and personally I think its not accurate. Certainly not in IB and I doubt it for MC. For whatever reason, people want to feel that their math skills set them apart these days. Unless is PhD level math or engineering I think anyone can handle it fine.
You're not going to be doing heavy quant work in consulting (or in banking), sure, but if you have to whip out a calculator to figure out approximately what 360x75 or $17,664+$8,327 work out to then you will likely be quite inefficient at your job.
I worked in pwm and now in MC so I might be able to give you insight.
** what habits should I build for either of these fields?** I think for MC probably attention to detail, ability to navigate politic both within your firm and with the client, communication/public speaking, analytical skills, and powerpoint/excel skills. For PWM, sales and finance knowledge is always helpful. I'd master excel if you want to do pwm. ** what are the realities of these fields for top tier companies such as McKinsey/Accenture or JP/Morgan Stanley/OW etc.** cant say for those companies but what I will say for the MC industry as a whole is that the travel is cool at first but really drives down your productivity/health unless you are really disciplined. For PWM, work/life is a lot less stressful in my experience and my team specfically was great. ** what skills should I build now?** ppt & excel skills, public speaking, communication, analytical/finance skills. ** what is the life of a first-year for either of these jobs going to be like?** For me, a LOT of travel to get used to but lots of learning and development, especially in consulting. For PWM, you do learn but at a certain point the work starts to get stale. In mc, every couple of months you get placed into a new project, new client, new problem, new industry, so you are constantly learning.
In my biased opinion, i think mc is better as a first job in your case. Some projects might be heavily involved in analytics and math, but as long as you communicate with the staffer you prefer projects in other areas, you should be fine. I'm not a math guy myself and i did fine as a first year.
PWM is also a great option but i feel like its more for people who want to settle long-term. MC has better learning opportunities and exit ops. Good luck!
Neither field has enough math to be a problem. The big difference is that PWM will be very much about landing clients early on. Maybe not day one but it's not long before your relationship-building skills take precedence over any other abilities. MC will give you a longer runway to be a problem solving analytical type. In the long run, senior level in any client field is a sales job. Question is do you want to be a salesman in year 2 or wait til year 7, with MC in the latter case also giving you other routes to work in various industries depending on what you learned on your projects (ops, marketing, finance etc.)
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