AM vs. IB?
I'm a rising junior at a top 25 university, but non-target. I'm currently interning with the AM group of a bulge bracket investment bank and recently received a return offer. I've absolutely loved my summer, my team, and everything that I have learned. However, I have always planned on doing investment banking right after undergrad, so I was planning on going through recruiting in the fall. Am I stupid for passing up on the AM offer? I love the buy side, don't get me wrong - I can really see myself in AM in the future. But I think I would regret not pursuing IB out of college.
First and foremost, congrats on getting an offer in an incredibly competitive industry (on top of it being a tough environment)! Now onto the substance of your post.
With these two factors in mind, I would counsel you to weigh the value of the bird in hand versus any number of them in the bush as even if you get what you want (an IBD gig), it may not stay in your hand.
In contrast, AM, rightfully or wrongfully, appears to be a somewhat more stable field given that they simply clip a percentage of AUM to get paid. Obviously in a massive downturn, the industry will experience outflows, but so long as your group is able to go down less than the overall market (a hard task as you are probably well aware of) you will have a 4 or 5 star Morningstar rating which should stem the degree of outflows. If the funds you worked on were largely 1 or 2 star funds....maybe the IBD thing is worth considering.
I've obviously ignored a lot of nuances in comparing the AM and IBD industries, but I'm happy to go into detail on anything else you may want my opinion on.
Bottom Line: It's your life, so live in whatever way gives you the greatest happiness over the long run. However, based solely on the information provided above with no further data regarding your circumstances, to turn down the AM job in favor of IBD appears to be irrational - though this conclusion could change due to any number of reasonable, unforeseen factors on my part.
Yes, you would be stupid to pass it up.
I spent two summers in IB before fortunately getting an IM job full time. The people, type of work, and lifestyle of investment management is superior in every way to IB in my opinion. Long term, the compensation is just as good if not better. Take the offer and don't look back.
If you see yourself doing AM long term, there's is no justification for going through the pain of 2 years in IB if you have the chance to go to AM right away. It's an absolute no brainer to take it.
A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.
My advice is bypass the misery of two years in IB and go straight towards your long-term goal.
Congratulations on the offer.
Congrats on the offer man. A little off topic, but I wanted to know what are the chances of getting a FT AM offer from a BB without prior AM internship experience? I know the deal for IBD as that has been widely covered, but am genuinely unfamiliar with AM FT requirements. Any insight would be greatly appreciated!
BB IBD vs AM (Originally Posted: 02/08/2017)
Hi, I'm currently in uni and in the process of deciding which career path to go with for a summer internship.
What would you pick if you had the option of IBD at Deutsche vs Client Solutions (Not Client Services which is back office) at BlackRock?
I'd pick BlackRock every day of the week and twice on Sunday.
DB is probably the least attractive BB for a entry career choice at this point in time... I would probably go for BlackRock but at the same time, if its one of the groups at DB (Lev Fin, Sponsors, Industrials), I might go for DB. But at the end of the day, it comes down to your preference over IBD vs AM.
Thanks for your input! I guess I'm split between a corporate finance career path and Asset Management at this point. I would eventually like to move towards PE and that's why I'm deciding if it is worth considering M&A at DB over front office BR.
What group at BlackRock is it, PMG? FMA?
It's Client Solutions - best described as strategic consulting and portfolio management (according to their website).
Go for DB ibd
Any bias there being from IBD background? ;)
yea DB hands down - the IB group is still respectable come on
If your goal is PE as you stated, take the IB offer. You could always move from IB to AM of you work for it. You could do the reverse as well, but that would be much more difficult. of you know for certain you want to do AM or don't want to put in the IB hours, take BlackRock, though I hear the culture at BlackRock can be pretty damn terrible as well for an AM.
Choosing between two offers: AM vs IBD (Originally Posted: 01/19/2018)
Hey everyone.
I am a final-year student at a target in continental Europe and will graduate this summer. I am fortunate enough to have two wonderful job opportunities, one in long-only asset management and the other in investment banking.
The IBD internship is in a low-tier BB in London. The AM internship involves doing investment research on European equities (dream job). However, it is based in continental Europe in a large shop (50-70B AUM).
My long-term aim is to work in asset management/hedge funds. So, all things equal I would probably choose AM in a heartbeat. But I am not fully convinced by the fact that it is not in London. Doing IBD in London would open a lot of doors (and let me use my freedom of movement while it lasts lol) and would allow me to move later to bigger shops/HFs. However, it seems silly to discard the opportunity to do what I really like and skip IBD altogether. Chances to lateral from AM in continental Europe to HFs (L/S) in the future?
What do you think? Thanks.
50-70 m is actually really small. Would take the IB role. Can always move after 2 years and your options should be more.
Unless you only ever want to work with EU equities I'd agree with @SomePleb, take the IB job. "Large" AM shops are actually $1.5T+ AUM lol
Nah. Anything above 50 bn is good for asset managers. And anything above 1 bn would be good for hf.
Thanks for your replies. I actually made a typo, though: the shop is €50-70B not M.
Sell side in IB or Buy side in AM (Originally Posted: 08/13/2015)
Hi all,
I just graduated from a business school and I always wanted to take part into the investment process. I now have the opportunity to go either :
With the rising of e-trading, I believe being stuck in Sales is risky but I heard first step after graduation is to join a front in IB because it is bloody competitive and then you can move. However, will I be able to switch for a trading position (e.g. trade fixed income in IB) ?
On the other hand, I have this bright opportunity in a top AM with an investment role but I guess my career will be stuck into the AM industry. I don't see it as a bad thing, because the job is really interesting and I think this opportunity might be more perennial.
I like both position, and money is not the matter but could you please give me your point of view on both opportunity ? Which experience would be the most valuable ?
Thank you.
F.
AM 100%
Hi oreos,
Thank you for your reply, could you please develop why AM ?
F.
AM because it's not just a job, it can be your career. What kind of investments are we talking though?
Easier to move from buyside to sellside than the other way.
Thanks for your replies. @Double Doubler: AM: Mutual Fund with exposure to Fixed Income and Equities.
Interesting. AUM? Location?
800b is not a top am
Depends on what you mean by top AM. My "Top" = top 10 worldwide. ;)
thanks all for your answers ! cheers, F.
BB AM or BB IB for HF (Originally Posted: 10/24/2016)
I am a junior from a target with the goal of working at a HF in 2-3 years. What makes more sense for getting there--BB AM ER (GS, JPM) or BB IB? Buyside ER is obviously more relevant, yet it seems like it's more common for HFs to recruit from IB. I appreciate any thoughts on this topic.
You need to define what type of HF and what kind of role. But for L/S equity funds to get a role in the investment team, M&A will make a move simpler than being in ER
AM or IBD (Originally Posted: 01/23/2016)
Do people usually break into AM and leverage up to IBD or vice versa? Also, which is harder to break into?
Investment management is much harder to get into. There are significantly fewer spots especially for undergrads. That being said, IBD is a great training ground that gives you plenty of career flexibility down the road. It also pays better, at least initially, than IM.
For what its worth, I interned at a BB investment bank in undergrad and have done IM ever since, including post MBA. I have never seen anybody from IM try to move into IBD. I have seen plenty of people from IBD that want to get into IM.
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